Professional doctorate

[imaderrygirl]

Anybody doing / done a professional doctorate, ideally in education?

I've opted for PhD over EdD as I know my colleagues in academia look down on EdDs.

@Cornishmumofone
Are you doing your PhD alongside working or full time?
Also, if you don't mind me asking, did you do a Master's first?

I did an MA 20+ years ago in an unrelated area (and did a PGCE after it). I'm working F/T and doing a structured PhD P/T.

I did an EdD 20 years ago, worked full time throughout
I don’t use it at work but no regrets, it was well worth the time

My DH is. Happy to share a spouse's perspective.

It's not in education tho, he's a social worker.

Yes. I completed in 2020, after six years, during which I also raised a young family, worked for a local authority and left to set up my business. I am incredibly proud of having done it and enjoyed many ( not all!) aspects. Looking back, I marvel I pulled it off, but I did! The workload ( in that extended time) was manageable, and much more so for people who were good at focusing and with less on their plates. The thing I found hardest wasn’t the actual work but that it was a constant item on my ‘to-do’ list, lurking accusingly in the background. It’s been nice to have for work but probably hasn’t substantially changed my career trajectory, so sometimes feels like a bit of a vanity project.

These are extremely helpful insights, thanks to all.
@CheshireSplat yes, a spouse's perspective might be useful too as DH already picks up more than his fair share around here.

I suspect that for me, it might also be a vanity project as I don't see it transforming my career either.

Absolutely get the idea of it being the elephant in the room - I completed NPQSL and it absolutely felt like that then.

You never know whether a post graduate qualification will help or not. I was doing a PhD because I wanted to (crazy I know) but then I saw a job ad and my studies helped me get an interview and the job. Which ever qualification you opt for you have to be committed, dedicated to the subject and prepared to give up a lot of time to it. If you are in full time employment an EdD is easier to manage.

OP, DH did a social worker post graduate course nearly 20 years ago and has done no studying since. He works part time so wanted something else to do when our younger DC started school.

He's finding it tough to be honest. Finding time is hard, he can get pulled into other things on the days he is supposed to be doing his DProf. He has been sponsored but his work doesn't give him any time to do it.

The support from his uni has been patchy, meetings with supervisors postponed, nothing like the amount of teaching there was supposed to be. He applied just as covid was starting and there was going to be a Saturday school every 6 weeks or so. There has been nothing like that much equivalent now and many meetings are scheduled when he is working.

He's struggling from a confidence perspective as he's not really sure of what he is producing is good enough. He's just passed the first assessment (may have related to literature review) but he didn't pass it by miles. I've tried to cheer him up by saying that it's a just a gateway and a pass is all he needed but that, plus unclear feedback from his supervisors, is knocking his confidence.

However, he's affectively 1/3 through now.

He is looking at this as a way of opening up other opportunities in the future.

I'm considering applying for one as am really keen to continue my own learning journey. It wouldn't transform my career either but I want the research to make a difference to practice in my current role. I know that they are viewed as a lesser qualification than a PhD by some.

The problem I'm currently having is that I don't already have a clear area of research/proposal for my application. There are lots of broader areas that I'd be interested in - perhaps that's a sign that an EdD isn't for me?! 🤣

I'll be watching the replies with interest!

Have a look at Lancaster @InvisibleLlama79 They have a structured part time PhD in eResearch and TEL: www.lancaster.ac.uk/educational-research/study/phd/phd-in-e-research-and-technology-enhanced-learning/ It gives you more time to narrow down your thesis

Thanks @Cornishmumofone

Do you mind me asking if you're already on this course?

I like the look of the structured PhD in Education and Social Justice as the basic ideas I have around my area of interest would fit there.

I'm just wondering whether it's isolating accessing the content remotely. I did my MSc via distance learning and found it quite lonely - I'd really like to feel the belonging to a cohort or community for discussion etc. I'd appreciate any feedback you have if you've taken this route 😊

I'm in the middle of doing mine now. The status of it doesn't bother me as I have no intention of working in academia. However, I have been able to explore a range of different areas that have improved my teaching, even if they won't improve my career.

I chose the EdD because I had lots of ideas to explore and my focus wasn't clear enough at the start, but the process of the taught units got me back into studying (after 20 years) and helped me to clarify what I really wanted to focus my doctorate on.

I'm enjoying studying and have no regrets about the programme I chose, it's one for teachers, so works with the natural rhythms of school terms. I don't think I would have managed a PhD in terms of time management and competing demands.

@mommandme That's why I started looking at EdDs over PhDs - To fit in around and be relevant to the work I'm already doing. Were you able to apply without a thesis proposal and decide later in the course?

@imaderrygirl Sorry for hijacking your thread!

@InvisibleLlama79 no it's absolutely fine, you're asking the questions I'm wondering!

@mommandme I'm sure you probably don't want to specify which programme you're doing but may I ask, is it a university very local to you or one further afield? I've seen some programmes I like the look of but I'm not sure whether it's possible to do a part-time programme if you're not local (even if you could travel to the study weekends etc) or whether I would have to choose a distance learning programme.

@InvisibleLlama79
Yes, you don't need to decide the thesis when you start the EdD. That's one of the reasons why I chose it over the PhD. I have actually significantly shifted what I wanted to study (as my job has changed) so I'm glad I chose this route now.

@imaderrygirl
I chose one close to me, because I tried doing distance learning in the past, and Im just rubbish at it. I find teaching takes over and I need to have that separation. So I go to uni once a week and do my uni work there. It works for me. However, for my uni there are two sets of four study days a year, you could do this and stay over. Other than that, everything else could be done via teams. Only issue you'd have is the library, although I mostly use online resources anyway. Feel free to DM for any more info.

Thanks @mommandme - that's really helpful, particularly around access to library and physically being able to go to the uni.

The application requirements and need to include a proposal seem to vary hugely depending on the university. The structure you're describing sounds like a couple I've looked at and def suit my current thinking.

Good luck with your thesis!

I’m in my last year of one.

the best description of the difference I have heard was a PhD equips you to be a professional researcher while a prof doc creates researching professionals.

I haven’t found any academic snobbery so far but my first supervisor has a PhD through the publication route. I’m doing it for me, to prove a point rather than to work in academia - but I do teach on a very part time basis in two universities, neither the one I am studying at, one an RG so I don’t think in the education field it’s regarded as a “lesser “ qualification .

I do have years of industry experience too mind you!

People who have done / are doing one... may I ask yet another probably quite annoying question?

Several of the universities I've looked at specify that you need to submit a personal statement. Obviously, I have done these for job applications but they are reasonably easy to do because you just link it all to the person spec for the job. What are they expecting to see in a personal statement for an EdD (especially if I don't know yet exactly what I want to focus on in my research)?

Your motivation, your previous experience and some idea of your research topic should cover it. You don’t need to have a research proposal just a clue as to the direction you are interested in from my experience.

Oh and what you would get out of it and use it for.

Yes I think I wrote similar. I can't remember now. But I talked about what topics I had done in my masters, what my areas of interest was and the general topic area I wanted to do my thesis in.

Not sure if anyone is still following this but I found a local(ish) programme and applied. I had ideas about research which I was asked to loosely share in application and then to discuss at interview. The process wasn't too painful and the interviewing staff asked great questions but more to see if they could find someone suitable to supervise.

Have been offered a place to start in September :)

Thanks to @imaderrygirl for starting the thread and to all for sharing advice and experiences.

I'm trying to apply for a doctorate in social work and feel completely lost in the application process