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MA Creative Education

Students working with technician in the letterpress workshop
Students working with technician in the letterpress workshop
Mei Zhang (Study Abroad Student), Natalie Gibson (Tutor) and Rita Kumari (Specialist Print and Dye Technician and Associate Lecturer), 2013, Study Abroad, UAL | Photograph: Alys Tomlinson

Join our community of creative educators to undertake a creative education research project to promote social justice and enhance education at UAL.

Start date: January 2027
Course length: 2 years (part-time)

Applications open: Monday 1 June 2026
Apply by: Friday 18 September 2026 (12 noon)

Course overview

This course is designed for UAL staff who teach and/or support student learning within the University, who have already completed a higher education focussed PgCert and wish to pursue an educational enquiry in more depth. The MA Creative Education aims to develop a culture of educational research at UAL and through this, make a positive impact upon student experience.

The MA Creative Education will inspire and support you to enquire into an aspect of arts higher education that intrigues you. You will develop a research question and seek out pedagogic research relevant to your chosen focus. You will use this and your new methodological understanding to develop your own year-long educational research enquiry. Having completed the enquiry, the final unit of the course then support you to disseminate your findings to a chosen audience and evaluate the impact. This act of externalising your research project is designed to positively support your professional development beyond the duration of the course.

Rochelle Saunders, MA Arts and Cultural Enterprise, Central Saint Martins, 2020, © Alys Tomlinson

Course units

Unit 4: Approaches to Educational Research

This unit introduces you to the world of educational research in the context of creative education. You will learn key research terminology and important philosophical theory that will enable you to understand how your individual belief systems and prior lived experiences shape your approach to research. You will develop a proposal for your creative education research project.

Unit 5: Educational Research Project

This one-year project provides an opportunity to conduct an in-depth investigation into a creative education topic of your choice that has significance for your professional practice. You will spend the year learning about your topic through primary and secondary research, enacting the research stages identified in your proposal with ethical awareness.

You can choose to articulate your research as either text only, or text accompanied by a body of your creative practice. Whichever mode you choose, you will select and critically analyse existing research relevant to your topic and your chosen methodological approach.

Unit 6: Dissemination and Evaluation

This unit requires you to take your research project and share it with a relevant audience from the wider world of creative education. You will choose how to do this in a way that is both aligned to your topic and meaningful for your continuing professional development ambitions.

Course team

  • Woman with sunglasses
    Image courtesy of Steph Fuller

    Steph Fuller

    Course Leader Creative Education

  • John O'Reilly
    Image courtesy of John O'Reilly

    John O'Reilly

    Senior Lecturer Creative Education

  • Dr Frederico Matos
    Image courtesy of Frederico Matos

    Frederico Matos  

    Senior Lecturer Creative Education

  • Rachel Marsden head shot
    Rachel Marsden

    Rachel Marsden

    Senior Lecturer Creative Education

Learning and teaching methods

  • seminars, workshops and guest sessions
  • regular study retreats
  • optional peer and tutor review
  • online and in-person learning experiences
  • independent study and reflective practice.

Mode of study

Entry requirements and how to apply

Applicants must currently be employed at UAL and have completed the PgCert in Creative Education or comparable academic credit accrued within the last 5 years or prior experiential learning.

Alumni case studies