Studying for a PhD whilst teaching full time

In 2024 I successfully defended my PhD thesis following five and a half years of studying whilst teaching full time in a secondary school. I had always been interested taking my research interests to the next level, but when I enrolled on the Education and Social Justice doctoral programme with Lancaster University it felt like a huge step into the unknown. Was I good enough to work at doctoral level? Would I manage to find time in my busy schedule? And did I have any original research ideas in me? Sitting here at the start of a new year, 3 months after receiving my certificate in the post, I realise I was able to do all of those things. So, for anyone else thinking about embarking on the same journey, here, for what they are worth, are my reflections.

First, and most importantly, I loved every minute of it. I loved reading and learning about theories and research I hadn't met before and having opportunities to discuss them with other students. It made me think about my own teaching in new ways and I discovered new interests and approaches which have had a real impact on my practice. I got to research an area of teacher development - something I am really passionate about - make new discoveries, and then share them. I explored a range of different research approaches, developed my reflective skills, and learned how to write a little less like an engineer preparing a technical report and a little more like a researcher.

Don't get me wrong, there were times when I struggled and was frustrated by my lack of progress and inability to understand what I needed to do to improve. Doctoral studies necessarily require you to be an independent researcher, and it took me a while to understand my worries were normal and to trust in the process and the advice of my supervisors. Everyone comes to post-graduate research from different backgrounds and with different experiences, and therefore takes a different journey through their studies.

Having worried I wouldn't have any original ideas for research, I came to understand that education is an enormous subject. If you are working in a school, you will have asked yourself questions that no-one has yet researched or found an answer for. If there is something you are interested in, even if someone else has researched it, they may not have looked at your subject area, school phase, type of school, country and so on. The course at Lancaster comprised two parts, and in the first we had opportunities to learned about different theoretical frameworks and aspects of education we were interested in. In truth, my fellow students and I seemed to find it harder to narrow down our ideas and focus on one element to research than to come up with any ideas.

Time. I cannot lie, finding time when you work full time in a school was difficult, and yet I did. I found I was motivated because I enjoyed the course, and in Part 1 there were regular deadlines that helped keep me disciplined. Part 2 was more difficult as you were on your own completing your research, but there is an upper limit on how long you can take and for most of us, an upper limit on the fees we can afford to pay, so that keeps you focused too. As a teacher I had the advantage of easy access to schools and research participants which other PhD students didn't have, and this saves a lot of time when carrying out your research. You can also talk to your university tutors if you are struggling with deadlines or intercalate if you need time out from the course. In the end I went to the gym a bit less, listened to audiobooks in the car so I had time to read papers in the evening, and am still catching up on a long list of DIY chores stretching back to before the pandemic.

So, was it worth it? Absolutely.