Hibernia Interview in August

mkc

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has done the Hibernia interview this August 2009? If so would you please mind letting me know the questions ? I have mine the end of the month. Have been told it will be 20 mins, 10 mins English and 10 in Irish. Any help greatly appreciated !

Ruby-J

here is the stuff i have copied and pasted from previous posts.

there may be some editing needed as it is word for word from other posts.

best of luck and let us know how you get on. im in on the 27th so im not too far behind you!

Interview outline

1. Information about self. Education, Work, Experience, Achievements.
2. Quotation, explain and discuss briefly on the spot
3. Irish-casual chat about self and teaching
4. IT Skills, English Curriculum, Teaching, Personal Interests

1st segment of interview: Education, Work, Experience, Achievements

Teaching experience to date/Education to date
How my education path has lead me to Hibernia
tell me about your education?
Why you want to be a teacher?
Did I apply for teaching while in Leaving Cert?
Why should Hibernia offer me i place on the course, why do I deserve it
Is art/music/drama/dance/song important in education?
Do you know anyone who has done the course
What skills could I bring in to teaching from my degree
What experiences have I to offer to prospective students I would teach
Tell me a bit about your degree and why you chose it?
What did you study on your degree? Tell us about your degree course
Is your degree suitable for teaching?
Talk about a memorable teacher
Affect you have had on someone's life
Biggest achievement in life so far.
Memorable primary school experience
- Diff between schools now and when I was in primary school
- Importance of assessment in schools
What would you do if you had a child falling behind in school?
Who would you talk to, so parents, principal and other teachers
Is planning important for teaching?
Did I ever have a job where I had to plan ahead?
Is being creative important for teaching?
Am I creative in my spare time, hobbies etc
What qualities/skills I have acquired in my studies that I can apply as a primary school teacher
Do I think local history is important in the curriculum, and why?
Do I think assessment is important and why?
Do I think group work is important and why?
Do I know anyone who has done the course with Hibernia?


2nd Segment Quotation statement to discuss

"Education is about making hard things easy" (or maybe about making difficult things easy) discuss.

‘Education does not happen by chance, it must be sought after with by ardor and due diligence’.

A teacher is someone who makes difficult things easy
most quotes can be related back to "active learning" or "life long learning".
presume you keep taking until they think you've made your point, i talked for 2 or 3 mins but there was a bit of waffle and repeating stuff. its about your thoughts on the quote, the interviewers probably wont know either, they just want to see what you think about and hear you talk.

“Education preserving the past and being the future”
“Teachers revive the past, live in the present and reveal the future”
Primary goal of education is to pass on the learning’s of the past to the next generation – all the skills that adults over the generations have found necessary to survive, reading, writing, maths, science etc. so in this sense education is all about preserving the past. However, it is also about preparing the children for a future that adults haven’t yet experienced but our children will – part of this is teaching them new skills, such as computers and technology, but also teaching them to be open-minded, flexible, enquiring and to have their own in-built learning skills so that they can adapt themselves to whatever challenges the future may hold.

Teachers preserve the past - they give the children an insight into the history of the local community, country etc..and show and explain on 'things' change and evolve. And show how we learn from the past etc.. They live the present because they are giving children skills which they can use 'now' in 'real time' such as reading, writing, learing to tell the time etc..... therefore opening up the 'current' world in which we live on an ongoing basis, and the reveal the future by enabling the children to develop their skills and knowledge so they can continuing learning and using those skills to excel. eg. maths, and then going on to develop this and build on this all through their life so they can grow etc...become an accountant.... Also the teacher shows the children how they things they are learning today are needed for the future, like science and technology....

“Education is not preparation for life, its life itself”
Education is not about a specific time you spend in school learning skills you would use when you left and became an adult. Education is a never ending process that runs through all your life – adapting, changing, learning and surviving is what human beings are all about and just living through each day and responding to your environment is education. In schools we are formally educated with the skills we need to survive reading, writing, maths etc. but more importantly we are learning how to learn so that we can continue to be educated every day of our lives by responding successfully to our environment.

