The Social Justice and Education MA will help students to identify, examine and understand key sociological and philosophical perspectives on social justice, including issues of race, class, gender and sexuality, and education. Participants will explore the personal and political dimensions of social justice concerns and develop their professional, practical and research skills in this area.
This programme provides students with the opportunity to address, in a unique way, the complex links between social justice and education, focusing on key current policy and political debates about the role of education. They will also be able to develop, extend and reflect on their own professional interests, concerns and practice and how to address pressing issues of social justice in their everyday profesional and personal lives. Through their engagmeent with cutting-edge research in this area they will learn tools for fighting for social justice and transformation in the educational areas relevant for them.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.
The programme consists of two core modules (60 credits), two optional modules (60 credits) and a dissertation (60 credits), or a report (30 credits) and a third optional module (30 credits).
Core modules
Optional modules
Students can also choose from a wide range of Master's-level optional modules across the IOE offering.
Dissertation/report
All students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a dissertation of 20,000 words or a report of 10,000 words.
Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through a combination of face-to-face evening sessions and interactive online learning using a variety of teaching and learning styles. Sometimes a conventional lecture-based approach is taken, with the aim of providing an overview of the field. Lectures are usually followed by open discussion or group work. At other times a seminar format is adopted involving, for example, group discussion of set reading, a video or an introductory presentation. Assessment is through coursework essay assignments, plus submission of a report or dissertation.
Further information on modules and degree structure is available on the department website: Social Justice and Education MA
For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.
Graduates of this programme are currently working across a broad range of areas. Some are leaders, managers, teachers and practitioners in the compulsory education sector across international contexts. Many are working as professionals in NGO organisations specialising in social justice across many countries such as Chille, Japan, Canada and the UK. Graduates can also be found working as civil servants and government officials. In addition, many find places in the higher education sector including across a range of professional roles, as researchers, and as university lecturers worldwide.
Employability
Students develop the capacity to:
The Department of Education, Practice and Society at UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is home to an interdisciplinary grouping bringing together high-quality teaching and research in the sociology, philosophy and history of education, international development, post-compulsory and vocational education and higher education.
The Social Justice and Education MA is taught by world-leading sociologists and philosophers within the department who have expertise in theory, research methods, policy analysis and impacting social change. They are experts in issues such as equality and human rights, gender, 'race', sexuality, youth, disability and social class. Those teaching are active researchers and will introduce the latest research and developments in their fields.
This programme explores sociological and philosophical perspectives on social justice and equalities and also explores processes of social transformation and change. Key issues debated include understanding and responding to social and educational disparities in international contexts. The programme equips students with essential theoretical and methodological research skills for critically engaging with social justice issues including understanding power relations from various perspectives. The MA attracts a diversity of both home and international students thus providing excellent educational and professional networking opportunities.
Students gain invaluable opportunities to study with leading scholars and a cohort of internationally diverse students across the IOE MA cluster in sociology, social justice and policy studies in education.
The MA Criminology & Social Justice is a taught postgraduate programme with a critical and contemporary edge. The programme offers an advanced course which, while located in the criminology field, has a distinct focus on issues of social justice. It is suitable for graduates of all humanities or social science subjects as well as people with experience of working in a range of criminal justice, community and advocacy organisations.
This MA will give you a critical understanding of criminological theory, social justice and the operation of the criminal justice system. It will enable you to develop an awareness of how economic, political and social power is distributed within society and how this influences the role of the state as a distributor of both social and criminal justice. The MA will provide training in research design and methodology aimed to foster students’ ability to engage independently with complex concepts. The focus of the programme ranges from the local, with a module looking at criminal and social justice in the city of Birmingham, to the global with a module exploring the justice implications of migration; transnational crime; terrorism; and the challenges of information technology. For those in employment who wish to apply their learning to their own practice we have included an optional work-based project module. Whatever modules you chose you will find you are part of a dynamic learning community which offers a high level of individual tutor support.
To complete the MA Criminology and Social Justice you will need to take three core modules and two optional modules.
• Justice equips students to recognise the main ideas, questions, controversies and interests that have shaped our understanding of justice and its relevance to contemporary society. Students will explore both criminal and social justice, how they interrelate and how structural inequalities and discrimination impact on both
• Criminological Theory & Social Research Methods is designed to equips students to recognise the main ideas, questions, controversies and interests that have shaped contemporary criminological thought. It will also prepare students to undertake their dissertation. Emphasis is placed on research ethics and the politics of social research.
