No 6168
Thursday 26 November 2009
Vol cxli No 9
pp. 254–289
The Council and the General Board beg leave to report to the University as follows:
1. In this Report the Council and the General Board propose the introduction of a professional doctorate in Education, titled the Ed.D., as an additional form of doctoral provision to supplement the existing arrange-ments for the Ph.D. and Eng.D. Degrees.
2. The Ed.D. is a doctorate that develops the capability of individuals to work within a professional context, researching and theorizing their own pro-fessional practice in schools or other professional contexts. It is internationally recognized as the academic qualification for aspiring or current leaders in the professional field of Education. The degree is offered, for example, by Harvard University and all but two of the mostly highly rated UK Higher Education Institutions in the field of Education in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. The Regent House will be aware of the Eng.D. which was introduced in Cambridge in 2005 (Reporter, 2004–05, p. 395).
3. The Council and the General Board emphasize that the academic standards of the Ed.D. would be the same as the Ph.D. It would, however, have distinctive characteristics that would enable participants to focus predominantly on the generation and development of knowledge which is directly relevant to educational professionals. It has been designed to enable participants to develop doctoral level research combined with
•advanced knowledge and understanding of specialist areas within education based on applied and independent research;
•a critical understanding and experience of applying research methods and the capacity to judge their appropriateness for educational enquiry at the doctoral level;
•the organizational and practical skills necessary to plan, implement, analyse, and report educational research successfully at doctoral level; and
•the ability to contribute to the development of policy and practice, informed by research evidence, in educational contexts.
4. The course for the Ed.D. Degree would comprise a five-year part-time programme of advanced study and research that, while satisfying the University’s criteria for the award of a doctorate, is designed to meet the specific needs of a professional group. Candidates for the Ed.D. would be practising teachers, managers, or policy makers who wish to gain and use research skills in order to modify and improve practice and policy, and for whom a full-time research degree would not be appropriate. The regulations will parallel those for a part-time Ph.D. and there will be highly selective entry criteria consistent with those for the Ph.D.; that is, a minimum requirement of a good first degree and a Master’s degree in an education or related discipline with an average grade of 68 per cent. Candidates with recent prior and appropriate research training could be credited accordingly by the Degree Committee.
5. In order to qualify for the award of the degree, a candidate would be required to complete satisfactorily a prescribed programme of practice-based research methods training and to provide evidence of a significant original contribution to study in the field of education through a research project which draws on the candidate’s professional experience. The research project would be carried out in an educational establishment or other appropriate professional context, under the supervision of a member of the Faculty. Final examination would be by thesis and written or oral examination.
6. The Faculty of Education has a strong and successful tradition of working in research and teaching partnerships with schools in the East of England and nationally. The introduction of the Ed.D. will further strengthen partnerships and contribute to the University’s outreach focus and widening participation agenda. Market research among participants in the M.Ed. and postgraduate Practitioner Professional Development (PPD) programmes, and among other interested parties in the eastern region, indicates that the proposed Ed.D. would recruit strongly. The primary interest in the Ed.D. has come from senior educational leaders within the educational system, in schools largely within the region. The Faculty has had expressions of interest by headteachers and school senior management/leadership teams in large, high-performing comprehensive schools with strong national reputations who are keen to support the professional and academic progression of their senior staff. The Faculty intends that a cohort of 30 participants would be recruited to the programme at the outset, and anticipates that an intake of this order every other year will be sustainable in the long term, leading to between 60 and 90 registered Ed.D. students at any one time.