“Teacher has an effect on a child for eternity, not just during their school years”
As above – talk about not only do you get the main skills of reading writing etc. but you are taught HOW to learn so that you can go on independently when formal education finishes. Also, talk here about how outside the formal curriculum we have the “hidden curriculum” – these are the principals of living that are not taught as such but are picked up by children incidentally from teachers along the way. Sometimes the things learned from the hidden curriculum are negative eg, racism, sexism, but for the majority the teachers pass on something positive that children carry with them all their lives eg, passion for Irish, interest in nature, how to treat disadvantaged people, how to be fair to people of all backgrounds. Talk about your own experiences here.

“Education is the greatest weapon a man has”
It is well accepted that an educated person with an enquiring mind has a far greater range of tools and choice at his disposal than an uneducated one. Someone uneducated when faced with challenges or conflict can only react physically and doesn’t have the same ability to think of alternative ways to overcome a challenge. A person who is educated has the option to discuss, compromise, argue and overcome adversity by means other than the physical. Use north of Ireland as an example – education allowed the people of the north to participate in government, to negotiate, to compromise and eventually to resolve a long-standing conflict. Even aside from conflict situations, a person who is educated has a greater range of knowledge and problem solving skills to rise to all challenges that life sends their way – well established that the way to break the poverty cycle is through education.

the educator must convey the lessons of the past to the future

1/4 teaching 3/4 acting
“Education is for an eternity”

As discussed in many of the above – it’s about the acquisition of life skills to future-proof each child.

Yates -”the bucket is not the most important thing, but the content is"

Not sure what they mean here – with regards to education they may mean that the process of education (the content) is more important than the end result (the bucket) e.g. Passing your leaving cert. In order to get to the end result you had to learn an abundance of skills, reading, writing etc, in addition to social skills, study skill, flexibility, tolerance etc. It isn’t about putting down the correct answers in the test, it’s the development your brain underwent to acquire that knowledge. This development, brought about by education (the content), is what equips you for life, not the end result e.g., leaving cert

“Learning is not for spectators”
Yates - "Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire"
“Forced learning does not hold in the mind” - (Passive versus active learning)

The old theory of education was that the teacher had a jug of information and that they poured this information into the empty cups of the children to educate them. This was passive learning – it is short term and does not last beyond the limits of the lesson. This is not the thinking in the new curriculum. The belief now is that the teacher stimulates and directs the children so that they become ACTIVE in the education process. Their interest and learning skills mean that they can draw the knowledge they require for the world around them, this is the principal of ACTIVE LEARNING. The teacher is the stimulus for learning – they light the fire. (Guide on the side – not sage on the stage)



"If you tell me, I forget, If you show me I'll remember, Involve me and I will understand"
Draw from the answers above. The “tell me and I forget” is the old fashioned principal of the jug and the cup learning (passive learning) which is short-term and inflexible. The rest is about the active learning promoted in the new curriculum - this creates flexible enquiring minds who can adapt to all situations and educate themselves in the future when the teacher is long gone.

"The foundation of every state is the education of its youth"
Job of every country to pass on the skills the next generation need to survive in the modern world (see Q1). It is by ensuring the success of the next generation that countries can continue to thrive and adapt to their environment.

"The purpose of education is to create flexible people"
As discussed in many of the questions above – education is not about passing on information, it’s about teaching the skills to GATHER information for yourself. A person who is told about Egypt and the pyramids has just this information. The person who has been made interested about the Egyptians by a teacher and has been shown how to consult reference books, use the internet, analyse texts, interview family etc. can learn everything they could ever want to know about this subject and can ADAPT these skills to learn about anything they may need to know. They are infinitely flexible and can adapt to their changing environment.


“Education helps people to do (learn) new things”
See all “active learning” questions above. It’s not about passing on information, it’s about teaching people HOW to learn so they can operate independently and adapt for themselves when the teacher is gone.

Aristotle - 'Education is the best provision for old age'.
Twofold – firstly an educated mind is endless source of amusement and stimulation. As the body ages and becomes less physically active, an educated mind can draw on its reserves of skills and information to allow it to adapt to changing environment and still derive satisfaction and interest in life around - as well as having knowledge and experience that will be of use to the generations that come thereafter.

