Hibernia Course

Trotter

Has anyone here applied to do the Hibernia post graduate teaching course this year? Or has anyone done it before?

Id be interested in hearing peoples opinions on the course.

Elley

How employable are people from this course? I'm sure its a great course but are schools willinging to employ graduates?

serabi

Elley wrote:

How employable are people from this course? I'm sure its a great course but are schools willinging to employ graduates?

ya, three teachers in my school did it and have permanent jobs.....Mary Isle don't respect it as much as the others tho

BOO HOO!!;)

Trotter

serabi wrote:

ya, three teachers in my school did it and have permanent jobs.....Mary Isle don't respect it as much as the others tho

BOO HOO!!;)

Mary I ya mean.. Its short for Mary Immaculate

finlma

I sent in the application last week since I didn't get Mary I. I'm waiting to hear back. Have you applied Trotter?

Fast_Mover

serabi wrote:

Mary Isle

..sorry for laughn but i couldnt help it..!

i duno if i mentioned this else where on another thread, but my brothers friend is doing it, not sure how she getting on etc, il try and find out tho..

Trotter

finlma wrote:

I sent in the application last week since I didn't get Mary I. I'm waiting to hear back. Have you applied Trotter?

I applied and got in Cant wait to start now.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

apparently, it's a very good course from what i've heard. There were some unions who were objecting to it, but primarily because of the increase in competition from new graduates...

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

p.s. gl Trotter!

Trotter

Cheers

finlma

Trotter wrote:

I applied and got in Cant wait to start now.

I did the interview on Sat and got offered a place today. I'm delighted - already been in to get my loan and I'm ordering a laptop tomorrow.

Lisa M

hey, am new to this forum but find it very good..i have been interested in primary teaching for the last 2 years now..grad from dit in 2003....i applied for st pats post grad last year but failed the irish....am very interested in the hibernia course..although a main thing for me is that i dont have any teaching practice...but i so want to get in to teaching...for any of you that have been accepted to hibernia, what the interview and irish oral like???
Any advise on where to go from here??I so want to do this....xxxxxcheers:p

Trotter

Lisa M wrote:

hey, am new to this forum but find it very good..i have been interested in primary teaching for the last 2 years now..grad from dit in 2003....i applied for st pats post grad last year but failed the irish....am very interested in the hibernia course..although a main thing for me is that i dont have any teaching practice...but i so want to get in to teaching...for any of you that have been accepted to hibernia, what the interview and irish oral like???
Any advise on where to go from here??I so want to do this....xxxxxcheers:p

According to the Hibernia Website, http://www.hiberniacollege.net/Default.aspx?tabid=62
They are "Currently accepting applications. The Closing date for receipt of applications is 5pm on Friday, 3rd February 2006."

There is one interview, and its broken into English and Irish parts. There are people who get in without teaching practice but if I was you, Id have some way of backing up your feeling that you so want to do it. You need to convince them that you know what "it" is.. ie.. how do you know you want to be a teacher? Have you worked with kids before? Have you any experience of coaching a team or being part of a youth group etc..

In the Irish, you'll need to be able to answer questions at the level of .. What could you bring to the classroom to make Irish more interesting, and what is your opinion on the standard of the Irish language.

Irish is a big part of primary teaching so you'll need to be aiming for a basic level of fluency, and be working towards that when you sit the interview.

Hope that helps!

Lisa M

Trotter wrote:

According to the Hibernia Website, http://www.hiberniacollege.net/Default.aspx?tabid=62
They are "Currently accepting applications. The Closing date for receipt of applications is 5pm on Friday, 3rd February 2006."

There is one interview, and its broken into English and Irish parts. There are people who get in without teaching practice but if I was you, Id have some way of backing up your feeling that you so want to do it. You need to convince them that you know what "it" is.. ie.. how do you know you want to be a teacher? Have you worked with kids before? Have you any experience of coaching a team or being part of a youth group etc..

In the Irish, you'll need to be able to answer questions at the level of .. What could you bring to the classroom to make Irish more interesting, and what is your opinion on the standard of the Irish language.

Irish is a big part of primary teaching so you'll need to be aiming for a basic level of fluency, and be working towards that when you sit the interview.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the advise Trotter.....a few more questions for you or anyone else that wants to give their views??

Have you got a lot of subbing experience?? If so how did you go about getting this..did you find it difficult at first???

One of the reasons i haven't done anything about subbing up to now is because I feel like I wouldn't know what to do...as in lesson plans etc...Did anyone feel this way or is it just me??I should prob just stop thinking so much and try and get subbing work..

