The School of Education and Lifelong Learning was formed in 2003 as a merger between the Department of Education and the Centre for Continuing Education.
The School offers both MPhil and PhD degrees. These are research-based degrees, in which students undertake individual research projects under close academic supervision from within the department. They can be studied full or part-time.
The MPhil normally takes one year of full-time research (two years part-time), after which students complete and submit a dissertation of around 60,000 words.
The PhD normally takes three years of full-time research (five years part-time), after which students complete and submit a dissertation of 80-100,000 words.
Research supervision is available in a number of areas, including childhood studies, rural education and pedagogic research.
Some of the research themes within the Department include:
Pedagogic research including:
learning and teaching
subject knowledge and understanding
ICT assessment
assessment for learning
achievement
bilingual context
Childhood Studies including:
how children learn; gender studies
achievement
health and wellbeing studies
healthy schools
curriculum development in Wales and elsewhere in the UK
special educational needs
Rural Education including:
partnerships in education;
community education
National and local educational policy and the impact on small schools
14-19 Learning Pathway
adult education
Modules September start - 2025
Please note: The modules listed below are those currently intended for delivery during the next academic year and may be subject to change. They are included here to give an indication of how the course is structured.
* Also available partially or entirely through the medium of Welsh
Student Testimonials
Dev Raj Acharya - PhDNepal
I'm researching measuring the effectiveness of delivering sexual health education in secondary schools in Nepal.I became interested in this subject after spending over seven years working with young people in Nepal to promote their sexual and reproductive health. Before my PhD I did an MSc in Public Health and my research title was ‘Parent and Pupil Involvement in Developing and Delivering Sex Education Programmes in Scottish Secondary Schools.’ It was based on secondary data gathered by the University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian. The combination of these experiences and knowledge attracted me to conduct research into the sexual and reproductive health of young people. I feel the additional skills that I've gained since joining Aberystwyth University are: Designing a robust study proposal; thematic analysis for qualitative data; more complex data analysis approaches for quantitative data using SPSS; knowledge on mixed study design; and presentation skills. I would highly encourage anyone to join Aberystwyth University if they are serious about their future career in educational research. This is definitely a good place to start your ambitions. After my PhD I’d like to work as an educational / social researcher for a Non-Governmental Organisation e.g. the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Population Fund, UNICEF.
Dev Raj Acharya - PhDNepal