Secondly, education teaches us how to learn, so that we can adapt to a world in old age that may be entirely different to the world be grew up in.

JFK said "A child miseducated is a child lost"
Our job in education is to pass on the skills necessary for next generation to succeed as adults. (See Q1). If we fail to do this, we fail to give the child the tools they need to survive. Not just reading and writing, but also how to gather and analyse information, how to problem solve, and very importantly, how to live in society and work productively with the people around them. If we don’t give them these skills, this child is not equipped for the future – he is lost.
“Education (Schools) is a fortress for civilised society”
As Q1 – we pass on the rules and skills necessary for survival of new generation of adults. Key to this are the social rules themselves – how to interact with one another, how to resolve conflict, how to debate, compromise and learn from each other. These are the foundations of civilised society and it is the job of education (both through school and the family (the primary educators of the child) to ensure that our children have the necessary skills to live in civilised society.

"The foundation of every state is the education of its youth"
My interpretation of quote = importance of education in relation to the state.
Completely agree – children are our future – the future workers and leaders of our country.
Very relevant for today with Budget cuts. In times of hardship we need to put more funding into education to secure our future.

“Learning is not for spectators”
My interpretation of quote = involvement.
Role of children is of active participants in learning.
Role of teacher as facilitator of active learning. involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing.
I'd suggest re child with special needs that a teacher would examine all relevant reports and draw up an appropriate Individual Educational Plan. Meeting the parents/guardians would be vital in the process of developing and reviewing the IEP.
It would be important to ensure that the child would access a broad and balanced curriculum.

" Teaching is 1/4 preparation, 3/4 theatre"
nobleness and excellence
education is ....it must be sought after ....ardent vigor (so sorry but can't remember it exactly!)
Education is not a fact, it is a value

How it is better to guide learning than force it

3rd Segment Irish
Caitheamh aimsire
scoileanna tuaithe and scoileanna cathrach – school in the city and in the country-an mbeadh aon difriocht muineadh iontu?
Why i wanted to be a teacher.
What are your interests
Whatever is down on application form or cv will be asked. down on my application form
He then asked what i do at weekends in general
What will i do this weekend.
Your town is a small town, how does it compare to the town you went to university in?
Would you prefer to live and work in the country or in the city.
Do I get to use my Irish much?
Irish Classes – what did we do at the Irish classes? Was there many there? Who gave the classes? From the school or outside of the school? What were the classes for mainly – writing, reading or conversational? Why did I go to the classes?
Where WOULD I rather teach? In country or city schools and why? What sort of school did I sub-teach in? How many teachers are at the school? Are there many primary or secondary (comprehensive schools) in your area?
Tell us about your past times? How often do you play games for your basketball team? What other pastimes do you have? Do you go to Guitar lessons or just on your own?
What are your plans for the summer? Well then where did you go last year? What did you enjoy from the holiday? Was the food good there?
interviewers want you to be natural and not do parrot like recitals of stuff prepared.
avoid saying sea all the time too. When he says ta an aimsir go hiontach or whatever some people just say sea as a filler. Get in the habit of saying stuff like oh cinnte or aontaim or something else. This was a tip we were given in Irish grinds
How did I prepare for the interview
Where did I do my grinds
Where I went on hols last summer, give 2 or 3 lines
Where WILL I go on hols
What WILL I do when the interview is over
What WOULD my friends say about me
How did I prepare for the interview (Irish section)?
Do I ever watch TG4 or listen to Radio na gealtacht? What type of programs? Any examples?
Why do I want to be a primary school teacher?
What type of person (ie. traits/qualities etc) do I think a primary teacher should be.
What do I do (ie. duties/responsibilities) in my current job that I could use in teaching.
As regards the Irish all they are looking for is a general chat. I know its very hard to think that that is all they want ( it took me 3 attempts to realise). Also. i'm not saying to learn off things for the irish but just if you know the general jist of what you are going to say and how you would go about answering a question it makes it a whole lot easier.
What do i watch on t.v.? they asked me about the characters and a story line from it
What will i do straight after the interview?
What did I do to prepare for the Interview? Asked me questions about course?
Asked me about what I did normally at the weekend and what would i be doing this weekend?
Asked me about latest film/book I had read and asked a few follow up questions
- My local area - cinema, library, beach (all these were seperate questions, I got no chance to recite off the pretty answers I had learned!)
- Travel, where do I want to go this summer
- What will I do after the interview
on about setanta sport
general about football
Gaeilge in UCC
What preparation had I done for the interview?
Have I ever been to the Gaeltacht? Where was the nearest Gaeltacht to me? Tell me about your local area - where are you living etc? Would you prefer to teach in the city or country and why.
Holidays - where did I go last year and have I any plans for holidays this year. What did I think about America (I was there on holidays last year during the US election debates) Do I like to travel? Do I use Irish much in my working life?
Tell me about yourself; pastimes, what kind of person are you, where do you live
Is Irish important?
Is it important for the teacher to have fluent Irish?
prepare for the interview
How often did you practice speaking Irish
(Know your application inside out, the interviewers questions seemed to come from that)
Tell me about your interests and how they would help you teaching ( The interviewer really focused on what I had on the application
Tell me about a previous holiday you had
What 3 things will you do tonight after the exam (did not expect that, started talking about hurling training, made a mess of it, only gave him one point in the end.)