• Dissertation is the culmination of the MA. With the support of an experience researcher as your supervisor you will undertake a substantial piece of original independent research. (For students in employment in a relevant organisation there is the option of doing a 60-credit work-based research project instead of a traditional dissertation)
The current portfolio of option modules includes:
• Local Justice: Criminal and Social Justice in Birmingham
• Global Justice: Borders in a Borderless World
• Representations of Justice: Portraying Crime and Justice
• Work-Based Project Not all these Modules run every year and the offer will change as we develop new modules to reflect the research expertise of staff.
• Full or Part-time pathways
• Taught by research active staff
• Reflects Newman University’s teaching and learning philosophy and commitment to social justice
• Opportunities for workplace learning and research
• Critical focus providing an excellent preparation for students wishing to progress onto research degrees
• Individual and small group teaching (currently on a Wednesday afternoon/evening with two full day Saturday workshops.
Law and Social Justice is an interdisciplinary programme designed for those who are already practitioners or aspire to become a practitioner in the field of law or areas such as the NHS, social services and beyond.
This course allows you to advance your knowledge and understanding of concepts, policies and practices at the forefront of the contemporary understanding of law and social justice. You will learn in an interdisciplinary setting with the expertise of the School of Law and the School of Sociology and Social Policy.
Throughout the course we will encourage you to:
Research and professional insight
As members of the School of Law and the Centre for Law and Social Justice, you will be part of a lively academic environment and will be encouraged to take advantage of the many co-curricula opportunities available.
The Centre for Law and Social Justice holds regular events including 'The Centre for Law and Social Justice Public Seminar Series', during which UK and international scholars give papers to practitioners, academics, students, social policy advocates and others.
Core modules will provide a sound understanding of social justice theories as well as developing competence in the exercise of socio-legal research methods and skills. The seminar teaching approach will also require you to be proactive and develop the necessary oral presentational skills.
A large range of optional modules ensures that you have both a thorough grounding in the key principles, concepts and literature that underpins the broad field of law and social justice as well as the opportunity to focus your study on specific segments of the discipline most relevant to your interest.
Essay assessments for each module will develop your ability to be self-directed and to think critically and analytically. The dissertation will allow you to develop and demonstrate your ability to work as an independent and proactive scholar and an in depth knowledge and critical understanding of Law and Social Justice in relation to your particular research question(s).
The MSc in Social Justice and Community Action is a joint initiative of the Moray House School of Education and the Global Justice Academy.
This part-time, online masters programme is designed to equip you with the knowledge and practical skills to help you make positive social change. It offers you the opportunity to critically engage with foundational ideas and debates about equality, fairness, power, democracy and citizenship and consider a range of actions in communities in policy and legislation processes and in organisations for the real world application of these ideas.
You will join a vibrant and supportive digital community of staff and students and study at the times and in the places that suit you best. The programme will be taught through a rich mix of online methods, including podcasts, group work and independent study. Specialist IT skills are not required.
This programme will be taught through a mix of online methods including podcasts, group work and independent study. You will complete four compulsory courses, two option courses and a supervised dissertation project.
Compulsory courses:
Option courses:
You may also choose from other online courses provided elsewhere in the University.
This programme is designed for professionals working on social justice issues in research, policy or grassroots practice and for recent graduates who wish to gain the skills to enter the social justice field.
Possible careers include work on social justice issues in grassroots community practice, public policy development and implementation, and social research in non-governmental organisations and in the public and private sectors across the globe.
Our Global Health & Social Justice course is a unique study pathway that combines the study of social science and anthropology with philosophy. Covering topics such as inequalities in preventable mortality, disease, disability and access to medical care across countries, it will help you to develop advanced skills in the critical analysis and possible solutions for global health inequalities.
The Global Health & Social Justice course will provide you with a demanding study pathway covering dynamic topics within global health. You will explore major issues and debates, as well as develop the capacity for critically assessing the scientific research and practices aiming to address global health inequalities. You with also cover the fundamental aspects relating to philosophical debates about social justice and health equity.
