Education, Power and Social Change

Is education a force for reproduction or transformation in the world? Does education change the world or maintain the current system - for example, can it alleviate the effects of poverty or does it increase existing inequalities?

These are just some of the questions we consider in our MSc Education, Power and Social Change, where we explore the links between education (all forms of informal and formal learning, across all age ranges, including adult, higher and professional education), and social and political movements, and develop understandings of how 'education' as a contested field should be viewed within a globalised and postcolonial context.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach to thinking about education, we draw on the arts and humanities as well as the more conventional representations of education in social science. We explore key debates on what is the role of education and how people learn, developed from a range of viewpoints, including critical theory.

This degree will appeal to you if you are interested in developing and extending your knowledge and understanding of education and social change. Studying this course may also contribute to your professional development. In previous years, some students have used the qualification to take their careers in new directions, while others have used the course to deepen their thinking about their current practice.

• You can choose from a range of option modules in order to tailor the course to suit your developing interests or to select pathways relevant to your professional and personal needs and interests. You will also take a module on research methodologies, which will provide you with the tools to undertake an original piece of research into an aspect of education that interests you.
• If you're not sure you're ready to do a Master's degree, you can choose to do either our Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate.
• The Department of Psychosocial Studies was formed in 2000 to investigate a wide range of issues of contemporary personal, social and political concern. We have continued to work at the interface of theory and practice. We have a formal link with the University of São Paulo, Brazil. This link enables students on this degree course to undertake an option module at the university as part of their course of study at Birkbeck.
• As well as having access to the library and the wide range of public events and seminars run by Birkbeck, you will have access to the events run by the Birkbeck Research Centre for Social Change and Transformation in Higher Education and the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research.
• In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), Sociology at Birkbeck was ranked 13th in the UK.