creative writing ma teesside

Teesside University

Creative Writing and Wellbeing (Online) MA

Are you interested in the ways that creative writing can be used as a tool for wellbeing perhaps you already work with creative writing in this context or maybe you’d like to find out more about this growing field of practice and research.

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Full-time and Part-time

100% online english & creative writing.

• Apply now to start in September, January or May. Apply now

Course details

Entry requirements, employability, learning platform, course overview.

Boakesey Closs, MA Creative Writing and Wellbeing (Online)

Hear from Boakesey, Teesside University student and Manx Bard as she talks about becoming the Bard, her goals and how she's benefitted from studying online.

The course is taught by distance learning with no requirement to attend classes at a set time. You can access the course space and complete the coursework in your own time, whatever your work or personal commitments. This means it is highly suited to teachers; writers developing their teaching and workshopping skills to work in the community; and those using writing in therapy, healthcare and other professional settings. The course explores the meeting points between writing, identity, health, wellbeing and personal and professional development. You gain knowledge and understanding of the theoretical, critical and practical frameworks for using creative and reflective writing for greater wellbeing in a range of settings and in your own life. Alongside developing your own creative writing skills, you will think through the particular challenges and ethical concerns around creating safe spaces in which people can explore their writing.

Top reasons to study this course > Study this course and you may be eligible for a £2,500 Sir Keith Skeoch postgraduate scholarship. > Flexibility around your commitments – learn and complete course work at a time that suits you. > Career routes are wide and eclectic including publishing, editing and freelance writing, wider creative industries (television, journalism, new media), healthcare sectors and professions that require advanced writing skills. > Unique focus on helping you develop a professional plan that you can go on to implement after the course. > The teaching team are both practicing creative writers and experienced in creative writing and wellbeing.

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Where you study

Online Distance Learning.

Course structure

Core modules.

Creative Writing and Wellbeing Project

Develop the skills and techniques to curate a personal, sustainable writing and wellbeing practice. Investigate creative-critical approaches to processes, reflective practice, and core skills. You create a writing project proposal and develop this into a final portfolio of creative writing in your chosen form and genre, with an accompanying reflective commentary and specific reference to writing and wellbeing contexts and approaches.

Creative-Critical Writing: Your Writing Manifesto

You experiment with form, develop your understanding of the relationship between creative and critical writing, and explore your motivations, inspirations and aspirations as a writer. You explore a range of texts that move between forms and modes, and examine key ideas about texts that have paved the way for your writing, why you write, and the topics that are important to you.

The Professional Writer in the World

You consider and frame your writing within contemporary contexts, exploring the many ways and contexts in which writers work, such as residencies, commissions and public art. You gain the knowledge and skills needed to market, publish and self-publish your writing across a wide variety of platforms.

Writing and the Self

You explore the connections between creativity, writing, and the self. You reflect on the idea of the self in the writing process and use key ideas from autoethnography, narrative theory, life writing, autofiction and autobiography to develop work and process. You examine approaches such as writing identity, writing the body, fictionalising from self-experience, objectifying, shaping the stories of our lives on the page and exploring personal metaphor. Concepts such as personal truth, inner dialogue and helpful distance allow you to deepen your writing.

Writing and Wellbeing Specialism

You explore a specialist interest within creative writing and wellbeing, related to your own writing. Engage with writing and wellbeing theories drawn from a range of disciplines. You cover techniques and paradigms such as expressive writing, narrative and poetry therapy, and writing and mindfulness to enrich your own process and creative reflection. By supporting your development as a compassionate and constructive self-critic, you are encouraged to develop new relationships with your lived experiences through your work.

Modules offered may vary.

How you learn

• a short introductory video, in which your tutor introduces the week’s key themes
• writing prompts and exercises
• supporting materials, reading questions and suggestions for further reading and research to discuss in the discussion forum
• a dedicated private space to workshop your ideas and writing-in-progress with the tutor and fellow students.

You will also receive help, support and feedback on your work directly from the tutor, both through the online course space and by email. You don't need to be a technology expert to take this course. All you need is a PC, laptop or tablet to access the course materials and forum and share your writing with the tutors and your peers.

How you are assessed

Each taught 30-credit module is assessed against clear learning outcomes through written assignments, usually consisting of both creative work and some critical or reflective work. In addition to the taught modules, you produce a final project (60-credits) in your chosen form and genre.

A bachelors degree at 2.2 or above in English, creative writing or a similar discipline. Other relevant experience, such as a post-experience or professional qualification, including international qualifications, are considered on an individual basis. An IELTS score of 6.5 is required. You must submit a portfolio of your creative writing of up to 2,000 words in any one or two forms or genres, for example poetry, prose fiction or life writing. You must also submit a short reflection of up to 500 words on your interest in the links between creative writing and wellbeing. Please include these in your online application.