7. The proposal to develop the Ed.D. as an alternative route to the Ph.D. for students who have completed the M.Ed. and M.Phil. programmes within the Faculty of Education is rooted in the Faculty’s Strategic Plan. This was originally prepared in response to the proposed convergence of the University’s School of Education with the teaching and research interests of Homerton College in August 2001. Subsequent modifications to this Strategic Plan envisage an expansion of the number of higher degree students within the Faculty, achieved partly through the expansion of the numbers of students undertaking Masters’ degrees. It is anticipated that these numbers will expand further if the University accepts the notion of a part-time Ed.D. The September 2009 consultation on the REF (Research Excellence Framework) 2013 demonstrates HEFCE’s commitment to assess the demonstrable benefits to society of research by including an impact element in the REF. The Ed.D. will allow the Faculty to continue to make an impact in regional, national, and international educational policy and practice. The majority of Ed.D. students will be practising professionals in the field of education who will be conducting research in practice, leading to direct opportunities for innovative social, educational, economic, and policy-driven impact. The proposal for the Ed.D. was endorsed in principle during the General Board Review of Learning and Teaching at the Faculty in 2006–07 and has been approved by the Faculty Board, the Council of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and has the support of the Senior Tutors’ Committee.
8. The new programme will be delivered from within existing staffing and resources available to the Faculty, although it will entail some reallocation of staff workload to generate the necessary supervisory capacity. This proposal is closely linked to existing strategic plans for the undergraduate, P.G.C.E., and part-time M.Phil. programmes. Fees would be consistent with those for the part-time Ph.D.
9. As with the Eng.D. the Council and the General Board will look to the Board of Graduate Studies, in consultation with the Degree Committee for Education, to make the distinctive characteristics of the Ed.D. clear in publicly available information and in the guidance given to students, supervisors, and examiners. They will also look to the Board to put in place appropriate quality assurance procedures which are consistent with those sections of the QAA’s Code of Practice which are concerned with postgraduate research programmes.
10. Regulations proposed for the Ed.D. Degree are appended as the Annex to this Report. Consequent amendments to certain other regulations are necessary and are set out in the recommendations.
11. The Council and the General Board accordingly recommend:
I. That a degree of Doctor of Education be established in the University with effect from 1 October 2010, to be governed by the general regulations for the degree, as set out in the Annex to this Report.
II. That, if Recommendation I is approved, certain regulations be amended, with effect from the same date, as follows:
(a) SCHEDULE L to the Statutes (Degrees of the University).
By inserting the degree of Doctor of Education under the list of Primary Degrees.
(b) The regulations for University Composition Fees (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 159):
Regulation 2.
By inserting into the list of examinations or qualifications: ‘Doctor of Education’.
By inserting the following entry in Table 1 after the entry for the Eng.D. Degree:
|
Qualification |
Annual fee
(£)
|
|
|
Home/EU/Island students (2010–11) |
Overseas students (2010–11) |
|
|
Ed.D. Degree |
(not yet available) |
10,752 |
(c) The regulations for forms of presentation for degrees (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 183):
Regulation 1.
By amending the heading of the paragraph relating to Doctorates so as to read:
For the degree of Doctor of Education, Engineering, Law, Letters, Medicine, Music, Philosophy, Science, or Veterinary Medicine
(d) The Schedule appended to the regulations for forms of presentation for degrees and forms of admission to degrees (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 186):
By adding at the end of the Schedule the following entry:
For the Ed.D. Degree Doctoris in Educatione
(e) The regulations for the order of seniority of graduates (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 187):
By inserting after the entry for Doctors of Engineering the entry ‘Doctors of Education’.
(f) The regulations for academical dress (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 188):
By inserting under the subtitle Black Gowns, after the entry relating to the Eng.D. Degree, the following entry:
Ed.D.: the Ph.D. gown but with four buttons placed in a horizontal row above the Doctors lace;
By inserting under the subtitle Hoods, in the first line after the abbreviation ‘Eng.D.’ the abbreviation ‘or Ed.D.’, and after the entry relating to the Eng.D. Degree, the following entry:
Ed.D.: of black corded silk lined with light blue silk, the hood part-lined with scarlet cloth, four inches (10 cm) deep;
By inserting under the subtitle Festal Gowns, after the entry relating to the Eng.D. Degree, the following entry:
Ed.D.: the Ed.D. black gown but with a facing of scarlet cloth, four inches (10 cm) wide the full length of the front.
(g) The general regulations for admission as a Graduate Student (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 436):
Regulation 5(b).
By adding in lines 2 and 3 after the words ‘Eng.D. Degree’ the words ‘or Ed.D. Degree’ in each case.
Regulation 5(g).
