Digging deeper

Charlotte Wake details her masters journey and explains how postgraduate courses can encourage you to find hidden treasure.

It was at the beginning of 2015 that I decided to try to develop my dental knowledge, taking a different route to the usual CPD. I always had an interest in undertaking a masters degree. Even though I can distinctly recall an echo of myself saying: ‘I am never writing another essay again’, as I graduated from my hygiene and therapy course back in 2005.

I felt as as if I needed a new challenge and wanted to understand why there is so much paperwork, so many policies and in practice how legal case outcomes are reflected. So I looked into the dental law and ethics masters programme at the University of Bedfordshire.

This course seemed perfect. Based in Luton, you attend eight contact days at the university over each academic year, while learning from home the rest of the time. There are assessments, but these are submitted electronically, or on the contact days if a presentation was required.

As I was working four days a week, I couldn’t commit to regular trips to university, so this ticked all the boxes.

It requires three full years of study to complete the master’s degree, but further options are available. For instance, at the end of the first year, you can graduate with a postgraduate certificate. While at the end of year two you can graduate with a postgraduate diploma.

This made it feel more manageable; a bit more bite-sized. So I decided to give it a go and see how I got on in the first…