Hdip interview for trinity

Dancingjebus3

My girlfriend got an interview for the Hdip in trinity and its coming up in the next few days and was wondering if anyone knew what questions they ask, or even some insight for what they look for in people for teaching? I know there may be other discussions on this but from the ones I have found people seem to be just guessing or have only heard from a word of mouth. Any help would be greatly appreciated? the subject that she has a degree in is in theology so if thats any help

Jo124

well done to her!! i've applied myself, do you mind me asking when she found out about the interview. gutted here that i havent heard from them yet..

Dancingjebus3

she only found out yesterday, yeah I have a few other friends who have applied all them with great results but they still havent heard anything yet so id say youd know by the end of next week, and I think they also let you know on the pac.ie website.

puddles1987

hi i got an interview too for next week !Mine is for the irish and a friend of mine got it last year and she said they ask about the things you have said in the statement you send in with application, so make sure she knows what she wrote and that they will also ask about teaching methods and disruptive kids etc! I think for irish they also ask about things like whether it should be optional, but that wouldn't be for all subjects! ]

thats all i kno really.....hope it helps!

D.Mar

Puddles do you know how much of your interview will be in Irish? And when do they switch from English to Irish? That's the bit I'm most nervous about!

guysmiley

I was offered the TCD interview for next Wed 17th Feb. Got a letter last week. Teaching subject is maths. Due to a number of reasons I had to withdraw my application. Hopefully this will be good news for someone else. Anyway, I hope to go for this again next year. As far as I know the Maths interviews are on the 17th and on the 24th.

puddles1987

Hi daiseypem....did you apply for it through irish? My letter states in bold writing that the whole interview is cnducted in Irish so there won't be any switching! I asked the girl who I know that did it last year and its definately all in Irish!

Plumella

Well done to all those who have been called for an interview with Trinity.

I have not been asked to attend an interview (yet?! - I have some hope that maybe I still will)

I was wondering if anyone wanting to teach business subjects have been called for interview. (I wish to teach accounting and economics). That way I can put my mind at rest.

Thanks - and best of luck to those with interviews.

dublintuition

Hi there

Okay I did this interview last year (and didn't get the place) but I ended up in Maynooth instead and am far happier.

You need to think of the logistics of the college you're going to - how will you get there and how will you get to your TP? Bus? Driving? Both?
Do the days in trinity and in school leave you able to do a bit of supervision/ part time work in the meantime?

Maynooth is best for this, trinity second, avoid UCD for this.

Anyway, on to what you asked...

okay well, the interview...


If doing a language, provided it is not your FIRST subject you will not be interviewed in that language. Now Gaeilge may have their own set of rules, they always do :rolleyes: but I went for English and Spanish and was not asked a word about Spanish.

Questions: Firstly they want to know about you. What you did in college and what you have been doing since.

The questions they asked me about the English course were related to the curriculum. How would I teach English poetry and novels for example. Would I teach them side by side or integrate them into one another.

I was also asked about what I like to read in my own spare time.

I was asked how I would know a class was going well.

And the old reliable 'why do I want to be a teacher' was in there.

I can't remember if I was asked if I had any questions, but you should ask some, seem interested.

Over all they are very nice and make you at complete ease, but be careful about that, that is as much of a test as anything else.

One thing I remember doing and kicking myself for, was calling 'students' 'kids'!! Which I never normally do.

The ideal way to be is to have a casualness about your body language but professionalism in what you are saying and how you look.

The think is, don't be too happy/sad about the interview. The truth is you never really know how you did after coming out. I thought I did great but didn't get it. Others thought the same and then there were a few who didn't think they got it at all, some were right but some got it too.

Please try to remember that getting to interview stage alone means you stand out and if it makes you feel any more at ease it confirms that you match the criteria for the other places you applied to too.
Best of luck!

james1234

I have my interview this Wednesday.
Dead nervous about the interview, found the UK site below on my search for info, very useful site regarding interview techniques, typical questions.

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/ivteaching.htm

Good luck to your girlfriend by the way!

delta_bravo

I had my interview yesterday. Its a very relaxed conversation, talking about the usual questions and problems facing schools etc. Asked me what would be my ideal type of school to teach in, extracirricular activities and that kind of stuff. It was my first time doing it so I dont expect too much but you never know.

dublintuition

delta_bravo wrote: »

I had my interview yesterday. Its a very relaxed conversation, talking about the usual questions and problems facing schools etc. Asked me what would be my ideal type of school to teach in, extracirricular activities and that kind of stuff. It was my first time doing it so I dont expect too much but you never know.

Well done

How did you feel it went?

puddles1987

I had my interview today. It went ok I think but I feel its really difficult to know what exactly they were looking for.

I was asked about the curriculum and what I would change, what i find most difficult in the classroom and how I make it more interesting to teach!

everything else was just really an informal chat!

good luck to everyone

Rosita

I did this interview (unsuccessfully) last year. First of all my subjects are English and Irish and I noticed no different rule for Irish as has been implied by someone. I did the interview for English, through English and all about English.

