How is the programme structured?

Length of Study:

The programme is available over 5-6 years part-time, or 3 years full-time.

Workload and student support:

/media/humanities/schoolofartshistoriesandcultures/migration/artshistoriesandcultures/subjectareas/religionstheology/postgraduatestudyinreligionstheology/practicaltheologydpt/howistheprogrammestructured/styleimage,64377,en.jpg

For part-time students, we will expect you to set aside around 6-8 hours for independent work per week. That will include research and reading, and maintaining a regular research journal.

In addition, you will be assigned a personal supervisor, who will want to see you approximately six times per academic year.

You will also receive support via the regular DPT 48-hour residential seminars. These meet three times a year, normally from Thursday lunchtimes to Saturday lunchtimes at the Centre of Excellence for Enquiry-Based Learning, Sackville Street Building, The University of Manchester. The CEEBL is near the city centre of Manchester, approximately two minutes' walk from Manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road railway stations.

For further information on residential programmes, click here.

You are also encouraged to attend the annual DPT summer schools or the conference of the British and Irish Association of Practical Theology, both normally held in July.

Programme Structure and Assessment

The professional doctorate is assessed via a portfolio of work which each candidate builds up over their years of study. It is divided into two parts:

Part I: Shorter pieces of work including a literature review, publishable article, research proposal and self-evaluation based on the learning journal and research log (total of 30,000 words)

Part II: An extended research dissertation of 40,000-45,000 words.

click here

Length of Study: The programme is available over 5-6 years part-time, or 3 years full-time.

Workload and student support:

For part-time students, we will expect you to set aside around 6-8 hours for independent work per week. That will include research and reading, and maintaining a regular research journal.

In addition, you will be assigned a personal supervisor, who will want to see you approximately six times per academic year.

You will also be expected to attend a regular DPT 48-hour residential seminars. These meet three times a year, from Thursday lunchtimes to Saturday lunchtimes at the Centre of Excellence for Enquiry-Based Learning, Sackville Street Building, The University of Manchester. The CEEBL is near the city centre of Manchester, approximately two minutes walk from manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road railway stations.

Additional research training is offered through the University's programme of postgraduate seminars on subjects such as time management, making presentations, getting published, using IT and academic writing.

Programme Structure and Assessment Schedule

Part I: Action-Research Portfolio. 3 years part-time (2 years full-time)

Unit 1: Key Voices Literature Review (Year 1)

The aim of this unit is to offer a foundation in the field of practical theology, by introducing participants to debates, methods and writers in the discipline. You will be expected to:

Conduct a literature review (totalling 12,000 words) in the filed of practical theology in a way that demonstrates an understanding of methodological issues associated with reflection on practice and context. This should present an informed critique of the methods and assumptions of other scholars in practical theology using appopriate academic skills and conventions of presentation.

Unit 2: Publishable Article (Year 2)

The overall aim of this unit is to examine the elements and stages involved in publishing aspects of your research.

You will be asked to:

Select a topic of research suitable to the production of a 6,000 to 8,000 word research report or article in a significant area in the academic discipline of practical theology and or/area of professional practice
Demonstrate through the exploration of that topic a capacity for independnet, original and in depth thinking
Relate that topic to appropriate context (s) of practice
Select and justify research method (s) appropriate to the investigation of that topic.
Communicate the findings of that research clearly and effectively in verbal form to peers, by means of a seminar paper, subsequently revised for publication.

Unit 3: Establishing advanced research practice in practical theology (Year 3)

i. Research Proposal In this part of the unit, you will be invited to develop a research proposal (5,000-6,000 words) for an advanced piece of research in the field of practical theology that demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the issues, questions and methods that are particularly relevant to the context and performance that you wish to study in Part II.

ii. Reflection On Practice You will also be asked to reflect critically on your own development as a researching professional in practical theology by submitting an assignment based on aspects of your Learning Journal (totalling 5,000-6,000 words).

Part II: RESEARCH DISSERTATION (years 4 and 5)

A thesis (40,000-45,000 words), which will contain the following elements:

Presentation of your research, indicating how it may be evaluated as an original contribution to the discipline of Practical Theology
A critical evaluation of the contribution which this research makes to your context of professional practice
Further critical account and analysis of your own intellectual and professional development during the course of this research.

Assessment Criteria

In common with all other postgraduate research students, your progress will be formally monitored on a regular basis. This assessment is more structured on the DPT than many other programmes: for part-time candidates, this will take place on an annual basis and be associated with the submission and assessment of individual elements of the portfolio.

General evidence will be sought within all papers (and indeed any submissable material at any stage of the programme of the study) of the following key components:

Understanding: an intellectual grasp of the scope and possibilities of the topic under consideration is displayed;
Use of sources: comprehensive coverage is given to the appropriate literature;
Structure and organization: coherence of argument is evident within the written work
Presentation: the text is presented according to the best practice of academic writing

This website will look much better in a web browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.