Educational Sciences: Learning in Interaction (Research)

Educational Sciences: Learning in Interaction is recognised as a high quality programme and has been awarded several high ratings by different ranking-organisations in the Netherlands. In the renowned 'Keuzegids Masters 2021', Educational Sciences: Learning in Interaction received the highest score of all research master's in the field of Educational sciences in the Netherlands.

The programme got an above-average assessment for the components: practicality, guidence and facilities. For the components programme content, examenation,  teachers, scientific training and challenging education, the Master's even received a high above-average score. 

Collaboration with students from multiple countries provides you with opportunities to explore issues in education and learning within a broader international perspective. In addition, researchers and scholars from abroad are invited for guest lectures and research seminars. We encourage all students to participate in international research seminars or to complete an internship abroad.

At Utrecht University the Master’s programme in Educational Sciences: Learning in Interaction offers you distinct benefits, including:

• A focus on primary processes in education and learning and how these relate to the macro-development of skills on a larger timescale.
• An integrated interdisciplinary approach (pedagogical sciences, educational neuroscience, linguistics, experimental psychology, and the inclusion of subject-specific didactics).
• The ability (for you as a student) to make use of the capacity and experience of researchers from well-established research programmes within the broader inter-faculty research focus area of Education for Learning Societies.
• The possibility to follow a clinical track in order to obtain the Dutch clinical starting qualification ‘NVO orthopedagoog’ (see Clinical Track).
• Extensive training in advanced measurement technology (e.g. eye-tracking, ERP/EEG) and statistical modelling.
• Innovative learning tools: we combine high-level coursework with hands-on research skills and competency development. Throughout the programme, various electronic learning environments are used to support you in your collaborative study assignments, allowing you to experiment with innovative learning and instructional tools.

For students who are interested in clinical work in addition to research, we offer the possibility to follow a clinical track within EdSci. After completing the clinical track, students can obtain the Dutch clinical starting qualification ‘NVO orthopedagoog’.

In the clinical track you will do a clinical internship (20 EC) in year 2, as well as following additional lectures on ethics, and juveniles and law (2,5 EC). This will replace the two electives and the course Interaction in Blended and Online Learning Environments.

As an important part of the clinical track involves a clinical internship at a Dutch institution, command of the Dutch language is required. Furthermore, to successfully immerse in a clinical programme, the clinical track is only open to students with an suitable prior degree such as a BA programme containing courses on developmental psychopathology, diagnostic assessment, treatments for children, and testing and observation skills. For more information check the entry requirements of the Master’s programme Orthopedagogiek (until 2025:Clinical Child Family and Education Studies).