Funnily enough I felt it was almost too informal and it is easy to fall into that trap. Very difficult to know what they are looking for too. They asked me if I had also applied to the NUI colleges which I had and I thought it was a strange question.

They would have known from the grade of my BA that I would get into the NUI colleges no problem – I often wonder if that made a difference to their decision. I don’t mean to imply that they couldn’t possibly have turned me down on any other grounds (I’ll come to that in a moment) but it was interesting that the asked the question at all. A friend of mind who did not get an offer from the NUI colleges on his marks got into Trinity. So they might be interested in catching a few people with potential that they think might otherwise fall through the cracks.

One person asked me generally about myself and what I thought of teaching. Why did I want to do it etc. The other person asked specifically about the curriculum/literature. I thought this was an area I fell down on a bit as I was giving waffly answers to questions about suitable material for junior classes if you as the teacher were choosing.

Having taught in a school (which I had never done) would be a definite advantage for a question like that, although some better research on my part would have helped too! There was a third person there who seemed to be observing only. I don't recall them saying anything excepting smiling at the appropriate moments.

I would be wary of advice from anyone that the Dip in one college is “better” than another for this or that. Hard to say that when you have not experienced them all. For example UCD is nominally Monday to Friday for college attendance when you see the literature but when you are doing it you realise that it's only one in four Fridays you are actually required to be there. I applied to Trinity purely on the grounds that I could travel there by train, but I ended up in UCD and it has been no problem getting there at all.

And I ended up with a ‘paid-for’ class of my own in the school which would not have been an option had I been in either Trinity or Maynooth because in UCD you are in the school every day, albeit mornings only. The experience of having complete responsibility for a class will be invaluable I think. But my point is that there are too many variables to make really worthwhile comparisons.

There are more supervisions in UCD than in Trinity (6 v 4) but on the other hand this probably means that the ones in Trinity are weighted more heavily, so a bad experience might be more damaging. A lot depends on how you want to interpret these things I suppose.

delta_bravo

dublintuition wrote: »

Well done

How did you feel it went?

Thanks. Its hard to know to be honest. I didnt have any teaching experience but have done a fair amount of volunteer work and they sounded fairly impressed with that but they dont really give you much feedback which is fair enough I suppose. I'm glad I did it anyway. From speaking to the others that were waiting to be interviewed they had done it a few times so I'm not expecting an acceptance - wouldnt say no though!

I wonder if they decide there and then after the interview if you're in or not.

pathway33

delta_bravo wrote: »

I didnt have any teaching experience but have done a fair amount of volunteer work

What sort of volunteer work?

delta_bravo

pathway33 wrote: »

What sort of volunteer work?

Medical and sporting would be the two main areas

dublintuition

Trinity dip students are told when their supervisors come to see them - for this reason there is a lot more at stake and you are judged a lot tougher.

As Rosita mentioned, one positive to UCD is that you are in the school 5 days per week.

It might sound like I have a prejudice against UCD - I do. I did my undergrad there and a postgrad there and I didn't like the place - it's not welcoming. Hopefully the Education dept is different.

I'm from Clondalkin and for me traipsing back and forth to UCD after a morning's teaching would not be my idea of fun. I like that Maynooth's Monday/Friday option gives you a break from both places.

puddles1987

Does anyone know when you find out from Trinity if your successful or not? Is it the same day as the NUI ?

peanuthead

puddles1987 wrote: »

Does anyone know when you find out from Trinity if your successful or not? Is it the same day as the NUI ?

beforehand !!

delta_bravo

peanuthead wrote: »

beforehand !!

Well I'm not sure about that. According to the interview they said early april and the pac site says 1st of April. Although you may be speaking from experience

D.Mar

PAC say "The first round of provisional offers will be issued on or after 01 April 2010." So neither PAC or Trinity give an exact date, but they are both around the first week in April

peanuthead

You certaintly find out that you didn't get the place anyway, maybe if you get a place you find out at the same time.

They let unsuccessful applicants know beforehand so they don't reject a place elsewhere I suppose, not that anyone would be stupid enough to reject a place on another course based on the feeling that they had done well in the interview.

I didn't get trinity but I knew that a week before the PAC offers, which I did get!!

puddles1987

Has anyone heard from the Trinity interviews????

delta_bravo

Not yet no. Wait another 2 weeks i would say

delta_bravo

Got my letter on Thursday. Unsuccessful

Dancingjebus3

Hey, girlfriend got her letter and she got accepted, just wanted to thank everyone for your advice on here.

sandy2010

I got my letter yesterday aswell and was offered a place, just waiting to here from the pac before I accept anything

peanuthead

Dancingjebus3 wrote: »

Hey, girlfriend got her letter and she got accepted, just wanted to thank everyone for your advice on here.

Congratulations to your girlfriend - she has a hard year ahead of her but she will understand that its worth it. Make sure you remain supportive to her.