Children's & Young Adult Literature

Since September 2017, students at the School of English, DCU, are able to study for the degree of Masters of Arts in Children’s and Young Adult Literature (the only named postgraduate degree in Ireland concentrating on YA literature), which marks an exciting departure for both the discipline and the new school.



From September 2021, the School is delighted to announce the Masters of Arts in Children’s and Young Adult Literature degree programme will now also be offered as full-time option.



The MA programme benefits enormously from the participation of national and international experts in the discipline, as well as from the enthusiastic commitment of its students.



Why Choose the MA in Children’s and Young Adult Literature at DCU?

• The School of English is proud of its ground-breaking history in initiating the academic study of children’s literature as a postgraduate discipline in Ireland.



• Members of the lecturing staff are experts in their fields, publishing and researching widely in the discipline, and co-founding national organisations (such as the Irish Society for the Study of Children’s Literature).



• The programme offers students the opportunity to study children’s and young adult literature in a supportive environment; small class sizes ensure that everyone has a voice, and typically promote a close and mutually supportive relationship between students; lectures and seminars are lively and varied, and promote an interactive and participative environment.



• The wide range of modules on the programme ensures that students get the best opportunity to study their particular interests.



• The programme is supported by the activities of the Centre for Research in Children’s and Young Adult Literature, including talks by world-renowned specialists in the discipline, such as Prof Emeritus Peter Hunt (Cardiff), Prof Emerita Maria Tatar (Harvard), Prof Karen Coats (Cambridge), Dr Marah Gubar (MIT) and Dr Lucy Pearson (Newcastle).



• Students of the programme have access to the special collections of children’s literature held at O’Reilly Library (DCU Glasnevin Campus).



Programme

Why Do This Programme?

Students on this programme often express a long-standing fascination with children’s and/or young adult literature, and enrol for a variety of reasons. Some students, for example, undertake the programme purely to find an outlet for their love of children’s and young adult literature, while others do so because they see it as a pathway to career development. Our graduates have used the programme as a means of furthering their ambitions as writers, while others have gone on to doctoral study. The programme facilitates these several motivations/aims, offering students a wide-ranging course of study in the history and development of children’s and young adult literature from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, and introducing them to critical areas of research.



Part-time students read widely during the course of their first year, when the programme considers a range of topics, including the art and politics of children’s literature; form and genre; and the ever-evolving perceptions of what is deemed ‘suitable’ reading for children and young adults.



In their second year, part-time students concentrate on a specific area of research and, with guided supervision, write their dissertations.



Full-time students complete all elements of the degree programme in one year.



Programme Aims and Objectives

The MA in Children’s and Young Adult Literature degree programme aims to



illuminate children’s and young adult literature, and demonstrate its literary and cultural significance;

deepen students’ appreciation of children’s and young adult literature, and enable them to engage with such literature on both a critical and an imaginative level;

develop students’ practical skills, so as to enable them to approach reading, writing and research with greater confidence;

encourage students to recognise the transferrable nature of the skills that they develop during the course of this programme.



Programme Structure and Content

From 2021, the MA in Children’s and Young Adult Literature degree programme will be offered both as a full-time option and as a part-time over two years.



Typically, for part-time students, the programme is taught on two evenings per week in Year One (usually Tuesdays and Thursdays from 16.00 to 18.00).



In Year Two, formal lectures only take place one day a week in both semesters; in Year Two students also meet occasionally with their dissertation supervisors, at mutually convenient times, to complete a minor dissertation of circa. 12,000 words.



To meet the requirements of the Masters in Children’s and Young Adult Literature degree programme, students must take six taught modules, which are assessed by means of essays, and produce a minor thesis of circa. 12,000 words.

Modules are subject to review and amendment. The modules below are provided for the purposes of illustration only to give part-time students a sense of how the programme is usually structured (full-time students take all modules in one academic year):



Year 1:

Histories and Contexts

Theories, Critics, Research Methods

Picturebooks and Film

International Children’s Literature



Year 2:

Colonial, Adventure and School Stories

Fantasy and Poetry

Dissertation (which includes supervisory sessions with a research supervisor; research and writing seminars; and, student presentations)

Requirements

This programme is open to applicants with an honours primary degree, minimum H2.1 (Level 8 NFQ) in a related subject. Applicants with an honours degree who do not meet the minimum entry of a H2.1 but can show substantial and demonstrable experience related to children's and/or young adult literature may be considered for a place on the programme.



As part of your application, please submit a personal statement (maximum 750 words), outlining why you wish to study for a master's degree in Children's and Young Adult Literature.



As part of the selection process you may also be required to attend for interview.



International Applications

International applicants are expected to have educational qualifications of a standard equivalent to those outlined above. In addition, where such applicants are non-native speakers of the English language, they must satisfy the university of their competency in the English language.

Application Deadlines

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the programme is full or until the following dates:



• Closing date for non EU applicants is 1st July 2024.

• Closing date for EU applicants is 31st July 2024.



All entry requirements should be met before the commencement of the programme.



EU Applicants

Applications will be reviewed and offers will be made on an ongoing basis. Should places still be available on this programme.



Non-EU / International Applicants

Applicants will be reviewed and offers will be made on an ongoing basis. Should places still be available on this programme.

Applicants who require a study visa for the purposes of gaining entry into Ireland are advised to apply as early as possible. If you need a study visa and are a Non EU/International student, you are not eligible to apply for part time programmes as study visas are only granted for full time programmes.



Queries

Queries from EU applicants should be directed to postgraduateadmissions@dcu.ie

Queries from non EU applicants should be directed to internationalapplications@dcu.ie



All Applicants must submit

All Applicants must apply through DCU's Student Application Portal - view Application Weblink above.



Certified academic transcripts for each and every year of study, with certified English translations, if applicable

As part of the selection process you may also be required to attend for interview.

Non Native English Speakers - Evidence of English competency which meets DCU entry requirements

1 year full-time

2 years part-time

The programme commences in September 2024

Potential Careers

Some of our graduates have used the programme as a springboard into doctoral study and academia, while others have used the knowledge and skills acquired on the programme to inform their work as journalists, judges, lecturers, editors, publishers, researchers and writers.



This programme has been of particular use to teachers of English at both primary and secondary levels, as a means of career development. It has also served the same purpose for school librarians and for librarians working in public libraries.



Graduates of the programme have also served as president of IBBY Ireland (the Irish section of the international non-profit organisation, which aims to bring children and books together); acted as adjudicators for, and chairs of, Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Awards; and, published children’s literature.