I want to be a teacher

dillo2k10

Hi, I will be doing my leaving cert next year and I want to become a post-primary teacher. I want to teach business and geography. Over the past few months I have been researching this career and I was regularly checking job openings for a business and geography teacher. However I have not once seen an add for an opening for a teacher with those two subjects. I am now reconsidering what I would like to teach as I think that it would be very difficult to find a job with them two. I am very interested in both subjects but more as business. What would you do in this situation?

randylonghorn

I think it's a pretty unusual combination tbh ...

i like pie

most teachers in my school say they applied for any position for either of their subjects, e.g business teacher. then as the years went by in the school the opportunity for them arose to teach their other subjects when other teachers retired or went on maternity leave. however geography and business is an unusual mixture, it's normally geog with history/english from an arts course and business with irish/french as they did commerce with a language in college.

K4t

randylonghorn wrote: »

I think it's a pretty unusual combination tbh ...

Meh, sometimes it's good to be different. I'm doing English and economics myself with the view to possibly going into teaching. I'll most likely do a TEFL course though and try and teach abroad.

Just make sure you get a 2:1 degree, Op, and then get into a PGDE course. Interesting subjects. Good luck.

randylonghorn

K4t wrote: »

Meh, sometimes it's good to be different. I'm doing English and economics myself with the view to possibly going into teaching. I'll most likely do a TEFL course though and try and teach abroad.

Just make sure you get a 2:1 degree, Op, and then get into a PGDE course. Interesting subjects. Good luck.

Oh, indeed, I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with it.

Simply that *most* teaching jobs, at least full-time / permanent, are advertised when someone retires or moves on ... therefore if a combination is unusual it will probably appear in ads less often.

Apart from that practical consideration, there's no reason at all why any combination should be ruled out.

spurious

There are no end of business teachers in this country. So much so that they have to have a quota of PGDE places for them.

In terms of having any chance of getting a few hours, I'd pick a different subject along with Geography. Maybe Maths?

Please don't think you will get a full-time job early in your career, those that do are very much the exception. Most people do between 5 and 10 years on part-time hours or small hour contracts, before getting either an 18 hour + CID, or the now rare Permanent Wholetime position.

Keep this in mind when you read the lies about what teachers are paid. You could be late twenties before you even get onto the salary scale proper and it takes 25 years to get to the top of it.

That said, if it's what you really want to do, go for it.

Seanh111

spurious wrote: »

There are no end of business teachers in this country. So much so that they have to have a quota of PGDE places for them.

In terms of having any chance of getting a few hours, I'd pick a different subject along with Geography. Maybe Maths?

Please don't think you will get a full-time job early in your career, those that do are very much the exception. Most people do between 5 and 10 years on part-time hours or small hour contracts, before getting either an 18 hour + CID, or the now rare Permanent Wholetime position.

Keep this in mind when you read the lies about what teachers are paid. You could be late twenties before you even get onto the salary scale proper and it takes 25 years to get to the top of it.

That said, if it's what you really want to do, go for it.

hi spurious,
you seem to know a lot about teaching and related things so I'm hoping you mite be able to help me!

I've always wanted to teach maths and biology (but the only course to allow this was Dublin and the cost of moving from Cork and the distance put me off) so now I'm just about to start 2nd year in an approved course in UCC to teach biology!

I have the option to do a course that would allow me to teach biology/chemistry or chemistry/physics, I really disliked chemistry in 1st year but would it open up more job opportunities?

Basically I want to know how likely would I be to find work as a biology teacher only? I've looked at a post grad maths course in NUI Maynooth that says it's aimed at possible maths teachers. The teachers council don't recognise the course yet but is there a chance they might?
http://graduatestudies.nuim.ie/prospectivepostgrads/taughtcourses/scienceandengineering/mhr56

Are maths teachers in high demand? Also being a man is that an advantage? Don't get me wrong I dont mean to sound sexist, its just something an old teacher of mine said?

Thanks for your help!

spurious

Who am I to understand the workings of the collective Teaching Council mind?;)
I would be wary of doing a course that was not recognised by them though as they have you over a barrel if they don't recognise your qualification. Could you pursue the bio/chem option and add on extra Maths modules to their satisfaction?

Good maths teachers are always in demand and by that I don't mean the A in LC Higher Maths teachers, I mean the ones who can get kids through OL or even JC FL. For some children, the concepts involved in Maths are a complete mystery to them leaving primary school and they never catch up. There are some kids like that in every school.

Everyone has a story about some man getting extra hours over a female teacher, but I'm sure there are as many cases the other way round. Low achievement levels by a too large minority of male students means more male teachers can only be a good thing. In certain social groups, doing well at school is seen as sissy-ish and a 'girl's thing' which is only racking up social problems for the future. Hopefully more male role models in teaching can address that.

Same provisos as regards getting a job - going straight from the PGDE to a permanent position rarely happens anymore.

Seanh111

oh the teaching council and their infinite wisdom!

well its just the thought of not only doing chemistry for the next 3 years but then possibly teaching it for another 30, don't think its fair on me or my students! I've added up all the possible maths modules I could do and it comes to about 12% of my degree which i know isnt enough, I'll do all the maths I can anyway I suppose!

