DPhil in Education
The DPhil in Education, which can be studied full or part time, provides graduates with a wide range of research skills as well as in-depth knowledge, understanding and expertise in their chosen field of educational research.
The DPhil in Education is an advanced research degree of a high standing and is awarded on the basis of a thesis and an oral examination.
We have around 120 DPhil students associated with the Department, who research a wide range of topics, normally linked to one or more of our research groups. Students come from more than 40 different countries and are supported by a variety of scholarships and grants. Entry is highly competitive, and applicants are required to have a strong academic background and are required to submit a research proposal.
It is also possible to study part-time for a DPhil here. For more information, visit our part-time DPhil page.
If you think this is the right course for you, we suggest you browse the profiles of academics in the Department to identify those with whom your interests overlap. You will need to complete an application through the central university website and provide samples of written work and a personal statement.
The courses require students to be fairly self-motivated, which helps instill and reinforce the analytical and research skills required as a PhD student.
The professors approach questions thoughtfully, honestly, and critically through dialogue with the student. There really is a tailored, personal aspect that emerges through engagement with the teaching offered.
I am particularly fortunate to belong to a very closely knit research centre within the Department, the Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE), which provides the hub for my daily research activities as well as a social focus with my close colleagues and friends.
If you think this is the right course for you, we suggest you browse the profiles of academics in the Department to identify those with whom your interests overlap. You will need to complete an application through the central university website and provide samples of written work and a personal statement.
We offer scholarships (part and full) to attract the very strongest students who would otherwise not be able to come and study in Oxford.
We are committed to developing the number of fully-funded studentships we can offer to DPhil students, given their importance to the Department’s research culture. The funding deadline for all graduate courses in the Department is the January application deadline. Applications submitted after this date will not be considered for funding offered by Oxford. Funding deadlines for other University courses can be found on the relevant course page on the Graduate Admissions website. These are all highly competitive, and require high-quality, well-crafted research proposals.
All eligible applicants for graduate study are automatically considered for the University’s prestigious Clarendon Scholarships and the departmental scholarships. Prospective students will be notified between March and June if they are being considered for any of these funding opportunities.
The ESRC is the UK’s largest organisation for funding research on social and economic issues. The University, in collaboration with Brunel University and the Open University, hosts the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership – one of 15 Doctoral Training Partnerships accredited by the ESRC as part of a Doctoral Training Network.
In order to be considered for a Grand Union DTP ESRC studentship, you must select ‘ESRC Grand Union DTP Studentships in Social Sciences’ in the University of Oxford scholarships section of the University’s graduate application form. You must also complete a Grand Union DTP Application Form and upload it, together with your graduate application form, by the funding deadline for your course.
Information about ESRC studentships at Oxford can be found on the Grand Union DTP website. Please ensure you have read all of the guidance available on the website before you apply If you have any questions, get in touch with the Grand Union DTP Office.
The very strongest applicants for all our MSc and DPhil programmes are automatically considered for University Clarendon scholarships. There is no separate application process. These are highly competitive and each year only one or two of our students are successful. During our initial admissions screening, supervisors nominate applicants with outstanding academic records to be considered. These supervisors then prepare a supporting statement. A departmental panel ranks these candidates and the Director of Doctoral Research puts forward a shortlist of the strongest applicants to the divisional committee.
The Department is keen to attract the very strongest MSc students and encourage them to stay on for doctoral study. The shortlist will normally be made up of students nominated by the Department for the ESRC and Clarendon scholarships. Interviews and decisions will be made once the ESRC and Clarendon awards are announced.
Awards will vary in range but will seek to make a significant contribution to the overall cost of fees. Successful candidates will be expected to?make?an active contribution to the academic and professional life of the doctoral students within the Department. These scholarships may not be offered every year.
Further information on graduate scholarships and awards offered by the University and external agencies can be found on the Student Funding Services website.
Scholarships are awarded on entry to the doctoral programme, not at any later point. If you are not awarded a scholarship in your first year, but elect to self-fund, you will be asked by the University to sign a declaration that you have the money to cover your fees and your living expenses for the first year. It should be noted that although you are only asked about the first year, it is extremely unlikely that you will acquire funding after that. There are no additional scholarships within the University for continuing doctoral students. We work hard to bring in funding for doctoral students, but unfortunately we cannot fund everybody. If you are interested, it is worth carefully considering which colleges might have scholarships for which you are eligible when you apply.
