MSc in Learning and Teaching
A part-time programme aimed at qualified teachers who are interested in developing their knowledge, understanding and practice.
This is a professional development course for qualified teachers who are currently working in schools or similar educational settings. It focuses on developing your pedagogical practice in schools and classrooms through engagement with and in research.
The programme is part-time, intended for teachers, in both primary and secondary schools and further education, including school leaders and school improvement officers who are interested in developing a research-informed approach to their existing practice. It addresses the processes of learning and teaching, and is rooted in your own practice in school (or a similar educational setting). It is not possible to enrol if you are not currently working in a school (or similar setting) and is unsuitable for those in higher education. The blended course involves attending teaching weekends (held on Friday afternoons and Saturdays), carrying out investigations in school, which are supported by set readings, and online discussions. We value the role of shared face-to-face discussion, and do not offer an entirely distance learning option.
Applicants are expected to have a PGCE with master’s credits, or equivalent academic or professional qualifications, or experience. The course lasts for two years. In Year 1, attendance is required at five intensive two-day residential courses in Oxford. Supervision will mainly be offered within small subject-specific or generic groups, from a specialist supervisor. In Year 2, you will largely work with a specialist supervisor on your own project.
The course has enabled many alumni to progress on to leadership roles in schools, including headship.
WATCH: MSc Learning and Teaching students share their experiences
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.
This is a professional development course for qualified teachers who are currently working in schools or similar educational settings. It focuses on developing your pedagogical practice in schools and classrooms through engagement with and in research.
The programme is part-time, intended for teachers, in both primary and secondary schools and further education, including school leaders and school improvement officers, who are interested in developing a research-informed approach to their existing practice. It addresses the processes of learning and teaching, and is rooted in your own practice in school (or a similar educational setting). It is not possible to enrol if you are not currently working in a school (or similar setting) and is unsuitable for those in higher education. The blended course involves attending teaching weekends (held on Friday afternoons and Saturdays), carrying out investigations in school, which are supported by set readings, and online discussions. We value the role of shared face-to-face discussion, and do not offer an entirely distance learning option.
Applicants are expected to have a PGCE with master’s credits, or equivalent academic or professional qualifications, or experience. The course lasts for two years. In Year 1, attendance is required at five intensive two-day residential courses in Oxford. Supervision will mainly be offered within small subject-specific or generic groups, from a specialist supervisor. In Year 2, you will largely work with a specialist supervisor on your own project.
Throughout the course there is a strong emphasis on collaboration within your school and across the course. The University’s Virtual Learning Environment platforms (Canvas and Teams) are used to support the school-based tasks and sustain critical discussion with peers. In addition to attendance at the seminars, all students are expected to engage in online activities, reporting and reflecting on their reading and school- based investigations.
Core teaching for all students is supported by work in supervision groups exploring the specific applications and implications of these key ideas in their curriculum areas or more generally. Some of the teaching and all of the supervision in Year 1 is offered on a subject-specific basis (where the department has particular expertise).
The course has enabled many alumni to progress on to leadership roles in schools, including headship. Students have also progressed on to the DPhil in our own department.
The course is built around four main themes, with illustrative content:
Educational research about and for teachers, notably theories of efficacy and agency, pupil identity and agency, how pupils learn, including pupils’ perspectives on learning
Curriculum theory, generic and subject-specific issues in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, ask design, theories of assessment, alignment
Learners, diversity and inclusion, special educational needs, adolescence and well-being, motivation, classroom talk and curriculum development
Educational research, professional communities and networks, schools in policy; professional collaboration within and between schools, educational policy, the inter-relationship between achievement, diversity and disadvantage
In the second year you will undertake a Research and Development unit in which you will research an aspect of teaching in your subject for a dissertation. The taught programme for this part of the course will focus on advanced methods of practitioner research, particularly the challenges of identifying a worthwhile innovation for the research and development work, elaborating the criteria for success and determining the nature of the evidence that will allow the participant to evaluate the impact of the innovation. The programme also includes a key focus on collaborative strategies within research and development work in schools and their communities.
The focus of the final research and development project is chosen by the student to reflect their own needs or interests and those of the context in which they work.
The project must involve the implementation and evaluation of some kind of teaching innovation in the student’s own context (which may be their own classroom, or within the school and its local community, or even across a network of schools). The project must include a collaborative dimension which means that students need either to engage their colleagues (e.g. teachers, teaching assistants) or other stakeholders (e.g. parents) in the school-based research work, or to develop ways of sharing their findings that encourage others to engage in further development work.
As part of the work for their research and development project, students will be expected to contribute to an annual conference held for course participants presenting ideas about effective research instruments and strategies to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching innovations they introduced.
Year 1
Duration: 1 year (part-time) involving five two-day intensive courses at the Department and a series of school-based research tasks shared online between each weekend seminar.
Form of assessment: One assignment of 8000-10000 words
Year 2
Duration: 1 year (part-time) including two intensive weekends at the Department.
Form of assessment: A research and development project of between 15000 and 20000 words , reporting on an empirical research study in relation to the development of professional practice within the participant’s own school or educational setting. This academic report of the design, implementation and evaluation of a specific innovation must include a strong emphasis on the choice of criteria and the nature of the evidence by which the impact of the evaluation was assessed, and clear evidence of research collaboration with other adults – either engaging others in research; or enabling others engaged in education to learn from research findings.
Assessment is through formally submitted assignments at the end of each year. In Year 1, you will draw on the content of the units studied, while in Year 2, you will be required to complete a research and development project, which involves implementing a new strategy and reviewing its progress, while working with colleagues. All assignments are submitted online through the University’s Virtual Learning Environment and are subject to the rules and regulations surrounding examined submissions. Students’ final award is based upon the outcome of the Year 1 assignment and the Year 2 dissertation.
