Irish Studies

Famous_Séamus

Hello All,
Im thinking of doing Irish Studies next year (Im in sixth year). Apparently its a new course. Is it new this year or was it new last year? TCD haven't said how many points it is or anything. If there is anyone who's doing and information would be aprreciated.

xebec

I don't have much info I'm afraid, but there was no mention of Irish Studies on the CAO last year in TCD. The closest course was Early and Modern Irish which required 330 points in the first round (one of the lowest in TCD). Irish Studies may be a variation of this course, hopefully someone from the Irish Dept will be able to answer your question more thoroughly.

Quite a few courses in Trinity are being changed or being considered to be changed at the moment due to internal funding and budgeting issues, this may be one of them

punka

There's some info on the prospectus online for 2007:

Irish Studies: An Interdisciplinary
course in Irish Civilisation
COURSE CODE: TR027
PLACES 2006: 20
POINTS 2005: N/A
Special entry requirements
Leaving Certificate HC3 In a language other than English
Advanced GCE (A level) Grade C In a language other than English

Course Overview
This is an exciting new interdisciplinary programme which has
been designed by the Irish, English and History Departments
to give you the opportunity to study in depth the language,
literature, history and culture of Ireland. The purpose of the
course is to provide you with a working knowledge of modern
Irish; to enable you to study Irish literature in the Irish and
English languages; to allow you to study the main periods
of Irish history; and to familiarise you with key issues in the
subject and in critical and cultural theory. Instruction at
beginner’s level will be provided for those with no previous
knowledge of Irish.

Is this the right course for you?
If you have an interest in the languages, literature, history
and culture of Ireland, you will enjoy this course. You will also
need an aptitude for language learning.

Course content
There will be a mixture of compulsory and optional courses.
During the final year, there will be particular emphasis
on optional courses, allowing you to specialise in areas
where you have developed particular interests. Assessment
throughout the four years will be a mixture of continuous
assessment and examination. You will also write a
dissertation in your final year. Courses are likely to include:

The Junior Freshman year
Irish Language
Irish Literature
Theorising Ireland
History of Ireland, 1014-1534
Imagining Ireland – a multidisciplinary course which will
seek to examine how Ireland and the Irish have been
represented in visual culture, in the literary arts and
historical discourse from earliest times to the present.

The Senior Freshman year
Irish Language
Irish Writing in English, 1590-1800
History of Ireland, 1500-1800
Ideas and Society in Ireland: From Cromwell to the Good
Friday Agreement: 1658-1998
There will also be a choice of optional courses

The Junior Sophister year
Either Introduction to Early Irish or Literature in Irish
Irish Writing in English, 1800-1880
Writing Ireland
History of Ireland, 1800 to the present
There will also be a course on Research Methodologies in
preparation for the dissertation which you will write in the
Senior Sophister year

The Senior Sophister year
You will choose three options from those on offer and will
write a dissertation.

Career opportunities
Graduates in Irish Studies can expect to arrive at the normal
range of career destinations for Arts and Humanities graduates;
for example, teaching, journalism, administration, management,
civil service, the diplomatic corps, publishing, media work,
advertising, public relations, human resources, etc.

Further information
tcd.ie
Tel. + 353 1 896 2625

Looks quite good actually, a bit like a more literary-focused European Studies. I also imagine that if you decide at the end of first year you want to switch into Irish/History/English it'd be quite easy to do so...

Famous_Séamus

Thanks.
Yeah, Ive read about, what it says on the TCD website. I just wanted to know if its new this year or next year. Seeing as the points for it aren't mentioned Id guess its next year. :rolleyes:

BessBoy

Famous_S&#233 wrote: »

Hello All,
Im thinking of doing Irish Studies next year (Im in sixth year). Apparently its a new course. Is it new this year or was it new last year? TCD haven't said how many points it is or anything. If there is anyone who's doing and information would be aprreciated.

TCD dont set the points... you do. Theyre a price, thats all.

Time Magazine

BessBoy wrote:

TCD dont set the points.

Ah, flawed economic theory .

Supply.

xeduCat

They control one variable in a complex system, then?

Time Magazine

Given that there are two main variables..... well, yeah.

Andrew 83

That it says there are 20 places in 2006 suggests that it should have started this year.

Trinity control the number of places which then controls the points. They have been known in the past to reduce the number of places on courses which are seen as having 'too low' a points threshold in order to artificially raise points. The higher the points, the college thinks, the higher the prestige.

Niina

I was wondering if it would be possible to become an English teacher with an Irish Studies degree? Anyone?

You only need a HDip for that methinks...
So any degree could suffice providing that you know what you are on about.

Time Magazine

Pretty sure it's not as simple as that, _psycho. Degree + HDip in most cases.

King.Penguin

To get a Higher Diploma in education you need to have a degree (usually a 2.1 for TCD's H.Dip). To teach english however, you don't need a degree in "english". What subjects you teach mostly comes down to what the headmaster (or equivalent thinks), what the school needs and how confident you are.

nutball

King.Penguin wrote:

To get a Higher Diploma in education you need to have a degree (usually a 2.1 for TCD's H.Dip). To teach english however, you don't need a degree in "english". What subjects you teach mostly comes down to what the headmaster (or equivalent thinks), what the school needs and how confident you are.

It also depends on whether or not the Teaching Council decides that your basic degree fulfils the criteria necessary to teach the curriculum of your chosen subject. So with respect to Irish Studies, the course syllabus would have to be evaluated by their academic consultants to see whether or not it covers X particular areas that they require of English teachers.

King.Penguin

Fair enough I was actually guessing .

Corruptedmorals

Yeah it's a new course starting the academic year 2007-2008.

I was at the lecture at the Open Day, apparently the points will be 400-ish.

It's my second preference, if I don't get the points for Ancient History and Archaeology/History.