Master of Studies (MSt) in Advanced Subject Teaching
This unique new postgraduate degree has been designed by the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education in association with the Faculties of Education, English and History and The Prince’s Teaching Institute. It has been designed to help English and History teachers develop their subject knowledge and enhance their professional and academic standing. It will provide a two-year, part-time route to a full University of Cambridge Master’s degree.
When you embark on this innovative programme, you will choose an aspect of your subject which you would like to explore further or perhaps tackle for the first time. You will then study it both academically and pedagogically, so that your new knowledge and skills can be put to effective use in the classroom.
One of the aims of the programme is to focus on areas of the curriculum that are under-represented in schools, not least because teachers themselves may be less familiar with them. We hope that successful graduates of this MSt will go on to make major contributions to syllabus development not only in their schools, but also at national and international level.
The course has been designed to be accessible to teachers both in the UK and world-wide. Teaching and supervision is offered through a combination of residential teaching in Cambridge and online tuition.
Watch a short film in which four teachers describe their experience of the course.
Aims of the programme
- To provide professionally relevant teaching and learning informed by research.
- To extend and deepen students' subject knowledge and develop their understanding of specific ideas, pedagogical practices and learning theories.
- To encourage a commitment to intellectual challenge and evidence-based teaching informed by the latest conceptual and theoretical knowledge.
- To develop students' intellectual, practical and transferable skills related to subject specialist teaching.
- To help students to critique and evaluate current pedagogical practices in their subject area and to conduct systematic research relevant to their professional practice.
- To encourage critical thinking related to subject specialist knowledge, pedagogical practices and theories of learning.
- To encourage students to develop as reflective practitioners in terms of subject specialist knowledge, skills and pedagogical practices.
The MSt is a research degree, and successful completion of the MSt at a high grade may allow you to progress to a EdD or PhD either at the University of Cambridge or another institution.
Teaching and learning
The course starts in August with preliminary reading and formative assessment, and teaching is provided through a combination of residential teaching in Cambridge (three concentrated teaching blocks in the first year and one in the second year), online tuition and individual supervision.
The first year consists of three taught modules:
- Pre-course and induction (online)
- Module 1: The history and development of the subject (residential 4-6 September 2015 and online)
- Module 2: The development of new subject knowledge (residential 6-8 November 2015 and online)
- Module 3: From academic to classroom-based research (residential 19-21 February 2016 and online)
- Module 4: Being a teacher-researcher (residential 10-12 June 2016 and online)
In the second year, you will undertake a research project on a topic of your own choice, culminating in a 15,000 to 18,000-word dissertation.
Please visit the University of Cambridge website for more information on the course content and structure.