There's still the open university course in maths that is recognised by the teaching council would you know anything about that?

Oh I know I don't expect a full time job straight away (or really want one to be honest! ) but would there be a demand for biology teachers even in a part time capacity? I know its probably more popular than physics/chemistry so less opportunities....

RobMarathonMan

I have a teacher that teaches business and geog down here in Tralee. Great teacher and mix of subjects.
Just wondering if anyone can give me abit of advice, I would like to teach geog/eng/german/economics/business along with teaching maths at higher JC level and pass LC level.(grinds outside of school would be handy)
What subject would ye advice me to group with maths?
And is this possible to do and what would demand be like for a teacher with those possible subject combinations?

Irishchick

My brother teaches those 2 subjects. It will help you alot if you play sport and can help out with school teams by coaching and training. Thats how my brother got it anyway.

rainbowtrout

RobMarathonMan wrote: »

I have a teacher that teaches business and geog down here in Tralee. Great teacher and mix of subjects.
Just wondering if anyone can give me abit of advice, I would like to teach geog/eng/german/economics/business along with teaching maths at higher JC level and pass LC level.(grinds outside of school would be handy)
What subject would ye advice me to group with maths?
And is this possible to do and what would demand be like for a teacher with those possible subject combinations?

Most people are qualified in 2 subjects (sometimes 3, sometimes only 1) when they finish their degree. It also has to be on the list of degrees recognised by the teaching council.

So you couldn't be qualified in all those subjects unless you plan on doing a few degrees.

Eg: Some sort of business degree would give you Economics and Business depending on what electives you take.

Arts degrees: English/Maths/Geography/German all available there, pick two.

Business and a Language : Business and German.


I don't know of any degree personally that qualifies a teacher in business and geography. It is possible that your teacher is qualified in one and ended up with the other subject along the way but doesn't have a qualification in it. It's also possible that they went away and got another qualification.

If you're thinking about going teaching, you should probably focus on what you want to teach in the classroom rather than what you are going to teach in grinds. If you are going to become qualified in maths and you take it to your final year in your degree you would be qualified (with the relevant degree) to teach higher level maths to LC. You would be putting yourself at a disadvantage saying that you didn't want to do this. Or if you are struggling with maths now, and don't want to go beyond ordinary level maths, then it might not be the thing for you.

There are too many combinations there to even say what demand there is for jobs in those subjects. Or what kind of demand there will be in 4-5 years time.

Sorry to butt in, but is there a list online somewhere of all the accredited courses you can use to do teaching (not the H.Dip etc, primary qualifications)?

spurious

There is a list of Teaching Council approved degrees for second-level teaching here. (.pdf file)

Beware though, they have been known to change it by removing courses or adding extra criteria (not much of a laugh if you're half way through a course you thought was 'on the list').

Unless it's a specialist teaching degree, like Mater Dei (Religion) or St. Angela's (Home Ec.) or UL (Woodwork/metalwork), you'll have to to a PGDE for second-level teaching.

randylonghorn

Deleted User wrote: »

Sorry to butt in, but is there a list online somewhere of all the accredited courses you can use to do teaching (not the H.Dip etc, primary qualifications)?

here ...

(Snap! )

dillo2k10

Are there any evening courses recconised by the teaching council for business or english

dillo2k10

dillo2k10 wrote: »

Are there any evening courses recconised by the teaching council for business or english

Or any at all, doesnt have to be english and business

Chris007

I'm starting a Business Studies course that qualifies me to teach business, accountancy and economics. Teaching isn't the only career path I have in mind but certainly one I am interested in. I know there is an over supply of teachers with these subjects but does anyone have an indication of what future demand might be like?

rainbowtrout

Chris007 wrote: »

I'm starting a Business Studies course that qualifies me to teach business, accountancy and economics. Teaching isn't the only career path I have in mind but certainly one I am interested in. I know there is an over supply of teachers with these subjects but does anyone have an indication of what future demand might be like?

There will probably always be an oversupply of business teachers, so many graduate from colleges with business degrees. It's impossible to predict the future. So many factors will affect teaching prospects. Many teachers are 'likely' to retire in the next year if they are closing to retiring age because otherwise the value of their pension drops. Having said that, the ones that keep going on about 'this is my last year' in my school still turned up for work in September - as is their entitlement. People are less likely to leave a job in the next few years if that job is secure seeing as so many people have lost their jobs.

Nobody knows yet what the Budget will bring in December. More pay cuts? Raise the pupil-teacher ratio? - that would mean more teaching jobs lost. On the up side, there seems to be a bit of a baby boom going on in the country at present, everywhere I look I see pregnant women so in about 12 years time, we should have a large school going population and they will have to be taught!

randylonghorn

rainbowtrout wrote: »

On the up side, there seems to be a bit of a baby boom going on in the country at present, everywhere I look I see pregnant women ...

I wouldn't be surprised, historically that usually goes with a recession / increased unemployment.