The course offers you flexibility with the choice to study either full or part-time. You will explore a range of required modules such as Designing Quantitative and Qualitative Research, Foundations in Global Health and Social Medicine, Critical Global Health and also Global Health Ethics, plus a range of further required and optional modules depending on your choice of pathways.
The MSc in Global Health & Social Justice is ideal for anyone wishing to develop a rigorous understanding of the dynamic field of global health; it is suitable for health professionals, policy makers, philanthropists, those who work in governmental and non-governmental organizations, and potential PhD students and academics.
It provides access to the major issues and debates in global health, develops capacity for critically assessing the scientific research and practices aiming to address global health inequalities. It also grounds students in the philosophical debates about social justice and health equity.
Teaching
We will teach you through a combination of lectures and seminars, and you will typically have 15 hours of this per 15-credit module over a 10 week term. We also expect you to undertake 135 hours of independent study for each module. Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.
Assessment
The department assesses students on a combination of essays, written examinations, oral presentations and the dissertation. The nature of assessment varies by module.
Graduates from this course have gone on to the following destintations:
How we live with difference is the key issue of our time. Issues relating to race and ethnicity, whether immigration, Islamophobia, #blacklivesmatter, or media diversity, are at the forefront of public debate. The MA in Race, Media and Social Justice will equip you with critical and theoretical tools to unpack and deepen your understanding of contemporary debates on race, ethnicity and racism.
Goldsmiths is a centre of pioneering critical race scholarship and you will be taught by leading figures in the field. This interdisciplinary degree will introduce you to a range of different theoretical and philosophical approaches to race and ethnicity, including postcolonial and critical race theories, poststructuralist approaches, and theories of intersectionality.
The focus on the cultural industries which underpins the degree enables you to apply these theories to understand why representations of race and ethnicity take the shape that they do in news, film and social media. A series of industry talks from BAME practitioners working in the industry is designed to expand your practical as well as academic insight into issues of diversity in the media and other sectors.
This MA is taught across two departments - Media and Communications and Sociology – that are recognised as world-leading in their respective disciplines. As a postgraduate student you will join the active intellectual community at Goldsmiths, while learning the skills that you will be able to apply to a range of careers, from media, to policy, to charity/NGOs and other forms of social enterprise.
Core modules
You will study these core modules:
Option modules
You also take 60 credits of option modules from within the Departments of Media and Communications and Sociology, or relevant modules from other departments at Goldsmiths such as Theatre and Performance, Politics and International Relations, English and Comparative Literature, Centre for Cultural Studies and Anthropology.
Examples of modules that may be of particular interest to students on this course include:
Assessment consists of coursework, extended essays, reports, presentations, practice based projects or essays/logs, group projects, reflective essays, and seen and unseen written examinations.
This degree will equip you with the ability to recognise and negotiate sensitive ethical issues in research and representation. You will also hone your ability to listen and speak to diverse audiences.
As a graduate from this degree you will develop excellent critical thinking and teamwork skills. The practical and research elements of the course will also equip you with the skills to design and implement projects. These transferable skills are highly valued by employers across many sectors.
The knowledge and skills you will graduate with from this degree will mean you are well-equipped to enter a diverse range of roles, particularly in relation to issues of equality, diversity and social justice. This could include governmental and public administration roles, NGO and charity work, policy work, and business and communications. Moreover, the emphasis on media will suit graduates interested in careers in creative and cultural industries.
This programme examines global migrations and social justice by addressing questions such as who moves and why, who is allowed to settle and where, what are the roles of states, institutions and civil societies in these processes. It provides advanced training in social science research methodology to fulfil Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) postgraduate research training requirements.
You will take five core courses and one optional course as well as complete a dissertation or a practical project.
You may also be able to choose from courses in the other subjects in the School of Social & Political Sciences.
On completing the programme, you will be equipped to apply your learning to a wide range of opportunities locally, nationally and internationally. This might include working with policy-making bodies, local and national governments, community organisations, NGOs and third sector organisations. The emphasis on applied learning makes this programme relevant to a range of professional settings where graduates may be working with asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, for example in education, social work, housing, equalities, campaigning and advocacy work, community development, human rights advocacy work, social research. The MRes also provides the necessary foundations to students considering further study through doctoral research.