Most colleges will offer some very small grants for fieldwork, travel or conference attendance. These are in the region of a couple of hundred pounds at most.
You can work part–time during your doctorate, subject to the requirements of any visas, but you must obtain the support of your supervisor to do so, and it can have detrimental effects on your progress. There are occasionally some paid research assistant posts within the Department which are advertised to the doctoral cohort but these tend to be highly sought after. We do not have undergraduates so you are unlikely to be able to supervise as graduate students.
If of interest, there are some charitable trusts outside of the University which you may want to consider, however, they are not likely to offer sufficient cover for fees and living expenses in their entirety.
Financial assistance run by colleges tends to be for ‘unexpected circumstances’; self-funders not getting any funding in second or subsequent years is not seen as unexpected. Both the University and the Department have some limited funds for those writing up the final stages of their doctorate. These are highly competitive and there are always more requests than there is money to fulfil them.
We hope that the advice given here does not put you off, but it is important for self-funders to have a realistic view of the funding landscape.
If you think this is the right course for you, we suggest you browse the profiles of academics in the Department to identify those with whom your interests overlap. You will need to complete an application through the central university website and provide samples of written work and a personal statement.
For more specific details of our admission criteria please visit the DPhil in Education course page.
Approximately 25-35 students are recruited to our DPhil in Education programme each year.
It is not possible to study at a distance or online on our DPhil programme.
All PRS students, no matter what their previous training is, are required to undertake the Research Training Seminar course. This is the seminar specifically for PRS students, preparing you for the Oxford DPhil structure, creating a supportive cohort and enabling you to begin professional development for an academic or non-academic career. Other research training courses are: Beginners and Intermediate Quantitative Methods; Rethinking Qualitative Methods and Philosophy of Educational Research. The exact courses you will be required to take will depend on your previous training and experience, and the decision will be based on the evidence you provide in your application and in discussion with the Director of Doctoral Research on matriculation.
We offer a very wide range of courses. As well as a comprehensive Doctoral programme attracting students from all over the world, we offer full-time one year MSc in Education and in MSc Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (ALSLA) courses, as well as a range of part-time courses, some aimed primarily at UK teachers (e.g. MSc Learning & Teaching, MS Teacher Education) and some at distance learning (e.g., Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching). Consequently our courses cater to students from a diverse range of backgrounds.
For example in 2023/24, the Department had a total complement of 751 students of whom 408 were studying full-time and 343 were studying part-time. For 2022/23, across the MSc Education, MSc ALSLA, and DPhil programmes, approximately 21% of our students came from the UK, and the remaining 79% from the EU or overseas. The cohort from those programmes included students from Azerbaijan, Australia, China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and the United States, among many others.
What our students share is exceptional academic achievement in their previous learning and an ambition to excel academically.
Although doctoral research training programmes across the University tend to be structured around the needs of full-time students, we are able to offer a part-time DPhil option for students who reside, and are employed, locally. The part-time DPhil is not offered online or as distance learning. Read more information about studying for a part-time DPhil with us.
To find out how much it will cost to undertake your studies at the University, please visit the Fees and Living Costs webpage for details.
We would strongly encourage you to focus your application on the course for which you have the most interest and experience.
Yes, you may apply for any of our courses whilst studying for another degree. If you are successful in achieving a place on one of our programmes, we would make a conditional offer which would include the condition of you achieving your qualification. You are required to submit an interim transcript at application. However, your final outcome would need to be available prior to your commencing the course at Oxford.
Prospective DPhil applicants are expected to browse the online profiles of current members of staff to identify academics whose research interests overlap with theirs. If you can’t locate any academics with overlapping interests with yours, it is likely that your proposed area of research does not fit into the interests of current members of staff or the Department’s research centres.
If you do not have English as your first language, we would like you to have achieved the higher level competence in English Language proficiency i.e. IELTS 7.5 overall with at least 7.0 in each component, or TOEFL 110 (Internet-based).
We do not accept tests which are more than 2 years old. We encourage applicants to apply with a successful IELTS test. If evidence that you successfully meet the English language condition cannot be provided with your application, the language requirement will be set as a condition if an offer is made.