4th Segment IT skills, Personal interests, Curriculum, Teaching, Own input
English (Based on the Curriculum):
1. Do you think there is a place for singing in the curriculum? And why?
2. What would you do if a child swore at you in the classroom?-state that perhaps that’s the way we speak at home but not in this school and certainly not in my classroom.
3. What makes an ideal school?
4. Tell us about your IT and Typing skills?
What teaching experience do I have?
How did I think my degree related to teaching.
Did I enjoy my time at college - was I a member of any clubs/societies while I was at college.
What qualities do I think were important for a teacher to have, what skills/qualities/characteristics do I have as a person that would make me a good teacher.
Computer skills - what packages have I used? Have I ever given a powerpoint presentation at work? Have I ever designed a web page?
Education is often said to involve a lot of repetition - does my current job involve a lot of repetition and how do I handle that?
Do I know anyone else who did the hibernia course before - what did they tell my about it and did they tell me how intense it is?
How was I going to manage working full-time and being on the course and when would I have time for relaxation - how did I relax?
What are my past times? Do I play any sport - do I like sport? There was a question about teamwork among teachers in school and support of the principal etc but I just can't remember how it was phrased.
my degrees - primary and postgraduate
what would I do if I noticed a child was not performing they way in which they normally did?
Did I think that creativity was important in teaching?
What instruments if any did I play?
How would i deal with a special needs child in the classroom?
What IT skills do i have...i did Computer Science in 1st year in college so they just asked me what areas did we concentrate on?
There's a lot of getting the balance right, how will you get the balance right in this course??
What kind of school environment would you prefer to work in?
How would you balance your work and study and past-times if you got on the course?
Depending on the nature of the special needs the child might require explicit assistance in developing language/communication skills. Staff may need to use Lámh or PECS to assist the student's learning.
Practice and consistent teaching and practice of social skills is essential for students with special needs.
Assessment and frequent review of IEP would be a good idea too.
Throughout the interview in English I threw in anywhere they gave me breathe to speak about the curriculum, my determination and motivation, how studying the child psychology course has prepared me for harder study (having to adjust my life around to fit it in), how I'm loving every minute of child psychology and love talking about what I'm learning. I also threw in bits of child psychology like Piaget's theory of cognitive development and how important it is to understand a child’s development process in order to teach them. I also managed to mention my team-working skills, and how a teacher can overcome anything with knowledge, motivation, and passion.
Do you think there is a place for dance in the curriculum
What would you do if a child swore at you in the classroom
What do you think makes a good school
What do you think makes a good school environment
What role does the principal play in the school
What would you do if the school didn't have all the resources you needed
how would u handle a special needs student
Go on about curriculum
Time management
What’s important to you in a school
Have you done any paid subbing?
IT Skills and Experience
- Also a general chat about my hobbies
my degree and what aspects of college life did i enjoy most?
What motivates you to teach
IT skills - can I type, what programmes I use, research on Internet etc


What is a principal there for motivating and encouraging the individual efforts of the teaching staff.
While also monitoring the progression of the cirriculum.
He/She must also ensure open line of communication and consulation with all members of staff, parents and the board of management there for?

