Education Development Pathways can lead to achievement of a postgraduate qualification, professional recognition with Advance HE, access to an online Teaching and Learning in Higher Education course, as well as bespoke education development programmes to support the development of teaching practice for you or your colleagues.
There are a number of Education Development Pathways at the University of Essex that you can engage with to develop your knowledge, skills and confidence in teaching to enrich the education experience for your students.
Our pathways provide opportunity for like-minded educators to share effective approaches and challenges in delivering a 21st century education within Higher Education.
You will be introduced to innovative approaches to design, engage, assess and provide feedback to your students both in a face to face and online setting.
Each of the pathways will connect you with experienced educators at Essex, where practices can be shared, feedback is provided and mentoring support made available to support you.
Engaging with an Education Development Pathway also has potential to establish connections that could lead to innovative pedagogic research with Essex academics where you might have common areas of education related research interest.
Our pathways will help you to understand education theory and practices in an approach that is designed to complement your role as a teacher in Higher Education. Further details about each pathway can be found below.
Achieve an Education Qualification through completion of our Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice (PG CHEP) teaching qualification. The PG CHEP consists of two 30 credit modules delivered over two consecutive academic years. The first 30 credit module will lead to gaining Fellowship of Advance HE* (*if you are employed by a Strategic Partner of the University of Essex) and includes access to the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Course.
Module 1 will focus towards the fundamental practices to be effective in Higher Education, including a literature review in an area of education interest relevant to your context, whilst Module 2 will provide opportunity to engage in an action research project to investigate and find solutions to an area of education practice.
This pathway is designed for people with less than three years of teaching experience in Higher Education.
Each module will consist of five hours of support event content, and, beyond engaging and reflecting on your own teaching activities, you will need to submit a written portfolio of practice of approximately 7,500 words.
There are two modules to complete the PG CHEP and each Module of the PG CHEP will cost £2,000 for UK Home fee paying students and £4,340 for International fee paying students, respectively. Fees will be reduced based on cohort sizes of 10-19 or 20 or more participants.
If you are a member of a strategic partner institution that is already an Advance HE Full, International, Affiliate or International Access member, successful participants will receive Fellowship without an additional fee being due. If the strategic partner is not an Advance HE member, successful
participants will be charged an additional fee for Fellowship, which is 50% of the current direct application fee with Advance HE.
The PG CHEP is a work-based programme that is delivered online through pre-recorded content, live seminars and tutorial support. It is assessed through completion of a portfolio of practice.
The PG CHEP programme is planned to be available for strategic partners in October 2025 and January 2026. If you would like to register your interest, email develop@essex.ac.uk
This course is integrated within Module 1 of our PG CHEP programme but can be completed independently of the qualification route. This online course consists of 8 themes that learners can engage with independently, including: Education Theory, Planning, Delivery and Engagement, Assessment, Feedback, Technology, Inclusivity and learning environments, Continuing Professional Development. There are also four seminars to complement the self-taught content that are delivered through Autumn and Spring Term, respectively. These are aligned with the areas of activity in the PSF 2023 (designing and planning learning activities, supporting student learning through appropriate
approaches and environments, assessing and giving feedback, supporting and guiding learning).
Completion of the course will take approximately 16 hours of independent learning and there are 4 optional 90 minute seminars.
| Seminar | Duration |
| Designing and planning learning activities | 90 mins |
| Supporting Student learning through appropriate approaches and environments | 90 mins |
| Assessing and giving feedback | 90 mins |
| Supporting and guiding learning | 90 mins |
This cost of this pathway will vary depending on whether the participant is a member of a strategic partner of University of Essex, as well as the size of cohort from each institution (fees will be reduced based on cohort sizes of 10-19 or 20 or more participants). The fee per person to engage with the course during a 3-month period is:
| Cohort size | Fee per person (excluding VAT) |
| Non-Strategic Partner | £395 |
| Strategic Partner (individual) | £350 |
The course is delivered online through a combination of pre-recorded videos and activities, as well as four themed seminars to consolidate learning in a peer setting.
The Teaching and Learning in Higher Education online course is planned to be available for strategic partners in May, October and January. If you would like to register your interest, email develop@essex.ac.uk
This pathway will provide opportunity for groups of educators to engage with an online programme focussed towards specific development needs. Programmes can be delivered in a model that suits the context of each cohort, which will be agreed by the lead from the respective strategic partner
institution.
The duration of each programme will vary depending on the needs for each cohort. This could typically be from 1 day – 2 weeks.
The focus and format of each bespoke education development pathway will be unique. Once the needs of the programme are understood, a proposal will be prepared that will include a fee. The cost per person will be reduced with larger cohorts of 10 and 20 or more participants, respectively.
Access to the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education online course will also be possible at a
reduced rate if integrated within a bespoke education development programme.
Each online programme is designed to suit the needs of each cohort and could include:
If you are interested in a Bespoke Education Development Programme for colleagues at your institution, please email develop@essex.ac.uk. We would typically have an initial conversation to understand your needs and discuss what could be possible before sharing a proposal for your
bespoke education development programme.