By inserting in line 2 after the words ‘Eng.D. Degree,’ the words ‘or Ed.D. Degree,’.
Regulation 6.
By inserting after the abbreviation ‘Eng.D.,’ the abbreviation ‘Ed.D.,’.
Regulation 7.
By inserting in lines 5 and 6 after the words ‘regulations for the Ph.D., M.Sc., and M.Litt. Degrees,’ the words ‘and Ed.D. Degree’.
Regulation 8.
By inserting in Regulation 8(b) after the words ‘Eng.D. Degree’ the words ‘or Ed.D. Degree’.
Regulation 9.
By inserting in line 4 after the abbreviation ‘Ph.D.,’ the abbreviation ‘Ed.D.,’.
Regulation 11(a).
By inserting in line 3 after the words ‘ regulations for the Ph.D., M.Sc., and M.Litt. Degrees,’ the words ‘and for the Ed.D. Degree,’.
Regulation 14(b)(ii).
By inserting in line 3 after the words ‘ regulations for the Ph.D., M.Sc., and M.Litt. Degrees,’ the words ‘and for the Ed.D. Degree,’.
(h) The regulations for the review of the results of examinations for postgraduate qualifications (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 440).
By adding to the Schedule appended to the regulations:
Ed.D. Degree
(i) The regulations for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 565):
Regulation 15.
By inserting in line 3 after the words ‘the degree of Ph.D., M.Sc., or M.Litt.,’ the words ‘or a course of training and research for the degree of Ed.D.’
|
23 November 2009 |
Alison Richard, Vice-Chancellor |
A. M. Donald |
Debbie Lowther |
|
N. Bampos |
David Good |
Rachael Padman |
|
|
Nigel Brown |
Christopher Hum |
David Simon |
|
|
William Brown |
F. P. Kelly |
Joan M. Whitehead |
|
|
M. J. Daunton |
Vanessa V. Lawrence |
|
4 November 2009 |
Alison Richard, Vice-Chancellor |
Andrew Gamble |
J. G. P. Sissons |
|
N. Bampos |
Christopher Gilligan |
Sam Wakeford |
|
|
William Brown |
Rachael Padman |
I. H. White |
|
|
Philip Ford |
J. Rallison |
Yang Xia |
|
|
Simon Franklin |
Jeremy Sanders |
1. In order to qualify for the degree of Doctor of Education a candidate shall be required satisfactorily to complete a course of training prescribed for that degree and provide evidence of a significant original contribution to study in the field of education.
2. Subject to clauses (a)–(c) below, a Graduate Student registered for the degree of Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) shall pursue in the University, and such other places as the Board of Graduate Studies and the Degree Committee for the Faculty of Education shall determine, a part-time course of training and research under supervision for not less than fifteen terms.
The number of terms shall begin with the term from which the student is registered as a candidate for the degree and shall be consecutive except in so far as the student may have been allowed to intermit her or his course under clause (a) below, or except in so far as the Board may have determined that he or she shall not be allowed to count any particular term towards the requirements for the Degree.
(a)The Board, after considering a recommendation by the Degree Committee for the Faculty of Education, may exempt from up to five terms of her or his course a student who is registered as a candidate for the Ed.D. Degree, provided that before admission as a Graduate Student he or she had been engaged
either (i) in full-time or part-time research
or (ii) in other work done after graduation deemed by the Degree Committee and the Board to have provided satisfactory training for the course of research in question.
(b)On account of illness or other sufficient cause, the Board, after considering a recommendation by the Degree Committee, may allow a student to intermit her or his course for one or more terms. Such terms shall not count for any purpose of these regulations except as provided in Regulation 7 of the general regulations for admission as a Graduate Student.
(c)On the recommendation of the Degree Committee, the Board may allow a student who has been approved for, and may have proceeded to, the M.Ed. Degree, or the M.Phil., or M.St., or M.Res. Degree in an appropriate subject to count not more than five terms towards her or his course.
Every application for a dispensation under clauses (a)–(c) shall be made in writing to the Secretary of the Board, and shall be accompanied by a written opinion from the applicant’s Supervisor.
