Primary Subbing

Neecod

Moving back to Ireland and thinking of getting into primary teaching. I'll be in Dublin and just wondering how to get in touch with schools and when is best? Should I bombard schools with my CV or is there another way?

HoneyButterfly

You could try textasub.ie They have a lot of Dublin availabilities. I just sent out a pile of CV's to schools in my area and got lucky and the first school that contacted me kept me on for 3 months. That was enough to get my foot in the door. Word gets round after that, the principle's will ask each other for names of people that might be available, and before long you'll be working most days. The work really slowed down for me in the months of May and June though

slingerz

Did you have any teaching experience prior to subbing?

How did you go in there and teach away like!?

I've no teaching experience but have just completed my BIS masters and the prospect of teaching really appeals to me

Enright

register with your local education centre, they will be able to provide you with a list of all relevent local schools

best of luck

HoneyButterfly

slingerz wrote: »

Did you have any teaching experience prior to subbing?

How did you go in there and teach away like!?

I've no teaching experience but have just completed my BIS masters and the prospect of teaching really appeals to me

No I hadn't any prior experience, but going in there and subbing is really the only way of getting experience worth having to be honest. The principle in that school just took a chance on me, and I'm so grateful! But schools are crying out for subs during the year, there will be loads of work. Plus in larger schools they leave a set of work/timetable for you to complete with the class, or the older ones will tell you where they are in their books. Its very daunting at first, but so long as you do you very best the teachers will try to help you in any way they can and they are very grateful to you for subbing too! Because otherwise, they would have to take a group of that class into their own class and try to keep them occupied.
In fairness though, for long stints, say, 2 or 3 months or a maternity leave, they nearly always find a qualified teacher to fill the position, but you might just hit lucky
And I didn't have a masters to you're already a step ahead of me I only had my undergrad

gaeilgegrinds

Out of interest, do ye usually get to see the principal or have ye found meeting/not meeting them makes any difference to your chance of getting called?

slingerz

HoneyButterfly wrote: »

No I hadn't any prior experience, but going in there and subbing is really the only way of getting experience worth having to be honest. The principle in that school just took a chance on me, and I'm so grateful! But schools are crying out for subs during the year, there will be loads of work. Plus in larger schools they leave a set of work/timetable for you to complete with the class, or the older ones will tell you where they are in their books. Its very daunting at first, but so long as you do you very best the teachers will try to help you in any way they can and they are very grateful to you for subbing too! Because otherwise, they would have to take a group of that class into their own class and try to keep them occupied.
In fairness though, for long stints, say, 2 or 3 months or a maternity leave, they nearly always find a qualified teacher to fill the position, but you might just hit lucky
And I didn't have a masters to you're already a step ahead of me I only had my undergrad

Thanks for this. Only after 5 years of college have i realised i'd like to do primary teaching if this had dawned on me during the leaving i'd be finished with a couple of years!! I am currently weighing up the options regarding hibernia and the mary I course!! any opinions on that and advice regarding applicatons/interviews

HoneyButterfly

slingerz wrote: »

I am currently weighing up the options regarding hibernia and the mary I course!! any opinions on that and advice regarding applicatons/interviews

I am going to do the postgrad course in Scotland this Aug so I can't really help you as regards them 2 colleges. However I really think the Hibernia course wouldn't be for me, I would prefer a more hands-on course. I think it would suit people who are limited to where they can do it, if they need to be at home, or need to work while doing the course, then Hibernia is perfect I think.
I will try to help you as much as possible with the interview, and give you any advice I can think of. I actually went for 2 interviews, one for University of Edinburgh and one for Uni of West of Scotland, and got both, so must have been doing something right!
I think if you are well prepared (they will usually give you topics that they want you to be able to discuss in a group, or a presentation to prepare, aswel as the one on one interview) then they will see that you really want it and are sure of your career choice. I also believe it you are right for the job it will be obvious to them in the interview.
For preparation I made a list of any questions that I thought they could ask (googled it too) then I made out very detailed, well thought out answers for these. I didn't learn them by heart of course, that would be ridiculous, but it really helped, as I tend to panick a lot in interviews. For questions that I hadn't prepared for, I found that if I gave them an answer based on experience then they were quite happy with that. For example they asked "Do you think children with learning disabilities should be mainstreamed?" and if you are sub teaching for a while you will inevitably come across children with learning disabilities and so the easiest thing to do with this question was just to call on experience I'd had with the children. You can basically apply your experience to any question.
They will need to know what qualities you think a good teacher has, and that you have them.
There's so much that I could tell you really that I'd be ranting here forever, so if theres anything in particular you want to ask, fire away, or PM me

EmG

Hi...i have applied for the Primary post grad in Edinburgh. My interview is in Feb and i was just wondering would there be any chance you could tell me what the interview involves. ive prepared loads of questions but just what to expect. Like...is it a group interview??! is there tests aswell?
Any info would be great really.
Thank you so so much.

Powerhouse

HoneyButterfly wrote: »

And I didn't have a masters to you're already a step ahead of me I only had my undergrad

I wonder is a BIS Masters a big advantage when looking for Primary subbing?