The Trials and Tribulations of Postgraduate Study While Also Being a Teacher: A Reflective Trilogy
Part One: The Decision to Study
By: Dr Mike Whalley
This is a series of three short articles on my experience of studying for a Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) whilst in full time employment as a teacher in a UK independent school. What I present is a collection of thoughts, emotions, and memories from the experience, beginning with the decision to embark on such a difficult journey, the practicalities of studying at such an advanced level whilst in full time work, and the surprisingly mixed emotions on completion. I hope these thoughts might serve as advice and guidance for fellow educationalists considering the PG journey.
Why would a busy middle-aged secondary school teacher want to embark on further postgraduate study that would promise to affect his professional and personal life for potentially the next six years?
I already had an M.Ed. (1998), a well-paid job with many responsibilities including being Head of Department and Head of Pastoral Sector.
I had a young family who I was devoted to and a healthy social life that included still playing various sports at a reasonable standard.
I had no ambitions to further my teaching career or move into school leadership or management (although I was later to become a member of the SLT and Head of Boarding at my school).
I knew that there was going to be no financial gain or secure promotion from extra qualification.
I remembered well the pressure that studying for a Masters had created for both myself and my family.
So why do it again all again?
Performance & Performativity
It is important to explain my academic interest in a theoretical area of education that I had also become thoroughly professionally embedded.
In my twentieth year of teaching, I was a typically masculine ‘type’ of PE teacher who had become fascinated (and frustrated) by the increasing amount of regulatory and judgemental mechanisms imposed on us to raise attainment, efficiency and effectiveness using various ubiquitous audit, appraisal, surveillance, and assessment techniques. Through some basic research I had read that this phenomenon could be called ‘performativity’
I had no theoretical grounding, and I did not have the academic knowledge or vocabulary to articulate my part in the complete process, but I was particularly interested from a teacher’s point of view how individuals reacted to and were being shaped by these shifting working environments.
When I started my career in 1986, good teaching and education revolved around ‘traditional’ values based on good-subject knowledge, care, commitment, collaboration, grand expectations of effort, achievement and behaviour, and the highest standards of professional conduct.
But the goal posts were moving, and these core values were under challenge now by a constant stream of legislation that eroded the professional judgement of teachers in favour of a one size fits all provision based on prescriptive and soulless study programmes and assessment techniques all in the name of raising standards. The scrutiny, accountability, judgement, and appraisal teachers increasingly had to cope with, placed enormous demands on us and there was a strong feeling that the traditional values of being a teacher were under constant threat, accompanied by increasing levels of stress, frustration, and anxiety.
Thus, the seeds of enquiry were planted, but there were many other more practical things to think about before I could begin to study.
It is crucial that before you go ahead and enrol on a postgraduate course you discuss your long- and short-term study plans with your close family. They will need to appreciate the level of commitment required for postgraduate study.
This might not be met with total enthusiasm, and they might offer suggestions that this might not work.
Sacrifices must be made.
I was determined to be a good father and husband and hopefully never let them down, but other aspects of my social life would have to go. Whole weekends playing sport and some social events would have to be cut down. You must look at the bigger picture and a vision of the future.
Wholehearted support is not likely.
Compromises will have to be made along the way from all sides.
I am sure I lost friends as I declined the opportunity to attend social events or play in a fixture, but I was committed. Loyal friends and family understood my passion to study further and supported me all the way. Those that did not understand fell away as the studies gathered momentum.
Returning to study is not an easy task.
If you have decided that you are willing to make the commitment to study, questions remain as to what and where you will study.
You will no doubt have a subject area in mind, but the choice of institution is crucial. It could be that you were a successful undergraduate at a certain place and are already familiar with the organisation and academic culture, even within a particular department.
You may already have spoken to tutors about your plans or are responding to recommendation by others who have studied there. It might be the case that the institution has a good reputation for postgraduate study or has a successful record of securing research funding and has received appropriate recognition for doing so. There are plenty of official sites offering statistics and advice to look at which may confirm a query about a potential course or university.
Alternatively, a course search via the internet opens an entire world of links to universities, course search providers, career advice, comparison websites, financial and scholarship advice to name just a few examples.
There is a postgraduate marketplace and is exhausting to wade through all the information. This wasn’t around as recently as 2006 when I started my EdD. I simply searched for a Doctorate in Education by distance learning and the results were limited.
Negotiating through the information available today, I realise that it is way beyond my capabilities to offer contemporary advice but is necessary and worth scrutiny today.
Which University?
If you are unfamiliar with the university where you might apply, it is worth doing some research into the quality of provision you should expect there.
There has been much written about the expected outcomes of postgraduate courses in terms of what students should gain through study at an institution offering postgraduate courses.