For general information please see our overview of entry requirements

Career opportunities

Graduates of the MA (Distance Learning) in Creative Writing and Wellbeing may already be working in a number of helping professions where they could apply their new skills, such as health and social care, education, youth work, counselling or psychotherapy; or may go on to consider further training in these areas. You may go on to develop your careers in the broad area of arts and health, medical humanities and/or professional writing, including further study or research to PhD level. Alternatively, this course may enrich your own personal and professional skills.

Our virtual learning environment (VLE) is the platform you use to access your online course

Teesside University online learning courses are delivered through the Brightspace Learning Environment.

Here are some of the benefits.

• You can use it on your smartphone, tablet and computer.
• And you can use it anytime, so that you can plan your learning to fit your own schedule.
• It's easy to use and navigate.
• Modules are set out by topics and themes. You can use the progress bar to understand where you are in your modules, and appreciate your achievements.
• We support you to become familiar with your VLE, helping you to start learning quickly.
• You get feedback, help and guidance from tutors throughout your course through the VLE, and you can ask questions at any time.
• Our tutors use a live activity feed to keep you updated about your course.
• You can create a student profile, collaborate with other students and take part in online discussion forums.

Software requirements

Online learning

Online learning allows you to get a university-level qualification from the comfort of your own home or workplace. You'll have access to all of the world-class teaching and support that Teesside University has to offer, but all of your lectures, tutorials and assessments will take place online.

Find out more

University of the Year

Teesside University was named University of the Year at the Edufuturists Awards 2022.

2024-25 entry

Fee for all applicants £8,460

£1,410 for each 30 credits. Not eligible for any fee discounts

More details about our fees

2025-26 entry

£940 for each 20 credits. Not eligible for any fee discounts

• Length: 1 year
• Attendance: 100% online
• Start date: September, January or May
• Semester dates

Apply now (full-time)

Please choose the relevant option below:

Apply online (full-time)

Apply online (fast-track) for current students

Fee for all applicants £810 for each 30 credits

£4,860 total. Not eligible for any fee discounts

• Length: 2 years
• Start date: January, May or September

Apply now (part-time)

Apply online (part-time)

Choose Teesside

Teesside University ranked in the top 50 for online learning in the Uswitch Online Learning Index 2022.

Ranked in the top 350 list of global universities aged 50 years or under.*

Over 1,000 students enrolled on our open learning courses

High-quality, stand-alone, open learning education for over 30 years

More information

• English & Creative Writing More courses in English & Creative Writing

Get in touch

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 01642 738801

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Creative Writing MA Teesside University

Course options

Qualification.

MA - Master of Arts

Teesside University

• TUITION FEES
• ENTRY REQUIREMENT
• UNIVERSITY INFO

Course summary

Creative writers express thoughts, feelings and emotions through words and have the ability to inform, provoke, captivate, inspire and move. You approach creative writing from a variety of perspectives - including fiction, poetry, life writing and drama - to explore how writers operate and how you can become an independent writer in professional publishing, performance and writing within community, educational and therapeutic contexts.

Course overview

Taught by practicing writers, poets and novelists the course utilises links to partner organisations to provide routes of progression into the literary professions. The programme modules blend practical craft-based learning of writers’ techniques with critical theory to gain an understanding of the changing role of the writer within society.

You broaden your skills base through experimentation and reflect upon your personal motivations, aims and interests as a developing writer through taught seminars, writing workshops, self-directed projects and tutorial supervision.

The course is campus-based and taught by blended learning, with some face-to-face sessions and some taught online. You may also be interested in our MA Creative Writing (Online) which is taught entirely online.

Career opportunities

MA Creative Writing graduates go on to a wide choice of professions and careers. Apart from the more obvious routes of publishing, editing and freelance writing, many work in the wider creative industries (television, journalism, new media) or in workplaces that require advanced writing skills.

The practical and flexible design of the course means that it is also highly suited to teachers; writers developing their teaching and workshopping skills to work in the community; and those using writing in therapy, healthcare and other professional settings.

Modules (Year 1)

Tuition fees.

• Afghanistan
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£ 17,000 per year

Tuition fees shown are for indicative purposes and may vary. Please check with the institution for most up to date details.

University information

University league table, campus address.

Teesside University, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, Tees Valley, TS1 3BX, England

Subject rankings

Subject ranking.

28th out of 50 13

Entry standards

Graduate prospects

Student satisfaction

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