This module is an opportunity for you to explore in some depth an issue, challenge, or topic that interests you personally and/or professionally, is relevant to your particular qualification, and is meaningful and pertinent to education and/or the lives of children and young people.
The first aim of the module is to equip you with the knowledge, understanding and skills to operate effectively as a researcher in educational contexts and services for children and young people. This module will support you in developing the capabilities to understand and contribute to research within your current or future professional contexts.
The second aim is to support you in successfully producing a dissertation. It will provide you with opportunities to develop and demonstrate your confidence and independent research abilities. You’ll find this module will give you insights into your own implicit or developing research position and help you to understand how this shapes the kind of research you’d undertake (the questions you ask, the design you create, the methods you use).
It is anticipated that you are or wish to be involved in work in educational contexts and/or with children and/or young people in some capacity. This module will enable you to progress professionally as well as academically and help you if you’re not currently working in these sectors to enter the workforce. You’ll be supported through personal development planning to make explicit how you’re benefiting from study on the module, including developing personal skills and understandings. In particular, you’ll be able to chart your developing identity as a researcher.
This module caters both for those who have access to educational or other settings with children and young people to carry out a small-scale investigation (Option 1) and those who do not and/or who prefer to carry out an extended literature review and research proposal (Option 2) for a study which might be carried out beyond the MA qualification. Both forms of research represent current research approaches in the fields of education and childhood and youth. You’ll also learn how ethically to appraise an enquiry. For option 1, you’ll be supported in obtaining ethical clearance from your chosen research setting before commencing data collection. In option 2, you’ll include a proposal that would form a sound basis for approval by your proposed research setting.
One unique aspect of this module is the way you’ll be working with peers and tutors from different specialisms, allowing discussion across different disciplines and different professional perspectives. The content of the module will be equally relevant to you whether you are from a background in, for example, early years, teaching, educational leadership in a range of settings, youth work, social work, nursing and counselling, and if you are or have worked with children and young people at different stages of development, from early childhood to young adulthood. All materials, online study guides and audio-visual resources will be accessible to you whatever your context. You’ll be supported by a tutor who has expertise and experience relevant to your qualification; and, at times, in groups of those working on an enquiry similar to your own.
By the end of the module, and hence your MA qualification, you’ll be able to:
You’ll have acquired and/or had the opportunity to develop qualities and transferable skills valuable for increasing your employability, such as those requiring:
This module is designed to contribute to your current or future roles in relation to educational provision and/or work in support of the development of children and young people, with a strong emphasis on how developing evidence can inform such roles. You’ll be supported in personal development planning, which is designed to help you maximise the value you gain from your module study. You’ll be encouraged to explicitly reflect on personal, academic, research and professional skills, and how you can use and continue to develop such skills within and beyond the module.
You’ll be assigned a tutor who will help you with the study material and grade and comment on your written work, and to whom you can turn for advice and guidance. You and your tutor will primarily communicate with each other through email, tutorials and one-to-one supervision. For the last unit of the dissertation, when you will be developing the written dissertation, you will have a dedicated forum space for one-to-one support from your tutor, who will give you feedback on two drafts of chapters. These drafts are not marked and do not form part of the module's assessment but are great opportunities to support the construction of your dissertation.
Tutorials are offered via online meeting rooms and support is also facilitated asynchronously in tutor group forums and module forums. Tutors across the module will also offer online sessions about aspects of the content of the module to the students across the module, which will be a good way to ‘meet’ other students and tutors.
Working with other students
We encourage you to share ideas and experiences with your peers through asynchronous forums, as this is an important way to broaden your knowledge and understanding of children, young people, and education across different contexts. Some activities in the module may specifically recommend working with other students but alternative ways of working can be facilitated if needed.
Course work includes:
All study materials are provided on the module website. This includes the module study guide and activities, audio/video material and a range of tools to support your study, including real-time conferencing and online forums.
Additional support materials can be found on the Masters Study Home. You will also have access to a tool called OurJourney, which supports your personal development planning reflections.
E822 is a compulsory module in our:
Masters multi-disciplinary dissertation: education, childhood and youth (E822) starts once a year – in October.
This page describes the module that will start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2028.
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
You must:
Knowledge and understanding of the content of your pathway/programme in terms of key ideas and dimensions is an expectation. This includes academic, professionally relevant and research skills content (including critical reading, critical writing, research ethics, awareness of different research traditions).
In order to study this module you do not need to be employed in a practice setting. However, it is important that you have some experience of engaging or working with learners, children or young people as you will need to be able to apply your learning to a relevant context or learning environment.
Expect to spend approximately 15 hours per week when studying for this module.
Written transcripts of any audio components and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader (and where applicable: musical notation and mathematical, scientific, and foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way). Other alternative formats of the module materials may be available in the future.
There may be issues with undertaking data collection in a research setting, which would need to be discussed with your tutor early in the module and might affect which form of dissertation enquiry you may undertake.
Where possible, we can make reasonable adjustments to facilitate your participation where a learning difficulty or disability may impact studying.
| Start | End | Register by | England fee |
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| 03 Oct 2026 | 31 Oct 2027 | 17 Sep 2026 | Not yet available* |
| *This start date is open for pre-booking, which means you can reserve your place ahead of the fees being confirmed. We’ll publish updated 2026/27 fees and funding information on the 25th of March. |
There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as set books, a computer and internet access.
If your income is not more than £25,000 or you receive a qualifying benefit, you might be eligible for help with some of these costs after your module has started.
There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as set books, a computer and internet access.
If you study this module as part of an eligible qualification, you can apply for a postgraduate loan to support your study costs. To find out more, see Postgraduate loans in England.
If you study this module as part of an eligible qualification, you can apply for a postgraduate loan to help with your tuition fees. To find out more, see Postgraduate tuition fee loans in Northern Ireland.
If you study this module as part of an eligible qualification, you can apply for a postgraduate loan to help with your tuition fees. To find out more, see Postgraduate loans in Scotland.
If you study this module as part of an eligible qualification, you can apply for a postgraduate loan to support your study costs. To find out more, see Postgraduate loans in Wales.
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Joint loan applications
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Read more about Open University Student Budget Accounts (OUSBA).
Studying with The Open University can boost your employability. OU courses are recognised and respected by employers for their excellence and the commitment they take to complete. They also value the skills that students learn and can apply in the workplace.
Over 30,000 employers have used the OU to develop staff so far. If the module you’ve chosen is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could approach your employer to see if they will sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees.
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We know that sometimes you may want to combine payment options. For example, you may wish to pay part of your tuition fee with a debit card and pay the remainder in instalments through an Open University Student Budget Account (OUSBA).
We know that sometimes you may want to combine payment options. For example, you may get support from your employer to pay part of your tuition fee and pay the remainder by credit or debit card.
For more information about combining payment options, contact an adviser.
Please note: your permanent address/domicile will affect your fee status and, therefore, the fees you are charged and any financial support available to you. The fee information provided here is valid for modules starting before 31 July 2026. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.