Any advice would be great...Cheers

trotter_inc

Trotter wrote:

I applied and got in Cant wait to start now.

what was the interview like?

was there much irish involved? if so, were the questions tough?

Trotter

trotter_inc wrote:

what was the interview like?

was there much irish involved? if so, were the questions tough?

Interview was about 30 mins.. Id say 10 mins were as gaeilge. You need a pretty good level of conversational Irish for it. I got questions like.. what would you do to make Irish in the classroom more interesting.. and Is the Irish language in decline.

serabi

Trotter wrote:

Interview was about 30 mins.. Id say 10 mins were as gaeilge. You need a pretty good level of conversational Irish for it. I got questions like.. what would you do to make Irish in the classroom more interesting.. and Is the Irish language in decline.

what about english questions?
can u just jot down a few that come to mind

Trotter

serabi wrote:

what about english questions?
can u just jot down a few that come to mind

Hmm... What makes you think you're suited to teaching, what makes you suited to studying the Hibernia way, Examples of challenges in the classroom etc. I dont remember getting asked much about the curriculum.

It was about a week or two before I knew that I got it and they told me via email.

darrenoneill33

How long does it take to complete this course?

Trotter

darrenoneill33 wrote:

How long does it take to complete this course?

Its an 18 month course.

darrenoneill33

Thanks

And is it run on a set time, in other words is it always October of each year. And do they wait for a course to finish before begining a new one or can there be a couple of courses running at once.

Trotter

darrenoneill33 wrote:

Thanks

And is it run on a set time, in other words is it always October of each year. And do they wait for a course to finish before begining a new one or can there be a couple of courses running at once.

The february course start off and run through their 18 month timetable, whereas the october group do the same work, except their 18 months starts in october. So.. a few running at once.

Trotter

GAA widow wrote:

pm'ed you

I havent received a PM! Can you send it again?

GAA widow

sent!:)

Elainemccormack

I did the hibernia interview yesterday for Oct '08.
I thought the English portion of the interview went well, i was calm and comfortable and thought i got my points across clearly however the Irish portion did not go as well as i would have liked.
I am usually nervous when speaking Irish, I mixed up a few tenses etc, one of the questions I had to ask again what the interviewer meant.
My question is what level of Irish is normal in the interviews?
Would everyone else applying be practically fluent?
Does anyone know what the acceptance rate is like and what the volume of applications is like?

I was quite dissappointed when I came out of the interview because it was all nerves. My spoken Irish is quite good and I was prepared for a range of subjects etc - the first question threw me a little and then it just went down hill from there!

Blue 84

Elainemccormack wrote: »

I did the hibernia interview yesterday for Oct '08.
I thought the English portion of the interview went well, i was calm and comfortable and thought i got my points across clearly however the Irish portion did not go as well as i would have liked.
I am usually nervous when speaking Irish, I mixed up a few tenses etc, one of the questions I had to ask again what the interviewer meant.
My question is what level of Irish is normal in the interviews?
Would everyone else applying be practically fluent?
Does anyone know what the acceptance rate is like and what the volume of applications is like?

I was quite dissappointed when I came out of the interview because it was all nerves. My spoken Irish is quite good and I was prepared for a range of subjects etc - the first question threw me a little and then it just went down hill from there!

They're holding these interviews already?! Got an e-mail from them a few weeks back saying I was in the queue for an interview for next October's course, no indication though of when I will be called. Time to get the oul leaving cert Irish books out again I suppose, not looking forward to that part of it at all..

Rosita

I am astonished that they are holding interviews ten months in advance of the start of the course. Maybe they just have a rolling process of interviews or something.

Could anyone tell me when they start teaching practice on the Hibernia course? For example, if you started the course in February '08, would you be likely to be doing teaching practice during before the '07/08 school year ends at the end of June or are you still doing the basics and held off the school environment until September? Or do they try to expose you to the classroom fairly quickly?

Trotter

Rosita wrote: »

I am astonished that they are holding interviews ten months in advance of the start of the course. Maybe they just have a rolling process of interviews or something.

Could anyone tell me when they start teaching practice on the Hibernia course? For example, if you started the course in February '08, would you be likely to be doing teaching practice during before the '07/08 school year ends at the end of June or are you still doing the basics and held off the school environment until September? Or do they try to expose you to the classroom fairly quickly?

