Am I mad!!!?

5k runner

Ok I am 23 years old as for as long as I remember I have wanted to do secondary school teaching. Due to doing a mediocre leaving cert (345 points). I didnt succeed in getting into any of my first 8choices on my CAO! Therefore I ended up getting my 9th choice which was tourism marketing. I have since achieved a 2:1 in this degree and I am contempleting my next step. I have decided due to the fact it is so competitive to get into any of the hdip courses I am goin to do a masters in Marketing starting in September 2009 in DCU. My thinking behind this is that by having a greater knowledge of marketing it will help me in getting into the hdip and eventually to teach business in a secondary school. Was just wondering if anyone good give me a bit of advice/direction

(1) Am I going about it the right way?
(2) What are the chances of getting experience in secondary schools (possible once a week) next year while iam doing my masters?
(3) Am I wasting my time trying to get into teaching esp Business teaching as it seems everyone I talk to tells me there are too many people out there with business degrees looking to become a teacher?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Ken

rainbowtrout

You need to have Business in your degree in order to be able to teach it in a secondary school. Doing a masters is not enough. And it has to make up 30% of your degree and be part of your final years subjects.

That's aside from a job's shortage/competition for places on the dip/ lots of business graduates.

edeldonlon

I must have been the year behind me in DIT? I graduated in 2006 from TM.

I am currently about to finish the HDip (finger crossed on friday)

If you look at the PAC website you will see that you should be qualified to teach, business and accounting

I managed to get the points for teaching by having the max number of teaching practice hours. I had spent a year in Japan on the JET programme contracted to 35 hours a week teaching.

In relation to getting a job, i gave up trying to get one in Ireland this year and have just accepted a job teaching business in a school in London.

I am not sure the masters is the route to go... esp in Marketing. Yes it will give you the raise in salary but would you not be better of waiting and doing it in Education after the Hdip?

I would call into as many schools as possible and see if they have any hours available, you might get some. The head teachers will all be in schools until the end of the JC & LC and then again from the middle of August.

Best of Luck and if you want anymore info send me a PM

Powerhouse

edeldonlon wrote: »

I am not sure the masters is the route to go... esp in Marketing. Yes it will give you the raise in salary but would you not be better of waiting and doing it in Education after the Hdip?

While it is hard to see how a Master's in Marketing would benefit anyone in teaching, I would be wary fo anyone doing any kind of Master's because of the salary allowance. The extra salary allowance is of the order of only €600 per annum which when netted off come to probably €300. A Master's course is probably going to cost €6-7k, (which is not to even consider the time/effort/unseen costs involved) which means that someone would have to earn the guts of €15k extra to justify it. It would take years upon years for that to pay off, and that's not to even get into the reality of unemployment/at best dodgy emplotment prospects which will affect earning potential.

That's not to say that doing some kind of Master's would not be worthwhile, but that doing it for the extra salary allowance alone could be a dubious move. It would need to be absolutely justifiable on a few fronts.

5k runner

Hi everyone

Thanks for getting back to me on this. Some of the comments are very interesting. Its giving me real confidence to see that a fellow graduate from TM is now a qualified teacher. I graduated there from DIT in 2008 so would of been 2 years behind you. Well done on getting those teaching hours, thats the part in which I am missing unfortunately!

My thinking behind doing the masters in marketing are:
(1) When I do apply for the hdip, it gives you a few extra points on the application form and therefore will make my application more attractive.
(2) A deeper understanding of marketing/business will make me a better teacher.
Any comments on this would be great??

Thanks for the advice regarding looking for teacher hours, will get onto this straight away.

edeldonlon

Yes a masters would give you a deeper understanding of your subject but to be honest to teach JC or LC Business you would be fine without it....

I think you would have a better chance of getting on the course by getting some teaching hours. You have up until December to find these hours.

How many points does the master give you? Also not sure on this but can you put a masters on this years PAC if you have not finished it? But could be wrong on this.

Also by the way if you really want to do business i would not rule out doing the Hdip in the UK. I applied last year and was still getting emails and letters about now for some of the unis. It might not even be to late as they keep application open until the fill the places.

pathway33

if you graduate from the masters in 2010 you cannot start the hdip (pgde) until september 2011 (unless you manage to get into trinity) so youwould have your pgde (hdip) here in june 2012.

do the pgce (hdip) in england starting in september and you will be finished 2 years earlier. Google GTTR for the uk application system

you will probably have to work in england or wales for 5 years. a short hop on the plane. that's what i would do

masters is 6 points by the way for the person who asked