3. On the recommendation of the Board, the Council may grant to a Graduate Student in respect of work done in the University before matriculation, if the student’s matriculation was delayed for sufficient cause, an allowance of terms not exceeding five in number, towards the minimum of fifteen terms required to be kept under Regulation 2.
4. The Board may grant to a Graduate Student, after considering an application supported by the student’s Tutor, up to five terms of research towards satisfying the requirements of Regulation 2, on account of illness or other grave cause. For every term so allowed the student shall pay the appropriate fee as prescribed in Regulation 11 of the general regulations for admission as a Graduate Student.
5. In order to be registered as a candidate for the degree, a Graduate Student must have completed, to the satisfaction of the Board and the Degree Committee, such course-work, undertaken either in the University or at such other place as may have been approved for this purpose, as the Board and Degree Committee may have specified.
6. The course of training and research shall be conducted under such supervisory arrangements as the Board and the Degree Committee shall specify. The Board and the Degree Committee shall satisfy themselves that, during the periods when a student is working outside the University, appropriate arrangements for supervision and for reporting on the student’s progress are in place.
7. The examination for the degree of Ed.D. shall consist of:
(a)the submission of a dissertation embodying the results of the candidate’s approved course of research, which shall be submitted in accordance with the provisions of Regulations 8–10,
(b)an examination, conducted orally or in writing, on the subject of the dissertation and on the general field of knowledge within which it falls, provided that in exceptional circumstances, and on the recommendation of the Degree Committee, the Board may dispense with such an examination.
8. A candidate may submit her or his dissertation not earlier than the first day of the term during which he or she expects to complete the requirements of Regulation 2, provided that, and not later than the last day of the seventh year after he or she was registered, with the permission of the Board, a dissertation may be submitted later than that day. An allowance of terms made by the Council under Regulation 3 shall count in calculating the standing of a student for the purpose of this regulation.
9. In submitting their dissertations, candidates shall state, generally in a preface and specifically in notes or in a bibliography, the sources from which their information is derived, the extent to which they have availed themselves of the work of others, and the portions of the dissertation which are claimed as original. They shall also be required to declare that the dissertation submitted is not substantially the same as any that they may have submitted for a degree or diploma or similar qualification. The work, apart from quotations, shall be written in English. Candidates shall also submit a statement by those responsible for their supervision certifying the conditions under which each candidate’s work was undertaken.
10. Two copies of each candidate’s dissertation, accompanied by the statement referred to in Regulation 9 and three copies of a summary of about 300 words in length, shall be sent to the Secretary of the Board, who shall forward the copies and two copies of the summary to the Secretary of the Degree Committee. In special circumstances the Board, after consulting the Degree Committee, may allow a candidate to submit one copy only of the dissertation. The dissertation shall be referred to two Examiners, appointed by the Degree Committee. Neither of the Examiners shall have been the candidate’s Supervisor. Each Examiner shall make an independent report on the dissertation to the Degree Committee. The two Examiners shall jointly conduct the oral examination specified for the dissertation under Regulation 7(b), and shall sign a joint certificate of the result. If the Examiners do not agree in their recommendations or if for any other reason the Degree Committee or the Board need a further opinion or opinions on the merit of the work submitted, the Degree Committee may appoint an additional Examiner or additional Examiners, provided that not more than one additional Examiner shall be appointed without leave of the Board. Each additional Examiner so appointed shall make an independent report on the dissertation to the Degree Committee.
11. If a candidate fails to satisfy the Examiners in the oral examination specified for the dissertation under Regulation 7(b), the Degree Committee may permit the candidate to be re-examined by the same Examiners. Permission so given shall be communicated to the Secretary of the Board and shall not be given on more than one occasion. Each Examiner who takes part in an examination under this regulation shall be paid a fee of £42 in addition to any fees to which he or she may be entitled under Regulation 12, and may also claim travelling expenses in accordance with the provisions of that regulation.