They try to get you into the classroom after a short time on the course usually. My first TP was in June having started in February. I think its best to jump in at the deep end anyway, you learn so much in that first TP.

Amtmann

Elley wrote: »

How employable are people from this course? I'm sure its a great course but are schools willinging to employ graduates?

The answer is 'yes'. My friend started the course before the first batch graduated. She was worried initially that it might turn out to be a bit of a lame duck course, but the experience she gained from it caused her to have an enormous number of classroom hours clocked up, and her bank balance grew very healthily too.

She got a full time job just two weeks after graduating. I'd heartily recommend it based on my friend's experiences.

folkswagen

I did the Hibernia course with the first "batch" of students and was made permanent on receiving my results:D
It is an excellent course delivered well and it is very suitable for folk to continue working during the course. My children were quite young when I did the course (Oct '03 to May '05) but it was very manageable to fit it all in.
When it came to doing inservice training later, it had all been covered through Hibernia. Many of their staff are PCSP facilitators so everything is very up to date. For those who are not very computer literate, it is a great way to upskill a little in that area:D
I would highly recommend it - fees are climbing though - so, hold on to your receipts for a nice tax rebate the following year:D
At the time when I graduated, Hibernia students did not start on point three of salary scale like graduatres of the other colleges - this was changed last year so we are now all recognised the same:rolleyes:

dugout16

What point of the scale do graduates of this course now start on?

Also if someone started this month Feb 08 when do they finish?

Trotter

dugout16 wrote: »

What point of the scale do graduates of this course now start on?

Also if someone started this month Feb 08 when do they finish?

Feb 08 finishes in August 09, and as it stands, they'll start on point 3.

dugout16

And would a person have to wait untill they have finished the course to apply for a job. Suppose someone on the Feb 08 course sees a job advertised in July 09 can they apply even though they won't be finished until a month later...

Trotter

dugout16 wrote: »

And would a person have to wait untill they have finished the course to apply for a job. Suppose someone on the Feb 08 course sees a job advertised in July 09 can they apply even though they won't be finished until a month later...

Yes they can apply. You apply as results pending, and your contract would usually state, if you got the job, that if you failed to fully qualify when the results were released, your contract would be void and... You're out the door.

dugout16

That seems fair, because i was thinking there would be a lot of jobs advertised in July each year and it would be a pity if those on the Hibernia course were restricted from applying!

dugout16

Was looking at the Hibernia website. What is the Drama and Music parts like?? you don't have to be able to sing do ya?

dididrama

dugout16 wrote: »

Was looking at the Hibernia website. What is the Drama and Music parts like?? you don't have to be able to sing do ya?

Oh yes! Approach with an open mind and try your best. I'm a qualified 2nd level Music teacher and I half of my employment is in Primary schools teaching the Arts syllabus because teachers aren't confident enough. I train and give advice to teachers aswell because there really isn't that much to fear - you can teach music, art and drama with basic knowledge and some creativity.
I've just been called for interview with Hibernian - I've decided primary teaching is where it's at. Has anyone applied for a loan recently? I'm a bit worried about financing this course if I get in given the current state we're in.

Alessandra

I got accepted tp Hibernia, I am not taking it. The cost alone is huge(9000euro) and the work load is intense meaning you won't be able to work consistently over the 18 months. Having talked with principals and experienced teachers they have said they are swamped with applications. I have asked their opinions on Hibernia graduates to mixed responses. There are better options in the UK. Well established courses, more job opportunities and better value for money.

My advice: do some investigation, talk to teachers etc. Hibernia is a big committment to make if there is no propect of employment afterwards.

cork*girl

dont agree with that to be honest ^^^^^

if you apply to do the course now.. in 18months the country will be in a totally differnt place economicly like. you dont know that there wont be jobs. teaching is a profession that is seen as fairly stable

Ruby-J

Guys,

im in two minds at the moment. Ive just been let go from my current job and i work in a pre school. i love children and did want to do the primary teaching after my leaving but missed out on it by 10 points. i dont have the option to completely drop out of employment but really want to get the post grad so that i can teach in primary. ive been looking into hibernia the last few weeks and ive a few concerns. i dont like that we have to submit original documents and certs and that they do not give them back? i think that is highly unfair especially if you dont get accepted and you lose your certs?!

What are peoples opinions of the course while working. Is it possible to work at least part time and still have an income and also is it as tough as people say it is? also what are the exams like and what are the options if you fail?

Cheers guys.

Any advice hints or tips are greatly appreciated.

