Prelims

Half Title

Completing your EdD

Praise for ‘Completing your EdD’

Completing Your EdD: The Essential Guide to the Doctor of Education is designed to support anyone undertaking, or thinking about undertaking, a Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD). This book focusses on supporting EdD students at each stage of their study, from understanding the structure of EdDs to providing helpful information and guidance relating to the requirements of the thesis and preparing for the viva voce examination and beyond.

A particular strength of this book is that it starts from the perspective that the student is a complete beginner, making it accessible to those new to doctoral study. Completing Your EdD: The Essential Guide to the Doctor of Education addresses issues relating to several aspects of the EdD with which students frequently struggle including, for example, issues relating to understanding the essential components of the literature review, understanding what developing a theoretical framework really means and developing insights into the requirements of the final EdD thesis. This book covers important ground relating to the different chapters which traditionally make up an EdD thesis, as well as information about the supervisory support that can be expected. It also suggests ways in which students can share their research and develop a research profile following the successful completion of their EdD. Each chapter poses reflective questions to help the reader reflect critically on different aspects of their doctoral work. Case studies and real-life examples of EdD student experiences are also included, providing valuable insights into some of the situations doctoral students are likely to encounter and the factors that need to be considered at different stages of the doctorate.

The authors bring a wealth of experience in leading Professional Doctorate programmes and doctoral supervision and examining. This book provides essential reading to help students understand what an EdD entails. Through providing helpful guidance which addresses many of the issues and concerns frequently raised by EdD students, this book is also a valuable resource for EdD programme leaders and supervisors.

Carol Robinson, Professor of Children’s Rights, Edge Hill University, UK.

We often use the metaphor of journeys in education, and doctoral study has been likened to a spiritual quest or voyage of discovery. For many, this will be a journey into the unknown, a journey without maps, and whilst there may be fellow travellers along the way, it is essentially a solo sojourn. Written by experienced supervisors of professional doctorate programmes in education (EdD), this edited collection is an essential guide for not only for those about to embark on a EdD but also those who have begun their studies.

This edited guide opens with a chapter designed to enable the reader to understand the distinctive nature of an EdD and how to select a programme to meet their individual needs. Subsequent chapters consider the essential components of a doctorate, such as writing the literature review; developing a theoretical framework; research design, methodological approaches and data collection methods; and data analysis. The guide also usefully includes chapters on research ethics, managing the supervisory relationship and how best to prepare for and perform at the viva. The final chapter, which focuses on what to do, and how you might feel post qualification, draws on the experiences of some of the authors. The chapter I return to most frequently is: ‘Getting over the finish line’ which provides constructive advice on bringing the various elements – chapters and sections – of the thesis together as a cohesive whole with the metaphorical ‘golden thread’.

Each of the 10 chapters is written in an accessible style, with judicious use of call-out boxes and bulleted lists which break up the text; in some instances, posing reflective questions and exercises; and providing short case studies and suggested further reading. When research becomes ‘curiouser and curiouser’ and you become lost in a sea of texts, caught up in theoretical paradigm wars, dipping back into the guide will help you regain your focus and get you over the finish line.

Anthony Hudson, Doctoral Student, University of East London, UK.

Title Page

Completing your EdD

The Essential Guide to the Doctor of Education

Edited By

Iona Burnell

Jodi Roffey-Barentsen

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

Editorial matter and selection © 2020 Iona Burnell and Jodi Roffey-Barentsen. Individual chapters © 2020 the authors Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78973-566-6 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78973-563-5 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78973-565-9 (Epub)

Contents

Author Biographies

Dr Iona Burnell is a Senior Lecturer at the Cass School of Education and Communities at the University of East London. She currently teaches on the undergraduate Education Studies and the Doctor of Education programmes. Her teaching background is in Further Education where she taught Access to Higher Education (HE) courses. She completed her EdD at The University of Sheffield in 2013.

Dr Jim Crawley has worked for 40 years in and with the Further Education and Skills sector, in teacher education, adult and community learning, education studies, professional development and basic skills. He co-ordinated the Bath Spa University Post Compulsory Teacher Education programme, which gained two consecutive outstanding grades in OfSTED Initial Teacher Education inspections. He is now a Visiting Teaching and Learning Fellow.