12. Each Examiner shall receive a fee from the Chest. Such a fee shall be £135 if the Examiner takes part in the oral examination specified for the dissertation under Regulation 7(b), or £100 if the Examiner does not so take part, either because the Board, on the recommendation of the Degree Committee, have dispensed with the oral examination or for any other reason. Examiners may claim travelling expenses, on terms and conditions specified by the Board if their place of residence is more than ten miles from Great St Mary’s Church or if an oral examination or a consultation between the Examiners is for good reason held outside Cambridge. The Board may also approve payment of other reasonable expenses incurred by an Examiner in connection with the execution of her or his duties. A subsistence allowance may be claimed by Examiners at rates determined from time to time by the Finance Committee of the Council, provided that payment may be made only in respect of a day or a night on which the Examiner’s absence from her or his normal place of residence in connection with the execution of her or his duties is necessary. The travelling expenses of a candidate who is required to travel to an oral examination outside Cambridge may be paid in whole or in part, at rates determined by the Board; such a candidate may also claim a subsistence allowance at rates determined from time to time by the Finance Committee, under the same conditions as apply to the Examiners.
13. If, after considering the reports of the Examiners, the Degree Committee are satisfied that the candidate’s work is of the requisite standard for the degree, a recommendation of the Committee to that effect, with the names of those present and voting on either side, shall be communicated to the Board, together with the reports of the Examiners. If the Board, after receiving such communication, at a meeting at which not less than five members are present, resolve that the candidate be approved for the Ed.D. Degree, the Secretary of the Board shall publish a notice of the candidate’s approval for the award of the Degree.
14. If, after considering the reports of the Examiners, the Degree Committee consider that the candidate’s dissertation is not of the requisite standard for the degree, the Board may, at a meeting at which no less than five members are present, permit the candidate to submit a revised dissertation, but they shall not do so unless the Degree Committee have expressly recommended that such permission be given. The communication conveying such a recommendation by a Degree Committee shall contain the names of those present and voting on either side, and shall be accompanied by the reports of the Examiners. A candidate shall not be allowed to submit a revised dissertation on more than one occasion.
15. If, after considering the reports of the Examiners, the Degree Committee consider that the candidate’s work is not of the standard requisite for the Ed.D. Degree, but that it is of the standard requisite for the M.Litt. Degree, their recommendation to that effect, with the names of those present and voting on either side, shall be communicated to the Board, together with the reports of the Examiners. If after receiving such communication the Board decide, at a meeting at which not less than five members are present, that the candidate could properly be approved for the award of the lower degree, the Secretary of the Board shall ask the candidate whether he or she is willing to be approved for the award of the M.Litt. Degree. Subject to the candidate’s agreement being received by the Secretary not later than the last day of the term following the term or vacation in which the decision on her or his candidature was made, the Board shall approve the candidate for the award of that degree and the Secretary shall publish a notice of such approval. The Board may, in exceptional circumstances, which they shall themselves determine, accept a candidate’s agreement at a later date.
16. The Board shall be the deciding authority on all recommendations communicated to them by Degree Committees that candidates be approved for the award of the Ed.D. or M.Litt. Degree or that they be allowed to submit revised dissertations. The Board shall not approve a candidate for the award of a degree unless the Degree Committee have recommended the award of that degree; before refusing an award so recommended they shall give a representative appointed by the Degree Committee an opportunity of explaining the Committee’s reasons for their recommendation.
17. If after considering the reports of the Examiners the Degree Committee resolve that a candidate’s work is not of the requisite standard for any degree, and if they do not recommend that the candidate be allowed to submit a revised dissertation, their resolution to that effect, with the names of those present and voting on either side, shall be communicated to the Board, together with the reports of the Examiners. The Secretary of the Board shall communicate this decision to the candidate.
18. Before being admitted to a degree, a student shall deposit with the Secretary of the Board one copy of her or his dissertation and two copies of the summary, in a form approved by the Board. The Secretary shall deposit the copy of the dissertation together with one copy of the summary in the University Library, where they shall be available for consultation and for the making of copies for inter-library loan purposes, unless the Board determine that they shall, for a period specified by the Board, be available only to the author or to those who have the author’s written permission to consult the material. The summary shall be available for copying and publication at the discretion of the Board.