BoozyBabe

Ruby, I've been doing the Hibernia course 4 months now, so can't answer all your questions, but:
You DON'T have to submit original certs. I don't know where you got that idea. You photocopy them & get them stamped in your local garda station & post those off instead.
Plus, if you don't get in 1st time, you just resubmin the application form, they keep your certs on file so you don't have to send them again.

I just finished my 1st TP on Fri. I'm off to the Gaeltacht in a few weeks. As a result, I had to quit my job just before TP, so I'm now unemployed. People do work straight through the course, but I'm glad I'm not. I found it very hard to keep up with course work, work & prepare for TP at the one time, so I'm hoping being unemployed now will give me the time I need to concentrate on the course properly, & be more prepared for my next TP.
TP was quite tough. Well, not tough, draining more like. I loved my time in the classroom. It was brill, but it was very hard to come home & get stuck straight into the paper work again for the next day. I'm struggling at the mo to see how I'll put myself through it all again in a few months, but I will!

I'm really happy I decided to do the course. I'd always thought about teaching, but never did more than think. I repeated my LC Irish last year too to get here, & I'm very glad I did.

If I can answer anything else, I will, but I'm quite a newbie to the whole thing myself, so may not be much more help to you.

Ruby-J

great thanks boozy babe. Good to hear that its going well.

J.R.

cork*girl wrote: »

dont agree with that to be honest ^^^^^

if you apply to do the course now.. in 18months the country will be in a totally differnt place economicly like. you dont know that there wont be jobs. teaching is a profession that is seen as fairly stable

When I qualified in the early '80's things were the same as now or even worse...no jobs whatsoever.......get the course done and persevere.....it will always turn around and you will get your job.

Larrylimbo

Hi...

I have the interview for Hibernia next week and I was just wondering if anyone could give me a list of the questions, Irish & English, that they were asked at the interview???

Would be very greatful...

Nead21

is it possible to work while doing the Hibernia course??

also, i've already completed a PGDE in secondary teaching, and was wondering if any of the modules could be accredited if i was to do the primary postgrad....ie sociology of ed, philosophy of ed, psychology of ed, history of ed etc?? i dont fancy repeated myself here!

Larrylimbo

Trotter wrote: »

I applied and got in Cant wait to start now.

Hi Trotter,

Congrats on getting the course! I have the interview next week and i was wondering if u could give me a list of questions they asked, both english & Irish??

Thanks

Tom Dunne

Larrylimbo wrote: »

Hi Trotter,

Congrats on getting the course! I have the interview next week and i was wondering if u could give me a list of questions they asked, both english & Irish??

Thanks

While I appreciate you are eager to find answers to your questions, please refrain from pestering people. I happen to know for a fact that Trotter is out of the country and may not be in a position to respond to you.

Have patience.

Trotter

Larrylimbo wrote: »

Hi Trotter,

Congrats on getting the course! I have the interview next week and i was wondering if u could give me a list of questions they asked, both english & Irish??

Thanks

Easy there eager beaver. I did my interview around 4 years ago so I couldnt give any kind of list. I presume you'd need to justify why you'll make a suitable teacher and back it up with experience of working with children, i.e. volunteering with sports clubs, youth clubs etc. You might need to show that you know about the Hibernia learning system (I've typed loads about what learning with Hibernia is like, just have a search for it).

As Gaeilge - Bí ag úsáid do chuid Gaeilge i rith na seachtaine roimh an agallamh agus bí reidh chun bheith ag caint ar ábhair a mbaineann le oideachas in Éirinn agus ar do caitheamh aimsire srl.

As I said, its ages since I did mine, and I have no idea how useful any suggestions could be.

Nead21 wrote: »

is it possible to work while doing the Hibernia course??

also, i've already completed a PGDE in secondary teaching, and was wondering if any of the modules could be accredited if i was to do the primary postgrad....ie sociology of ed, philosophy of ed, psychology of ed, history of ed etc?? i dont fancy repeated myself here!

The only way to find that out is to pick up the phone and give them a call I reckon.


I'm gonna be out of the loop for a few weeks anyway so I won't be around for speedy answers unfortunately.

Sláinte!!!

Ruby-J

I sent off my application yesterday. Fingers and toes crossed!

It is a scarey nerve wrecking time waiting to hear news!!!

Ruby-J

I've got an interview with them yay!

Anyone got any helpful hints or tips?

Best of luck to anyone who has applied or is waiting on their interview.

Ruby-J

anyone?