Dr Jane Creaton is Associate Dean (Academic) for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and a Reader in Higher Education at the University of Portsmouth. She has been involved in the development, design and delivery of professional doctorates since 2007 and is a passionate advocate of the contribution that professional doctorates can make to transform the personal and professional lives of students.

Professor Gerry Czerniawski is Professor of Education at the Cass School of Education and Communities at the University of East London. He runs the doctoral programmes (PhD and Professional Doctorate in Education) at Cass and teaches on Initial Teacher Education courses. He is also a Council Member of the International Forum for Teacher Educator Development, the Chair of the British Curriculum Forum, Lead Editor of the BERA Blog and a Trustee and Director of the British Educational Research Association.

Dr Kate Hoskins is a Reader in Education at Brunel University London. Her academic publications are concerned with issues of policy, identity and inequalities in further and higher education. She is the author of two books, Women and Success: Professors in the UK Academy (Trentham Books) and Youth Identities, Education and Employment: Exploring Post-16 and Post-18 Opportunities, Access and Policy (Palgrave).

Dr Richard Malthouse is a Senior Lecturer at the University of East London. He teaches research methods in education, undertakes seminars for the undergraduate Education Studies programme and is a Supervisor for doctoral students. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority and of the Society for Education and Training. To date, he has published 33 books, many of which are dual-language publications.

Dr Leena Helavaara Robertson is Associate Professor in the Department of Education at Middlesex University, London. As a former primary/early years teacher, she has extensive experience of teaching multilingual children in schools and early years settings and working with families and community teachers. For many years, she led early years teacher education programmes in London; currently, she leads the professional doctorate programme in her department and supervises doctoral students.

Dr Jodi Roffey-Barentsen is Senior Lecturer at the School of Education at the University of Brighton. She is Programme Leader of undergraduate programmes in Early Childhood Education and contributes to postgraduate programmes including the MA and EdD, supervises EdD and PhD students and has experience in viva voce examinations. Furthermore, she co-leads the Children and Young People’s Voice and Education Research and Enterprise Group.

Dr Sue Taylor is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Associate Professor of Doctoral Education at University College London. As Director of the EdD programme in the Centre for Doctoral Education, she has facilitated a number of changes to the EdD and was involved in restructuring the programme to enhance both student experience and progression. She has been instrumental in removing barriers to postgraduate research as part of the widening participation agenda. She designed and developed a pre-doctoral training programme that paved the way for mature professionals to access the EdD.

Professor Mike Watts is Professor of Education at Brunel University London, conducting ‘naturalistic’ people-orientated research principally in science education and in scholarship in higher education. He enjoys exploring new technologies for learning and writing about creative pedagogical approaches to learning and teaching. He is the Director of Internationalisation for the Department of Education at Brunel, teaches at all levels and currently supervises 14 PhD students.

Dr Paula Nadine Zwozdiak-Myers is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Programme Director for the Doctor of Education (EdD) at Brunel University London. Since undertaking this role in 2012, she successfully steered the validation of a new EdD programme (launched in 2017) which features a new approach to the taught component placing emphasis on a progressively staged curriculum that enables students to become more thoughtful about the complexities inherent within the research–improvement–practice nexus.

Foreword

Gina Wisker

Professor of Contemporary Literature and Higher Education at the University of Brighton and Director of Brighton’s Centre for Learning and Teaching.

Many books and articles guide us with the doctorate. However, few offer insights on the doctorate based in professional practice. One of the strengths of this book on Education Doctorates, as professional doctorates, is its accessibility of structure and direct address. Another is its insider knowledge, which is turned in each chapter to clarify the shape, expectations and practice of the EdD, demystifying its structures and taking readers step by step through the expectations and the ways of working with the literature review, theories, ethics, research design, data analysis and writing for completion and the examination. It also tackles the practices of working effectively with your supervisor and directions after the doctorate, a contribution Sue Taylor notes, of the supervision relationship, that ‘As mature professionals in demanding professional roles, you need particular support and guidance along your EdD journey’. The time pressures and demands, the relationship between that professional practice and the demands of researching it, often as insiders, to make effective research-based change, all of this lies behind the book as a whole. This is an accessible, well considered, well structured, essential insider guide.