Postgraduate study
Edinburgh: Extraordinary futures await.

Language Education MSc, PgDip

Awards: MSc, PgDip

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Language Education

I really enjoyed this programme and loved being surrounded each day by my amazing classmates from all around the world. Not only were courses interesting, but I felt that through invaluable collaboration with classmates, I learned a lot about language education in many different countries. This programme also improved my time management skills and increased my confidence and capacity for hard work.

Maggie Mroczkowski MSc Language Teaching 2017

The Language Education programme is for teachers of ALL languages. Come with an expertise in one or more language(s) and receive training in how to best teach these languages based on the latest research in the field of language education.

The programme is designed to develop the professional knowledge and skills of those with an interest in language and/or the teaching of languages.

We welcome current and future teachers of all languages including:

  • English as a foreign or additional language
  • European languages
  • Mandarin and other world languages
  • Sign Languages
  • any heritage, community or regional languages

The programme will develop your knowledge and critical awareness of how we teach languages, how we learn languages and how we use languages, in order to enable you to best teach the languages you know.

This programme will enable you to become a ‘future thinking’ language educator, empowered to respond to transnational migration flows, digital developments, and various models of language education policy.

The Language Education programme is distinctive – it is positioned in our global world and seeks to develop Language Educators that are agents of change, ensuring their learners are equipped to become multilingual, pluriliterate citizens.

You will learn through a combination of fundamental theory and practice, including classroom observation.

You will benefit from resources and expertise offered by English Language Education at the Centre for Open Learning and the Moray House School of Education and Sport: leading centres for the studies of language and teaching.

The Language Education programme can be studied full time or part time. You will study a number of compulsory and option courses and complete a dissertation to be awarded an MSc in Language Education.

For the Masters (MSc) you will complete five compulsory courses and two optional courses, plus a dissertation. The Diploma (PgDip) comprises a similar combination of compulsory and optional courses.

Compulsory courses:

  • Language and the Learner
  • Languages, Society and Education
  • Professional Practice
  • Sources of Knowledge: Understanding and analysing research literature
  • Conceptualising Research: Foundations, Assumptions and Praxis

Option courses are subject to change each year but have previously included:

  • Bilingual Education
  • Critical Literacies and Critical Pedagogies in L1 and L2 contexts
  • Corpus Linguistics and Language Teaching
  • Evaluation and Design of TESOL Materials
  • Intercultural Language Learner Identity
  • Investigating Individual Learner Differences
  • Language Awareness for Second Language Teachers
  • Language Testing
  • Online Language Learning
  • Second Language Teacher Education
  • Teaching Languages to Young Learners
  • Teaching texts across borders - from picture books to teenage fiction and film
  • Text, Discourse and Language Teaching

(Revised 19 October 2023 to update the option courses)

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses

We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

AwardTitleDurationStudy mode
MScLanguage Education1 YearFull-timeProgramme structure 2023/24
MScLanguage Education2 YearsPart-timeProgramme structure 2023/24
PgDipLanguage Education9 MonthsFull-timeProgramme structure 2023/24

Graduates of the MSc Language Education can:

  • show understanding of seminal as well as recent concepts and theories in the field of language education
  • critically review and engage with key principles underlying the field of language education
  • plan and execute a significant piece of research of your choice relevant to the field of language education
  • creatively apply theory to practice in a context-sensitive manner

This programme will develop your love of language and its teaching. It will give you the knowledge and professional skills you need to enter the challenging field of language education or to extend your current career.

Whether you are a newly qualified or experienced teacher, or you are involved in a related area of language teaching, such as curriculum development, you will benefit from the blend of educational and linguistic foundations on offer.

This qualification will allow you to pursue opportunities in foreign or second language teaching, either as:

  • a newly qualified teacher looking to enter the profession
  • an experienced practitioner seeking to diversify or reinforce your current career
  • a non-qualified teacher with an interest in foreign language tuition

You will also gain a host of valuable transferable skills that you can carry into any career situation.

The MSc Language Education is led by a team of language professionals and researchers with expertise in a wide variety of areas. We are a multilingual and multicultural team with professional experience gained all over the globe in the field of language education.

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 July 2024.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in a relevant discipline. Previous teaching experience is not required.

We may also consider your application if you have relevant employment or experience; please contact us to check before you apply.

Students from China

This degree is Band C.

If applicants are studying in a Chinese university on our priority list, they must have a minimum overall average of 80% for courses and at least 80% on the dissertation. For applicants at any recognised university not on our priority list, they must have an average of 85% for courses and 80% on the dissertation.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

  • IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
  • TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
  • C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
  • Trinity ISE: ISE III with passes in all four components.
  • PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 62 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

AwardTitleDurationStudy mode
MScLanguage Education1 YearFull-timeTuition fees
MScLanguage Education2 YearsPart-timeTuition fees
PgDipLanguage Education9 MonthsFull-timeTuition fees

Moray House Country Scholarship

Moray House School of Education and Sport is pleased to offer five £10,000 scholarships to study a Master’s degree programme commencing in September 2024. These will be based on merit and available to applicants from eligible countries.

Moray House Access Scholarship

Moray House School of Education and Sport is pleased to offer a scholarship covering tuition fees and living costs for one student. The scholarship is for UK nationals domiciled in the UK, from backgrounds or groups which are underrepresented in our School.

GREAT scholarship: Mexico

One GREAT scholarship will be available to applicants from Mexico who apply for 2024 entry. This award is for £10,000 towards postgraduate taught (Masters) degree tuition. Further details on eligibility criteria and how to apply can be found on the GREAT scholarship website.

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

  • your programme
  • the duration of your studies
  • your tuition fee status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

  • Programme Director, Dr Chia-Ying (Annie) Yang
  • Phone: +44 (0)131 651 6044
  • Contact: langedu@ed.ac.uk
  • Moray House School of Education and Sport
  • Old Moray House
  • Holyrood Campus
  • Edinburgh
  • EH8 8AQ

Due to high demand, the school operates a number of selection deadlines. We will make a small number of offers to the most outstanding candidates on an ongoing basis, but hold the majority of applications until the next published selection deadline when we will offer a proportion of the places available to applicants selected through a competitive process.

Please be aware that applications must be submitted and be complete, i.e. all required documents uploaded, by the relevant application deadline in order to be considered in that round. Your application will still be considered if you have not yet met the English language requirement for the programme.

Deadlines for applicants applying to study in 2024/25:

Round Application deadline Places awarded by
1 09 October 2023 19 December 2023
2 11 December 2023 28 February 2024
3 04 March 2024 16 May 2024
4 06 June 2024 30 July 2024

You must submit one reference with your application.

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

Further information

  • Programme Director, Dr Chia-Ying (Annie) Yang
  • Phone: +44 (0)131 651 6044
  • Contact: langedu@ed.ac.uk
  • Moray House School of Education and Sport
  • Old Moray House
  • Holyrood Campus
  • Edinburgh
  • EH8 8AQ