This structured MA programme is undertaken entirely online over two years for part-time students and over one year for full-time student. This programme is not available for full-time students until October 2018
This is a course with a strong research ethos and will be of interest to anyone who wishes to gain research expertise as well as develop knowledge of social justice issues. Such research experience will be particularly useful for students who wish to learn how to intervene in education systems to promote social justice, and for those who wish to develop research-led policy agendas in their own institutions.
The programme provides a thorough introduction to issues in social justice research, a solid grounding in research methods and writing skills, and extended opportunities from early in the programme to work with an expert academic supervisor. It is a course intended primarily for working professionals worldwide with a strong interest in social justice and education. Students and tutors work together entirely online to explore a range of social justice issues.
Formative and summative assessment including mini-research proposals, a small-scale research project, critical analysis and reviews of policy documents, a dissertation.
Develop the skills and understanding to tackle the global challenges of development, social justice and sustainability.
Whether you are a graduate aiming to make a difference in the world, or a professional wishing to deepen your knowledge and critical thinking, this course is for you.
You will explore the political, economic and social forces that promote and prevent social and environmental justice around the world. These include people’s struggles for wellbeing and sustainability and the visions that inspire them; and the roles of state, society and market actors. Transcending geographical binaries of Global North and South, you will consider areas of complementarity and trade-off between economic development, human wellbeing and environmental sustainability.
This specialist master’s combines skills and knowledge of international development with an in-depth focus on social justice, wellbeing and sustainability. Innovative learning approaches promote investigation of particular cases and issues drawing out connections and contradictions between different actors, analytical perspectives and across global, regional, national, and local scales. The course provides you with the opportunity to apply what you have learned in a placement leading to a work-based project.
You will leave the course with:
You will join the Department of Social & Policy Studies here at Bath. We are ranked in the top 50 for Development Studies in the QS World University Rankings 2017.
Our staff are all active in this field, research-led, and united in their commitment to finding better solutions to the world’s development problems.
We encourage diversity of intake, in experience, qualifications and interests, to stimulate the richness of experience and learning.
This course provides an excellent grounding for careers in social, economic and environmental justice in both global North and global South. It provides the core skills required in a range of policy, communication, advocacy, research and programmatic roles. These may also be used to support social movements, foster corporate social responsibility, promote social enterprise or advance regulatory activities by government or the third sector.
Course structure
This course lasts 1 year. It starts in September 2018 and ends in 2019. Induction week starts on 24 September 2018.
Occasionally we make changes to our programmes in response to, for example, feedback from students, developments in research and the field of studies, and the requirements of accrediting bodies. You will be advised of any significant changes to the advertised programme, in accordance with our Terms and Conditions.
The total number of credits for the taught-stage is 60 credits, with most units being 12 Credits. A typical week would approximately average between 6-10 hours of classes or seminars a week depending on options taken. The dissertation or practicum are 30 credits.
Units
Compulsory course units
These compulsory units are currently being studied by our students, or are proposed new units.
Semester 1
Semester 2
Summer
Optional course units
These optional units are currently being studied by our students, or are proposed new units.
Placement
As an alternative to writing a dissertation, you’ll have the opportunity to undertake a six-week placement (practicum), working with an organisation involved in international development. You'll write a report reflecting on a particular area of professional practice.
Learning and assessment
Learning
Assessment
This programme provides a comprehensive introduction to understanding contemporary research on global migrations and social justice. Unique in Scotland, it addresses questions such as who moves and why, who is allowed to settle and where, what are the roles of states, institutions and civil societies in these processes.
You will take three core and three optional courses as well as complete a dissertation or a practical project. Courses will be delivered via lectures and seminars supported by appropriate multi-media material, such as monographs, videos, podcasts, journal articles, reports and survey data. Coursework will involve project work, workshops and field based activities.
The dissertation options have been designed to bring together practice and academic learning, allowing you to reflect on the experience of being directly and actively engaged with service providers and asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, working alongside them to explore how research may be transformative for organisations, individuals and communities.
You may also be able to choose from courses in the other subjects in the School of Social & Political Sciences.
On completing the programme, you will be equipped to apply your learning to a wide range of opportunities locally, nationally and internationally. This might include working with policy-making bodies, local and national governments, community organisations, NGOs and third sector organisations. The emphasis on applied learning makes this programme relevant to a range of professional settings where graduates may be working with asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, for example in education, social work, housing, equalities, campaigning and advocacy work, community development, human rights advocacy work, social research. It will also provide the necessary foundations for further study through doctoral research.
