Gaining School Management Experience

pat281192 · 22-09-2012 9:48pm #1

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on how to gain experience that would prepare/benefit me in moving forward towards a management position within a secondary school.

I have 5 years teaching experience behind me and i have started the Toraiocht program (postgraduate diploma in educational management).

I'm in my late 20's and hold a permanent position in a secondary school. I have been very active in the school since I joined the staff and have coached teams, organised awards nights, head of dept's and updated the school website with the recent events/news. I have tried to get on the BOM but i was up against 3 other staff members, who had 20 years approx each teaching in the school and I narrowly missed out.

I'm not sure now where to focus my attention now to gain experience.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

evolving_doors · 23-09-2012 11:43am

Maybe Masters in Leadership and Management if you want to go the formal route,, seems like you are doing everything right within the school...

how au fait are you with the School traditions/ethos... i.e. if it's a religious based school do you get involved religious activities/make it known that you attend mass everysunday... Am I wrong in suggesting this?

Personally I'm happy to be an Indian rather than a chief so my advice might be worth little, but that's the way it looks from my perspective

TheDriver · 23-09-2012 1:36pm

or you could apply for DP or P somewhere........... You can look for experience all you want but the other side of it is that if you want a career in school management, then go for it.

2011abc · 23-09-2012 7:58pm

Armelodie wrote: »

if it's a religious based school do you get involved religious activities/make it known that you attend mass everysunday... Am I wrong in suggesting this?

Joint Post of the Day with the lady (it HAS to be !Miaoww!) giving out about her colleague drinking 'three huge mugs ' of milk a day from the staffroom!!!Sometimes its hard to fight the cliche that us teachers are all a pretty dull shower ...

castaway_lady · 25-09-2012 10:43pm

The boss in our joint got the gig in his late 30s, was never even a deputy. He has a masters in Ed Management, had worked with school completion/home school liaison programmes, bit of youthreach and plc. His first application for a management job was this one, he found a position that had been advertised twice, as in nobody suitable appeared the first time round, school was coming from a low base in a disadvantaged area...he did his homework, got interview coaching, went through a rigorous 90minute interview and got the hot seat. Don't be too fussy and don't expect extracurricular to count for much. Results and policy making and discipline experiences are more popular than football!

evolving_doors · 26-09-2012 3:53pm

2011abc wrote: »

Joint Post of the Day with the lady (it HAS to be !Miaoww!) giving out about her colleague drinking 'three huge mugs ' of milk a day from the staffroom!!!Sometimes its hard to fight the cliche that us teachers are all a pretty dull shower ...

Am I wrong?

gerflaherty · 01-08-2013 6:16pm

pat281192 wrote: »

I have 5 years teaching experience behind me and i have started the Toraiocht program (postgraduate diploma in educational management).

Hi,
just wanted to find out some info on the tóraíocht course from you if you dont mind. am considering it myself as an intro into m.ed school leadership. Being out of college so long i want to ease myself back into it!!
Did you find it difficult to finish assignments etc with full teaching hours?
thanks

pat281192 · 01-08-2013 10:37pm

Hi Ger
I have finished the course since the start of May. Overall it was quite interesting and a major eye opener into the management structures and the roles played by senior school management. At the beginning of the course I was set to move upward in my career into management but as i began to understand the demands and culture of the job I have since changed my mind. I'm not saying I will never apply for a management position but at the moment I don't see the rewards being worth the extra hours and responsibilities, many others on the course also felt this.

Im not sure how well this course will work towards a masters. It will not shorten the length of study you will need to do but some of the credits may be carried over if completing a masters in NUIM.

The work is not overbearing but it is always in the back of your mind for the year. You will have to dedicate time to it every week, 1 or 2 hrs. It didn't put me under too much pressure but i was a little fed up of it in the end. Some of the teachers on the course had young kids and one or two had newborns during the year and they all still got through it! I wouldn't let the work put you off!

The assignments include 2000 word essay/ 2500 word essay /5000 word essay/ a group presentation /an interview on a topic of your choice/ and a leadership project based over the entire year 8000-10000 words

The course is very practical in its delivery with many of the lecturers being current or past principals. With the changes in Master allowances etc I felt that this was a better option for me than going for a full on masters. It also seems to be well recognised with people getting management positions with this course and their experience.

hope this answers some of your questions, any other question just ask!
Pat

dambarude · 01-08-2013 10:46pm

Am I correct in saying that you have to be teaching a certain length for consideration for the Toraíocht programme?

pat281192 · 01-08-2013 10:48pm

Yea you have to have 4 yrs experience

Cammie · 18-11-2016 2:42pm

Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster!. I know it's a long shot but I stumbled across this post from awhile back about the Toraiocht course and school management etc. I am currently doing this course but am finding it difficult to get going on the assignments. I find it very interesting and reading lots but am unsure where to start; finding it difficult to get some concrete beginnings. Looking for advice from anyone that may have done the course or doing the course - Enterprise essay and Action Research project please! Just need some starting points to get myself going. Thanks guys

Gaining School Management Experience

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