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.
It is a privilege to be able to benefit from the expertise and world class educational knowledge in the department. The one-to-one sessions exemplify the tutors’ commitment to their students and are both motivational and challenging.
I would say that Oxford has a certain je ne sais quoi that you will not find in other institutions. It is the particular magic of this University. I find it difficult to put into words. Oxford is a special place where you can thrive – I have never felt like a foreigner in Oxford. This feeling permeates the department as well, and I have to say that it is something that I thoroughly enjoy.
The part-time nature and the existence of a route for international students provides the MLT with the flexibility necessary to make world-class professional development accessible to any potential teacher who is passionate about education and very keen to excel in their job.
Lifelong learning is something I try to instil into all my students. For me, studying education allowed me to continue to develop my own practice as a teacher through reflecting on my pedagogy and engaging with research.
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.
Please see below for bursary and scholarship opportunities:
The Department is delighted to offer a scholarship for practising educators who are enrolled on the MSc in Learning and Teaching course at the University of Oxford for Michaelmas Term 2025. In order to be eligible for this award, you must submit your application for the course by 1 March.
Find out more about the Educational Citizenship Scholarship and how to apply.
3forRE is a way to help teachers of RE to take relevant master’s courses in an affordable, manageable way. It is a unique scheme based on a three-way partnership between you, your school and Culham St Gabriel’s Trust. Please visit the website for further details.
Please note: The level and availability of any future awards are contingent upon continued contribution(s) by donor(s).
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 welcome teachers at all levels of schooling (primary, secondary, sixth form, FE), in any subject, or with more general teaching or leadership roles.
The Department has research expertise in several specific subjects, English, Mathematics, Science, History, Modern Languages, Religious Education and Geography. However, we welcome applicants from other subject disciplines or who have wider roles in schools. Previously, we have supported teachers of music, art, PE, economics, drama, business studies computer science and classics, as well as SENCOs, deputy heads, head teachers, school improvement officers, and inspectors.
The Department includes strong research programmes related to pre-school and primary education and to wider issues in education and training, and we are able to draw on this expertise to inform teaching and give students access to specialist guidance.
Teachers of all phases of education – KS1-KS5 – are therefore welcome to apply but need to be aware that most participants are likely to be secondary school teachers. In the past years we have accepted several primary school teachers into the programme. They are then able to pursue an area of curriculum specialisation alongside secondary school colleagues, or more general interests. Teachers from other subjects such as Business Studies, Health Care, Latin or PE, tend to work in more generic groups.
We are aware that our students have busy lives and we try to schedule major tasks to be completed during holiday periods. There are texts to be read in your own time and tasks to be undertaken in school but we anticipate that over the year, your commitment would average out to about two to three hours per week. The reading commitment for the final dissertation is greater than for the taught course, and you will need to build this into your planning. If you have maintained a steady reading programme throughout the early stages of the course, the final year will be that much easier. During Year 1, you are expected to attend the five weekend seminars and complete the reading and investigative tasks. In the second year there are two weekend seminars, usually in October and June, and an optional session in February. All the tasks, assignments and readings are online from the start of the course.
You will be allocated a supervisor who will provide individual guidance and you will gain access to the University’s VLE platforms (Canvas and Teams); we require students to use them to discuss aspects of their work. You will also have the opportunity to meet with other members of your subject specific (or generic) support group throughout the year (see above).
Attendance is normally required in Oxford at five seminars over the first year of the course, with some tasks online, and twice in the second year. The weekend seminars mostly run from late afternoon on Friday to late afternoon on Saturday.
College affiliation is an important part of being a student at Oxford. Please note that there is no guarantee that you will be placed at any given College, and a place will be found for you where possible. Find out more about the colleges and making an open application on the University website.
The statement of purpose tells us why you are interested in doing this course. You might have particular priorities that you want to investigate or to develop in your teaching and already know the kind of ideas you want to explore in your final research and development project. You may have taken on a new role or responsibility at school and be looking to develop particular kinds of knowledge or expertise, perhaps involving work with others. Your interests could relate to the particular needs of the students that you are teaching, or to the demands of a new kind of syllabus, or leadership position. But you might simply be looking for structured support and access to ideas and resources that will challenge and extend your thinking and understanding of the teaching and learning process, giving you new ideas and the encouragement to experiment with different approaches. Your school may have particular reasons for encouraging you to undertake the course, again perhaps with a specific development project in mind. Do tell us if you have any particular aims of this kind or if there are specific challenges in your teaching/school context to which you are seeking answers. If your ideas are less focused, it is fine simply to explain in more general terms what you are hoping to get out of the course and why you would have the support of your school (or other setting) in undertaking it now.
You are required to provide three referees on your application form. We are looking for references from your school and from another institution, for example, a course tutor if you have completed your PGCE course in the past two years, or a previous school. We would like to see a reference from your Headteacher or Head o Department if possible as the research work you will carry out will be within the school.
We strongly advise you to discuss the course with your Headteacher as you may need to leave school earlier than normal on seminar weekends in order to travel to Oxford. Attendance at these seminars is a requirement of the course.
Please note that, as part of the University regulations, the Graduate Admissions Office is unable to release your application to us until you have provided at least two references with your application (either by paper or online). Once we have received and considered your application we will then make a decision whether or not we wish to pursue the third if you have not already provided it.
Course fees are collected by the colleges. Colleges operate their own fees schedule and this arrangement is dependent on the college.
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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Please direct any enquiries to our administrative team, and they will be happy to assist you.
Phone: +44 (0)1865 284897
Email: msc.learnandteach@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.