Our MA Careers Education and Coaching provides an ideal stepping stone for anyone seeking to enter the career development profession. It should be especially valuable for recent graduates who have studied subjects such as Education, Sociology, Psychology and Social Work and for individuals who are already employed in a variety of relevant roles and settings.

Combine your masters with a professional qualification

This course brings together a highly regarded masters qualification and initial professional training in career guidance. If you are studying on a full-time basis, it means you can achieve both in just one year.

Your studies will incorporate the Qualification in Career Development (QCD) which is awarded by the Career Development Institute (CDI) and is the premier route to achieving registered career professional status.

Throughout the course, we will assist you to collate evidence into a portfolio which will be used by CDI moderators to review your achievements against the required standards for professional practice.

Our staff will support you through this process and coach you to develop your own practice. They are on the CDI register of practitioners, so fully qualified to help you work towards this award.

Broaden your knowledge and experience

This is a broad-based course rooted in practice and integrating various approaches to providing career support, including career guidance, career coaching and career education.

Your studies will be aligned with contemporary thinking about the skills base needed by today’s careers professionals. You will explore the way the language of career education and coaching is used and focus on how to harness technology to deliver career development interventions.

Gain practical skills on placement

We use the workplace as both a context and a resource for your learning. The CDI requires candidates to undertake 20 days of relevant work-based placements and a further ten days of related work-based learning, including activities such as attending career fairs and going on visits to employers.

If you are already in relevant employment, you can use activities within your own workplace to help you fulfil the CDI requirements. However, we encourage all our students to explore a range of delivery contexts in different settings. Our team will support you to locate and secure suitable opportunities for your work placements.

Thanks to our extensive networks of career development providers locally, nationally and internationally, we can give you access to workplaces as diverse as schools, colleges, universities, research centres, large employers and sector bodies. This will give you insights into the broad range of roles undertaken by career development practitioners, including human resource management and talent management.

Cutting-edge research

This course places you at the forefront of latest thinking in careers education and coaching. You will gain vital research skills and undertake your own work-based research project on a theme of your choice.

To support this project, you will benefit from exciting opportunities to be associated with our International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) and to work alongside high-profile researchers who are breaking new ground in the discipline of career development.

Established in 1988, iCeGS conducts research, provides consultancy to the career sector, and delivers accredited learning programmes up to and including doctoral level. It has built an international reputation, with expert staff recognised as thought leaders and influencers in the field of career development and employability. 

Along with access to these experts who will teach you throughout the programme, you can take full advantage of the iCeGS library and archive of career literature and research. You can also take part in extra-curricular activities such as the iCeGS annual lecture, research seminars and workshops to broaden your knowledge and your professional networks.

Flexibility and convenience

We have designed this course to help you balance your studies with your other commitments. This is especially important if you are in employment and working towards your masters on a part-time basis.

The course is delivered in ways which ensure maximum flexibility, including a blended learning approach and face-to-face teaching which avoids term times and includes weekend lectures and workshops, plus block teaching during the school holidays.