Where to find advice about a PhD in education?

[culturalsushi]

Hey all,

I am a current second-year undergraduate student who is majoring in Biology and Spanish. I believe I want to enter education, and I am looking for some advice. I am open to different types of jobs, but I am very interested in academia and educational research. I am currently in a science education research group headed by a well-known scholar in the field, and I am leading a project, which I will most likely have my name as first author. I have pursued other routes as an undergraduate such as pre-med, which I disliked because all my worth went to grades, and I am also involved biological research, which I enjoy but cannot see having a future in. A few questions I have are below:

 

1) Are PhDs in education, particularly science education, in demand? What is a PhD in education like? I expect there to be a lot of reading and research. Are there programs renown for education? (I'm assuming places like Harvard, Stanford, Penn [?])

2) I definitely want to take a gap year or two after undergraduate to figure everything out because I've been changing my mind a lot over this past year. Do you think pursuing teaching at the K-12 level for a year or two is possible? I've heard of programs such as Teach for America, which would do just that.

3) Is there a forum about people's past stories? I've been trying to find people who had a similar journey as me. 

 

Thank you so much for reading this. 

Hope you are doing well.

Edited April 15, 2021 by culturalsushi

[SummoningSquare]

You're doing great by thinking about this so early!

There are numerous different kinds of research programs in education that you can pursue. To get an idea for how wide the variety is, you can check out a representative PhD program page, like Virginia's or Columbia's. So one thing to do is try to narrow down what kind of program area you're interested in.

As in a lot of disciplines, the "top" schools for education are some subset of the Ivies + Stanford. But that obscures more than it reveals, mainly for three reasons:

(1) Regional concerns play a big role in your employment prospects. For instance, Vanderbilt's Peabody College of Education is highly regarded in the education field but has much more employment clout in the southeast than in the rest of the country. California is virtually a different country with regard to education policy, so if you intend to end up on the west coast working on education you don't want to do your PhD outside of California.

(2) This is a field where your research production matters more than a school's ranking or reputation, at least up to a point. As long as you are producing a high volume of quality research at a school with , you'll end up fine (it's not like, say, the humanities, where a PhD from No Name State is going to functionally disqualify you from non-adjunct employment).

(3) Which schools are the "top" ones depends greatly on your specific program focus and research interests. For example, Northwestern has one of the strongest Learning Sciences programs in the country but won't show up on anyone's ranking of the "top" education schools overall.

So that's my recommendation to not worry about which schools are the top-ranked. As to your gap year, based on other prospective students I've met it seems quite common for people in the education field to spend some years teaching or working in an adjacent field, including through programs like Teach for America and AmeriCorps (there are even a few funding opportunities exclusively for people who have worked with those organizations). You are already doing the right thing by seeking research experience. Add to that some experience in an educational setting and you'll be a strong applicant.

Personally I'd recommend you consider educational psychology and learning sciences programs. Those programs tend on balance to attract more grant funding and do more empirically rigorous work than some other subfields within education, and accordingly open up your post-graduation employment options a bit more than some other subfields.

[culturalsushi]

Thank you so, so much! Your advice is really helpful. 

[t_ruth]

How exciting that you are considering a PhD in Education! Some answers below:

1) Are PhDs in education, particularly science education, in demand? What is a PhD in education like? I expect there to be a lot of reading and research. Are there programs renown for education? (I'm assuming places like Harvard, Stanford, Penn [?])

Do you mean "in demand" for post-PhD jobs? Yes. An Ed PhD is one of the most marketable PhDs, as there are many government and industry jobs available to you. The faculty job market is tough, as in any field, but not impossible.

Re: what it is like: Yes, there is lots of reading and research. Specifics vary depending on the program and advisor.

Re: top programs: You can of course check the "top" Ed PhD program rankings somewhere like US News, but the most important thing is advisor. You want to work with a prolific and well-connected advisor who is a good match. Draw the line first at funded programs in R1s (and some select R2s), then look for the specific advisor.

2) I definitely want to take a gap year or two after undergraduate to figure everything out because I've been changing my mind a lot over this past year. Do you think pursuing teaching at the K-12 level for a year or two is possible? I've heard of programs such as Teach for America, which would do just that.

If you will ultimately want a faculty job, it is worth it to take three years to teach. In Curriculum and Instruction programs (where many science ed positions will be), faculty positions often require a minimum of three years K-12 teaching experience. If you are going to take the break, it seems silly to me to do it for two, when pushing past that three-year mark will open up many more positions to you.

3) Is there a forum about people's past stories? I've been trying to find people who had a similar journey as me. 

You can browse the forum here for stories, but this board isn't as active as some of the others on gradcafe. You may want to start connecting with current graduate students in places you might consider. If you are currently leading a research project, you probably have written a literature review. Who are you citing? Look up those people and their labs and try to connect with students they work with.

Good luck! Feel free to PM me w/any specific questions.

[culturalsushi]

Thank you so, so much!!!