This year marked the second time that the Institute of Education (IoE) held its annual MA Dissertation in Education Conference which was held on Thursday 29 October 2020. Due to the social distancing restriction, the conference was held virtually.
The conference was attended by around 60 full-time and part-time MA students, and opened with Dr. Holly Joseph giving her keynote presentation, titled ‘Hot topics in educational research’. The students found the talk useful as they were given insights into some of the educational research projects and themes that are present here at the IoE.
Four MA alumni also gave presentations reporting on their experience of conducting their research projects and writing up their dissertations: Elizabeth Witney (‘Creating a gender inclusive art curriculum: An action research study on feminisation and engaging boys’), Luke Davies (‘Curriculum design expertise and the subject of Drama: The decision-making process of Drama teachers regarding the Key Stage 3 Drama curriculum in secondary school in England), Karen McDonald (An action research project exploring the extent to which retrieval can be scaffolded in secondary school Mathematics), and Elizabeth Holland (Teacher perceptions of senior leadership and factors impacting career decisions in independent secondary schools in England).
New MA students were able to ask presenters questions, ranging from coping with the workload of a dissertation to how to select an appropriate methodology for their chosen topic.
Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai (EDM133 MA Dissertation module convenor) commented that “It is wonderful to see our new MA students went away feeling inspired by the success stories of our alumni. We wish them a successful and rewarding dissertation journey.”