Course details

A number of programmes which specifically attend to the role of the lecturer as educator are in place in universities and IoTs at level 9. However, to date the sector has been poorly served with programmes at level 10. With this doctorate, DACE is now responding to the development needs of individuals, agencies and institutions in the higher and adult education sector.

The move towards professionalisation, which will eventually include all aspects of higher and adult education, is a direct outcome of the White Paper on Adult Education. The Department of Adult and Community Education at NUIM played a central role in supporting the Department of Education and Science (DES) in shaping the policy contained in the White Paper which has led to the current developments. DACE also has an extensive history in transformative adult and higher education.

Course philosophy

  • The foundations of this doctorate are transformation, democracy and innovation. Transformation refers to the need to learn in new ways, adequate for a world that faces multiple immense challenges, ranging from the related financial and ecological crises, to inequality and a democratic deficit. The deepening of democracy within all aspects of society and economy, including education, is therefore another thread that runs throughout the course. Transformative and democratic education requires many levels of innovation, including social, economic, cultural, moral, political, spiritual and personal processes.
  • In this course, the collective nature of participants’ engagement is a central element.By working together, exchanging ideas and supporting each others’ learning, students will form learning communities. They will both contribute to and participate in the expansion of their learning horizons. The course pillars of transformation, democracy and innovation will inform this process and are also central to the research agenda of the doctorate.
  • The DHAE will bring together practitioners with substantial experience in design, implementation and delivery in higher and adult education contexts. Successful applicants will have an interest in exploring innovative and critical practice, often in challenging learning environments. An informing concept for the delivery of the course is the concept of “praxis”, interpreted as the use of theory to interrogate practice, allied with the use of practice to extend and develop one’s theoretical positioning.

Entry Requirements

Applicants should have current and significant experience in teaching in higher or adult education, including contributing to learning communities and other collaborative educational ventures. A high level of ability in academic writing will be required. Applicants who meet the criteria will be invited to interview. Interviewees will be required to submit a 3,000-word essay in hard copy on the day of interview. The essay should address an area of educational interest of the candidate. It should evidence an ability to write conceptually and analytically, it should contain academic references in an appropriate style and it should indicate an ability to structure a piece of academic writing.

Applicants must have successfully completed a Masters programme in teaching and learning or an equivalent programme at level 9. Applicants must have a recognised primary degree which is considered equivalent to Irish university primary degree level.

Minimum English language requirements

  • IELTS: 6.5 minimum overall score
  • TOEFL (Paper based test): 585
  • TOEFL (Internet based test) :95
  • PTE (Pearson): 62

Module

Year 1

  • DHAE SUPPORT MODULE PART 1
  • CRITIQUE OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE CONTEXT OF EDUCATION
  • LEARNERS AND LEARNING
  • RESEARCH METHODS

Year 2

  • DOCTORAL THESIS 1
Updated on 08 November, 2015

About Maynooth University

This means that students at Maynooth benefit from an international outlook, and those of you who wish to study abroad for a semester or an academic year during yTheir degree have a network of connections to tap in to. During the cTheirse of their academic degree students from Maynooth have studied subjects such as Law at Boston College, Mandarin Chinese at Beijing Foreign Studies University and Music in the University of Vienna.

Maynooth has many shared research projects with universities around the world.

  • In the Dept of Psychology, Prof Dermot Barnes-Holmes is working with academics in Columbia University in New York to predict the success of cocaine abuse treatment.
  • Mathematician Dr. Ken Duffy is working with immunologists from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in MelbTheirne, Australia to analyse cell behaviTheir in a study that could have significant implications for Their understanding and treatment of diseases like Coeliac disease, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.  
  • Historian Dr Tom O Connor is working with colleagues from the University of Alcala and the Irish Colleges in Spain, discovering the hidden stories of Irish people who got caught up in the Spanish Inquisition.
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