This PGCEM course is aimed at applicants who already have knowledge of and interest in children's literature and who want to develop expertise in the subject at masters' level. In this route students will meet old favourites and make new exciting acquaintances. They will be introduced to the most recent debates on the nature and social function of this controversial and multifaceted kind of literature. They will also be provided with the tools for critical assessment of books written and marketed for a young audience. Students will follow modules covering: researching picturebooks and their readers; texts, contexts and childhoods; and what makes this Masters in Children's Literature.

As well as considering picture-books, poetry, media texts and writing for children, this thematic route concentrates on a wide range of fiction for children, including the 'classics', texts for very young readers, international literature and novels for young adults. Close textual study and the history of children's literature are embedded within the route, which also concerns itself with exciting new texts, (sometimes using sound and image) produced by ever changing new technologies. Qualitative action research involving empirical work with children on visual literacy will be undertaken during the route. Participants are encouraged to keep a working journal and to include references to their own reading autobiographies.

The route focuses throughout on different representations of childhood in the texts that are studied and examines what is meant by the contested term 'children' literature'. Participants will be expected to engage with some of the key debates in the field and to consider a range of theoretical perspectives - from Romanticism to reader-response theory; gender issues to post-modernism; historical studies to new historicism; sociocultural viewpoints to semiotics - as well as examining critically views of young readers and their reading choices.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the programme, students will have:

• a comprehensive understanding of research techniques, and a thorough knowledge of the literature applicable to their specific educational domain;
• demonstrated originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in their field;
• shown abilities in the critical evaluation of current research and research techniques and methodologies;
• demonstrated self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and acted autonomously in the planning and implementation of research.

Continuing

Students wishing to continue from the PGCEM to PhD or EdD are required to achieve a mark of 70 or higher for the thesis.

The PGCEM course is composed of two key elements:

• the research methods training course
• the 'Critical Approaches to Children's Literature' thematic route

Teaching time is split between the two elements, 16 hours being given to research methods and 32 hours being given to the subject specific content.  The course is taught through a mixture of lectures, smaller group seminars and individual supervisions.

Feedback

Throughout the programme, written work is submitted and detailed feedback is provided.  Informally, feedback is also provided through regular supervisions.  At the end of each term, supervisors write an on-line report which can be viewed by the student via the Cambridge Graduate Supervision Reporting System.

Assessment

Thesis

The thesis is up to 20,000 words in length and submitted at the end of August.

Where a candidate receives a provisional fail mark, an oral examination is required.

IMPORTANT:  This course is only open to students who have completed the PGCE at the Faculty of Education.  PGCEM applicants are NOT required to submit transcripts or references.