For experienced educators and leaders considering a doctoral degree, the choice between a Doctor of Education (EdD) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is one worth understanding clearly. Both are rigorous, doctoral-level credentials, but they are designed with different purposes, different learners, and different outcomes in mind.
At their core, the EdD and the PhD represent two distinct orientations toward knowledge. A PhD is an academic research degree, preparing graduates to generate new theoretical knowledge and contribute to scholarly literature in their discipline. PhD students immerse themselves in research and theory. They often take on teaching or teaching assistant roles in higher education. The expectation is that they fully dedicate themselves to their program.
An EdD is a professional doctorate. It is designed for people who are working fulltime in a meaningful career who have noticed a persistent question, inequity, or puzzle in their field that they cannot stop thinking about. Rather than stepping away from that work, they choose the EdD to develop an inquiry that helps them address the problem more strategically and with greater impact.
A PhD student may ask what do we know? What more can we know?, while the EdD student may ask what can we do with what we know? How do we lead change from where we stand?
Not All EdDs Are the Same
EdD programs vary considerably across institutions, provinces, and countries — in structure, delivery, expectations, and philosophy. Some are offered primarily on campus. Some are research-heavy in ways that blur the line with a PhD. Others are cohort-based professional programs with a clear applied focus. Before comparing degrees, it is worth comparing programs.
The OSE EdD: Designed Around Your Life
The Doctor of Education at UBC’s Okanagan School of Education is designed to inform, empower, and engage current and aspiring leaders in education. The program has been deliberately built around the realities of working professionals.
The flexible delivery format allows students to stay in their community and continue working full-time*. Coursework is delivered online, with students expected to be available one weekday evening per week throughout each semester. Students have the opportunity to come to campus for one two-week summer intensive. The program does not ask you to put your career or your life on hold — it asks you to bring both into the room.
The three-year program requires the completion of seven courses and is structured around a Practice-Based Dissertation — a rigorous, field-grounded inquiry into a problem or puzzle within your own professional context. It requires students to dedicate 15-20 hours per week on their doctoral studies. Through the Practice-Based Dissertation, students inquire into a problem or puzzle of practice in their professional context, developing a theory of change to lead research-informed improvements and transformations.
Learning Alongside People Like You
The program’s collaborative and interdisciplinary approach brings together students from diverse educational backgrounds to share their experiences and perspectives, creating a rich and dynamic learning experience. Your cohort is not incidental to your learning — it is central to it. The people you study alongside become a professional network you carry forward.
The Okanagan School of Education normally requires that applicants have at least five years of work experience — which means everyone in the room has lived the complexity of educational leadership. The program builds on that collective expertise rather than setting it aside.
Where It Can Take You
The EdD offers credentialing that may provide career options for those seeking senior-level leadership or consulting positions, roles within government sectors, as well as community organizations. Graduates are equipped to lead not just within their institutions but across systems as superintendents, post-secondary administrators, policy analysts, curriculum developers, and education consultants.
If your goal is to contribute to academic research and build a career in scholarly inquiry, a PhD is likely the right path. If you are a working professional seeking to deepen your practice, lead organizational change, and apply research where it matters most, without stepping away from the work you are already doing, our EdD was designed for you.
* As this degree is designed to be online and for working professionals who are intending on staying in their home community, international students are not eligible for a post-graduation work permit in Canada.