This MA examines contemporary issues concerning justice. You will learn how to conceptualise and study the possibilities of human rights, going beyond legal formulations to look at the conditions in which human rights claims are made.
Human rights mobilise millions of supporters across borders, inspiring passion and hope. And they operate at and between all the scales involved in globalisation: local, national, international, transnational. They are moral claims to justice. Although often associated with law, human rights are not the same as legal rights – human rights can be claimed where no legal rights are codified, even if changes in the law are invariably called for as part of attempts to realise human rights in practice.
Human rights are carried by different actors:
These different actors are often at odds with each other in defining and defending particular justifications of what human rights are and should be.
In this Masters you will learn about how human rights are constructed, exploring framings of human rights through case studies; and you will begin to practice some of the methodologies and methods that are currently used in NGOs and grassroots activist networks trying to remedy global injustices.
The focus on culture that runs through the programme makes for an emphasis on concrete, situated practices and meanings. Can human rights contribute to a global culture in which injustices figure as ‘wrongs’? Or are human rights invariably skewed, constructing injustices in ways that suit international elites better than they suit people who are suffering? Do human rights do violence to local cultures? Are they an appropriate response to local violence? In this MA we contextualise the study of how human rights are constructed in micro-processes, in the media and face-to-face in relation to debates over macro-structures, processes of globalisation and the institutions of global governance.
In terms of social justice, the MA is set up to study human rights beyond narrow, legalistic definitions. We look at what really makes a difference in terms of realising human rights in practice. Can human rights really be constructed in ways that challenge and overturn established social structures? Can rights be claimed in such a way that they can really protect us as human beings against the ‘creative destruction’ of global capitalism, state repression, the subjugation of women, and hatred and violence against minorities of all kinds – sexual, ethnic, religious?
This course covers the following disciplines: sociology, politics, anthropology, law, geography, english, literature, cultural studies, criminology
The MA in Human Rights, Culture and Social Justice is taught in the Department of Sociology, where there are a number of people who are working on areas broadly related to human rights as well as directly on how human rights are constructed and claimed.
In the first part of the course you will take the core module ‘Constructing Human Rights’ in which you will be introduced to debates over the possibilities of human rights, different ways of conceiving culture and the role that is played by a diverse range of organisations involved in challenging injustices connected to globalisation. You will also consider practical attempts to realise human rights.
You will take two short, skills-oriented modules 'Researching Human Rights' and 'Organising Human Rights' in which you will be introduced to methods and skills that will be of direct practical use in working for NGOs (eg evaluating user engagement, team-building and decision-making through role play, tracing the media impact of a campaign).
In the second term, you will choose among a number of options. You can choose to take 'Practicing Human Rights' and make use of some of the skills you have learned in a placement. Students who choose this option find and negotiate a placement in an organisation or a grassroots campaign whose work can be related to human rights and attend a series of workshops that allow them to reflect on the practical work, on their professional skills and on the broader significance of their observations.
While the core modules of the programme are taught by lecturers in Sociology, you may choose your option modules from those that are run here or in other departments, including Politics, Media and Communications, and Anthropology.
Finally you will write a dissertation based on research you will carry out, possibly related to the NGO or network you have worked in, and making use of a range of concepts and methods taught in the Department. You will be supervised by someone with expertise and interest in the topic you are studying and the methodologies and methods you plan to use.
Core modules
Option modules
You will choose option modules worth 60 credits in Sociology, Media and Communications, the Centre for Cultural Studies, English and Comparative Literature, Anthropology, Politics, Music and Educational Studies.
Assessment consists of coursework, extended essays, reports, presentations, practice based projects or essays/logs, group projects, reflective essays, and seen and unseen written examinations.
As issues of globalisation and justice are frequently in the media, and government policy in the UK, US, and elsewhere in Europe is now supposed to be guided by considerations of humanitarianism and human rights, there is a need for graduates with knowledge of human rights.
There are openings for careers in organisations including charities, humanitarian and human rights NGOs and even multi-national corporations, many of which are now concerned with their image in terms of human rights.
Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.
Study for your specialist masters degree at a University ranked 13th in the UK for Law.
New master’s courses in International Development launched at the University of Bath
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