For further information, please visit the application guide.
For information on applying for a waiver of the English test requirement, please visit the application guide.
For information about applying, see the University Admission’s DPhil page. For a more detailed explanation of the process, please read the application guide.
If you require more space on the application form, please contact Graduate Admissions for advice.
We strongly recommend that you have at least one reference from your most recent academic tutor. If you are currently in employment, you would be expected to provide a reference from your employer as well as an academic referee who is able to comment on academic capability/suitability for Higher Degree study.
Two essays, a maximum of 2,000 words each.
The written work should be related to the DPhil in Education and should be on separate topics. If you do not have any existing material that fits this requirement, you may wish to critique an article or write a book review based on the course subject.
You may submit written work previously completed for a prior course of study if the topic is relevant, e.g. an assignment or chapter of a dissertation etc, provided it meets the requirements. If your work is significantly longer than the guide length it must be edited to meet the requirements.
A list of relevant references is required for your written work and should be included in your word count. Please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document. This will be assessed for understanding of the subject area, an ability to construct and defend an argument, and proficiency in academic English.
If you are applying to the DPhil programme you need to submit a personal statement of a maximum of 1,000 words and a research proposal of a maximum of 2,500 words. Your statement and proposal should be submitted as a single, combined document with a clear subheading for each.
You should submit a convincing personal statement (statement of purpose) explaining your reasons for applying to the programme and highlighting your relevant academic and professional experience. The final line of your personal statement should indicate your future plans after a doctorate.
You should also submit a research proposal written in English. An indicative bibliography is required but you do not need to include this in your word count. Your proposal should include an indicative title and a short introduction/synopsis, a discussion of the most relevant scholarly literature, and a research question or hypothesis. This issue or question should emerge from your review of the literature. Please also provide a rationale for the importance of this research topic.
Your proposal should also indicate your proposed methodological approach. This will depend on the kind of research you envisage. If empirical research is planned, then please discuss the likely ‘data’ to be collected. At this stage these ideas are exploratory, and likely to develop and change once you are accepted.
This will be assessed for your potential to carry out doctoral research, the quality and coherence of the proposal and the originality of the project.
It will be normal for your ideas to subsequently change in some ways as you develop your project. You should nevertheless make the best effort you can to demonstrate the extent of your research question, sources and method at this moment.
Your proposal should focus on your proposed research topic, rather than personal achievements, interests and aspirations.
Although supervisors will be allocated by the Department and it is not necessary for you to contact academic members of staff directly, prospective applicants are encouraged to approach academics whose research interests overlap with theirs to informally find out about their capacity and interest in supervising new DPhil students. You may also ask them to share with you specific publications that they have authored that you can’t otherwise access and that may help inform your research proposal. There is a section in the application form in which you can indicate your suggested supervisors. You are strongly encouraged to fill it in with two names of suggested supervisors when you apply.
Interviews are normally held with two interviewers using Microsoft Teams. Interviews will normally take place in February.
We are keen to find out more about you and your interests, and how these might tie in with the research specialisms of academic staff within the Department.
For DPhil applicants, we will ask you to talk in detail about your research proposal, its design, your methodological choices and potential challenges you might face. For MSc applicants, we will ask you about your knowledge of the course, your reasons for wanting to study in this area, and initial ideas for their dissertation research.
Applicants may be asked to explain how their areas of interest link to those of the Departments’ research groups, centres and academic staff.
Applications will be considered by the admissions panel within the Department and decisions will be made for the January application deadline in mid-March.
You will be informed of our decision via the Graduate Applicant Self Service portal
In the event that we are not able to offer you a place, we regret that it is not possible to provide you with feedback on your application.
The University will only consider requests for deferral of entry due to exceptional unforeseen circumstances, and only after all conditions set for the offer (both academic and financial) have been met.
If you think this is the right course for you, we suggest you browse the profiles of academics in the Department to identify those with whom your interests overlap. You will need to complete an application through the central university website and provide samples of written work and a personal statement.
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Contact our team and we will be happy to assist you.
Email: dphil@education.ox.ac.uk
If you think this is the right course for you, we suggest you browse the profiles of academics in the Department to identify those with whom your interests overlap. You will need to complete an application through the central university website and provide samples of written work and a personal statement.