There seems to be a considerable amount of common ground in that the many bodies associated with monitoring and offering guidance to those institutions offering postgraduate courses agree that the student should gain skills in personal effectiveness, develop research practice and management in a productive research environment, improve communication and networking with an awareness of career implications. I would add to this by stating that you need clear guidance and advice, expert tuition, elevated levels of support from teaching and support staff and excellent research facilities.
Working full time, I had no choice but to study part-time and at a distance. I decided that I could manage attendance at the taught modules for my intended EdD course as they luckily were set on dates during school holidays.
As I moved on to the research element, I worked out a way that I could work at a distance, with periodic meetings under the supervision of my tutor. This is now known as blended learning, but I doubt anyone working full time could study in any other way. In 2005/6 there weren’t that many EdD courses available that could be studied in this way. I was lucky to find and be accepted on a such a course at Keele University which I commenced in autumn 2006.
How Much Does It Cost?
Another major consideration is finance.
A postgraduate qualification is expensive, and I was completely self-funded.
This placed a large burden on family expenses as there were no other financial avenues open to me.
There are other costs too; extra resources such as IT capability, books, travel costs as well as later proof reading, examination fees and printing and publishing all to be budgeted for.
It is easy to dismiss these early in the excitement of early study, but these cannot be avoided and must be considered as you commence the course.
A postgraduate loan may be available for a master’s degree, but not then for further studies, thus disqualifying financial help for a Doctorate. The course I was interested in had no possible financial assistance attached. The school where I worked offered no help. Meeting ongoing costs that can last up to six years needs to be considered.
I am not up to date with the current costs of courses, but I would hope that in the increasing number of postgraduate courses available, available for study in a variety of ways, market forces prevail, and they become less expensive.
Many institutions seem to be offering more bursaries and scholarships for prospective students. Take some time to investigate the possibility of getting such support. Again, I am no expert in this area but look at whether there might be some research funding available for your course or intended line of enquiry. Many universities have a strong record and reputation of attracting research funding.
It is well worth looking at this area for help.
Starting Out…
Attending to the projects and tasks set during the first taught modules of my course confirmed that finding the time to study, whilst also working full time was going to be the major issue for me. People work effectively in diverse ways and study at contrasting times than others. I could not plan to set aside hours a day due to the nature of my work and having a young family. I simply planned to take time when I could. This could be at an evening, early morning (up at 4 am sometimes) or during weekends.
I took work on holidays and took at any opportunity to study when I was free of other commitments. This was key for me. It is vital that you establish a mindset that you will need to commit (and others will have to understand) to study, often at the expense of other things. Inevitably, there will be times when you cannot study, often for extended periods of time. To return to study after a such breaks is exceedingly difficult. This is where the determination and commitment to study must kick in and force you to return to the cause
If you have committed to a course, you will need to find a place to study. This might sound strange, but you will need somewhere you can spend time alone, spreading out your books, notes in whatever organisational style that suits you. I was lucky that we had room in our house(es) where I could spread out and leave work unattended for days on end. My very untidy study technique drove my tidy wife mad, but there is no way I could have tidied up after every study session.
Those first taught modules I attended were demanding but to meet other academic colleagues was comforting.
However, the prospect of six years study at this level of academic level was daunting to say the least. I felt like the new boy in his first days of primary school.
I had imposter syndrome.
In those early days I realised that the depth of study was going to be far beyond what I had experienced before, and rightly so!
I learnt quickly that I needed to be able to work independently but with academic rigour. This, for example, included developing skills that allowed me to unpack research content and topics, understand insights and to disseminate information quickly. It was crucial to set up communication systems whereby I did not have to waste time waiting for a response. This ‘asynchronous communication’ e.g., send email, SMS, which does not require an instantaneous response allows you to continue with other important tasks whilst waiting, thus not wasting valuable time.
Also, I learnt early on, that I would need be able to cope with very dense, complex, and demanding literature. Some of it will be exceedingly difficult to understand and might appear inaccessible, ambiguous, and even inconsistent and contradictory. You will need to develop the skill of being able to analyse, question, grasp concepts and develop an overview of a mass of literature. The earlier you start developing the skill to look at literature in a calm reflective manner the better.
So, there I was, in the first stages of the long journey towards a Doctorate in Education.
A long journey that would require time, dedication, and commitment from the ‘team.’ I was finding the first stages exceedingly difficult so what hope did I have for the next 5+ years?
Let us see how I got on in the next episode!
[i] When I commenced my Ed.D. course at Keele University in 2006, there weren’t as many part-time, distance learning courses as there are now. Look at a search site such as this for an overview of the courses available in the UK.
Bio
Mike was a teacher for thirty years. He taught Physical Education in both state and independent schools in the North West of England becoming a Director of Sport, but also held roles as Pastoral Leader and Head of Boarding. He maintained his academic interests in education throughout his career, completing a Masters Degree in 1998 and a Professional Doctorate in 2011. Mike retired from full time teaching in 2016 due to ill health and now works part-time tutoring Maths and English to children in alternative school provision.
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