As you prob well know, the interview will be conducted in the order of English qs, Irish qs, and then back to english qs again. That is the format. They say that the english qs are what dominate the whole interview, although at the end of the day it is your fluency and control of Gaeilge that will make them remember you after you leave the interview room.
To prepare for the interview I tried to do these things every day: listen to RnaG, watch TG4 (I used watch 'Aifric' or Paisean Faisean to make it fun), then I used write out any possible qs I would get asked as gaeilge. I kept a little notebook of all these possible qs and my own answers, and I just learned them off. Dont do the latter!

Now, they say learning off reams of stuff should help you, but it didnt really help me. In fact, in my interview I didnt even get to say half the stuff I had learned off, so I would advise you not to do this!! Its a waste of time.

Really ("In ndáirire"), you should learn off phrases, general phrases which you can use time and time again in your interview.

For eg. 'Is oth liom a rá' (I regret to say)
'I mo thuairim féin' (In my own opinion)
In my interview, luckily the man chose to do most of the talking.. some people might see that as a bad thing, and believe me I didnt think I would get accepted to Hibernia over it, but I did and I think it was because even though I didnt get to speak a lot of gaeilge in my interview, I did show that I understood the qs and I used natural answers that would be used in a normal conversation.

mkc

Hi Ruby J, thank you SO much for all that info !

Ruby-J

also check out educationposts.com and under the employee section of primary level theres a message board. if you go to the search part and type in hibernia you will get more info. thats where i got mine.

Ruby-J

hi Mkc, how are you getting on with the preparation? Not long left now until the big day. im in next thursday. when is yours?

mkc

Hi. I'm in on Mon. Working away at the list of questions. Listening to irish as often as I can to get into the zone !! How about you ? How's your prep going ?

Ruby-J

its going all right. getting tired of it now. to be honest i think i would rather shorter preparation period. i had some mock interviews on monday so it helped me to pick out the things i should and should not say. my cousin is in froebel at the moment so she literally grilled me and told me that i shouldnt say "music,drama,song,dance,art deviates from the mundane subjects irish english maths etc as since the new curriculum in 99 NO subject is a mundane subject. so thats one of my big blunders that i can now rectify. stuff like that.

ive lined up an irish conversational grind on monday to prep me for the irish part as i have done very little conversational work with anyone.

what time is the interview? il have my fingers and toes crossed for you!

mkc

Hi Ruby-J. Can't believe its Thursday already!! I'm sure it will be great for you, best of luck.

Ruby-J

hi mkc,

i WISH it was today, its next thurs the 27th im in!

PopcornPrincess

Hi all...

I have my Hibernia interview next week and the nerves are beginning to build
I have looked through previous posts for question tips but I still don't feel prepared! The Quote question is particularly worrying me!

Any advice or tips from anyone who has done it?!

Thanks

Ruby-J

hi popcorn princess have you checked out educationposts.com.

when is your interview? mkc has theirs on monday and i have mine next thurs so we are all feeling the pain!!

Toto Wolfcastle

Threads merged.

Ruby-J

Best of luck today mkc!!!!

Be yourself and talk up any experience you have with children or team work. i just got that from a previous poster today who had their interview last week and they said it went badly and their irish was bad but they talked about how much they loved their nieces and nephews and playing with them. and they got a place so talk talk talk!!!

Fingers crossed for you.

mrngorickets

Hi,

Thanks very much for this comment. It help me to think about my ideals.

Tks again and pls keep posting.

summer4

Hi - has any one done an interview with Hibernia for the HDip in Post Primary Education- I have an interview in 2 weeks and urgently need any tips/advice on possible questions that they may ask?

Thanks.:)

Ulstergirl

Try this link, it should help!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=73379109