Thanks for the input folks. I’d thought about an EdD initially but moved away from it because of the structure. I’ll do a bit more poking around with that idea again though.

Pjlu -your post is particularly useful and I thank you for it. Just one specific follow up to it though. I certainly wouldn’t be using all of my school time to do something that purely benefits me; the MA is my starting point here as it was directly relevant to what I was doing in my role at school. This meant that there were things I could justify doing during the day as there was a tangible benefit to the school. I certainly didn’t do any writing or any of the “grunt” work there, that was weekends, holidays and evenings. The only concessions from the job were being allowed to leave slightly early on a few Thursday afternoons to go to group meetings. In terms of the future, I’d imagine at the moment that it’d be similar this time around. We’re part of a teaching schools alliance so I’d be planning a project that would first of all have an impact in the partner schools as well as my own. Which brings us around to the EdD again I guess!! All too complicated.

Could I cope? Yes, probably, given that there would necessarily be times where I did fewer or more hours due to workload. I’m also bearing in mind that anything I do would partly be achievable during the day job. I’m wondering if it’s worth it myself though. I don’t want to regret not grabbing the chance now but don’t really want the qualification just for the sake of it. There needs to be a purpose to it beyond that. At this early stage I’m excited by the idea of adding something to the knowledge base as I don’t always think teachers get much chance to do that but there needs to be a degree of being taken seriously.

I’m rambling now. Thanks for the reply - it’ll be interesting to see what comes up.

First time posting.

I've been a maths teacher for 26 years, worked in a wide range of schools and colleges and have been as "high up" as vice principal for a time. I'm now a head of maths.

I graduated with a maths degree in 1990 and went straight into teaching. I've recently completed a research based MA looking at developing resilience in learners among other things. Having got a high distinction I've been encouraged to think about doctoral research and I'm tempted. Currently planning my research proposal but my question really is this - is it worth it? I have no desire to be a headteacher or work on senior leadership again; I guess I quite fancy a future working at a different level, perhaps teacher training/ HE, maybe consulting or similar. I know I have to work until my late 60s at least so there's lots of working life left in me. Will having a PhD be a useful addition?

Doing the MA was frustrating at times but I absolutely loved doing the research part. According to one of the academics I cited at length, I did justice to the topic and she "absolutely thinks its a good idea". I'm taking that as encouragement!!

I'd be grateful for the thoughts of this forum on the issue. It'd be part time and self funded (probably through the PhD loans due to start next year) but very closely linked to my day job so field work shouldn't be much of a problem (my school is part of a cluster so lots of potential case studies). I have three universities in mind for the application but that's a different topic for discussion!