Specialist Degree - The Specialist Degree in The English-speaking World

The Specialist Degree in The English-speaking World

The Specialist degree is found in some programs of education or psychology and is awarded for study beyond the Master's degree but below the doctorate, (i.e., Ph.D., D.Ed. or Th.D.). It is most often referred to as an Ed.S. (Specialist of Education), or sometimes Sp.Ed.-- but can be designated in the form of SSP (Specialist of School Psychology), or Psy.S. (Specialist of Psychology). The College of Education at Eastern Michigan University and many other American institutions confer it as the "Sp.A" or "Specialist in Arts" degree.

Schooling usually, but not always, involves one to three years of coursework and practica, followed by a one year internship, or practical field work. Depending on the program offering the degree, a Master's degree can be conferred during the process once its requirements are met, or the program may require an already completed Master's.

An Ed.S. program typically requires about 60-70 semester hours beyond a Bachelor's degree, or about 30 hours beyond a Master's (making it approximately the same workload as a second Master's in terms of credits, but often the coursework is at the upper graduate, doctoral level). Therefore, in terms of coursework credits, it corresponds to an ABD status, ("all but dissertation"). However, according to the U.S. Department of Education's International Affairs Office's leaflet, entitled, "Structure of the U.S. Education System: Intermediate Graduate Qualifications," (Feb 2008), the Ed.S., as a degree, is equivalent to the D.Min. or Psy.D./D.Psy.

Ed.S. programs lead to professional degrees in the application of advanced educational theory but do not typically place an emphasis on conducting original research such as in Ed.D./D.Ed. or Ph.D. programs.

School Psychology and Curriculum and Instruction are two of the most common areas where a specialist degree is found. In the field of school psychology, the degree is typically an Ed.S. or SSP. Despite being virtually identical in scope and function, the Ed.S. and SSP both exist within the field of school psychology because training programs can be offered within the departments of psychology or education. They simply designate the type of program from which the degree originated. As another alternative, some programs within psychology departments have begun offering a Psy.S. degree instead of an SSP.

A specialist degree is not to be confused with a specialist program, which in certain universities, refers to an undergraduate program that is more specialized than a major, typically requiring more credits and usually a fourth-year thesis project.

In many fields outside of education, the postgraduate certificate fills the same need as a Specialist degree.