More teaching opportunities in rural Ireland?

Dionysus

Am I getting a false impression of the situation?
I'm driving 60km each way per day for a 22-hour week of teaching. I get the distinct impression that principals further into rural Ireland have more difficulty in finding substitute teachers.

Anybody have a more sophisticated understanding of the job opportunities in rural Ireland versus job opportunities in Dublin (and the other cities?)?

Newteacher

Not sophisticated I'm afraid D but...as a newbie there is absolutely nothing in the west....

The way it has been explained to me is that teachers who during the boom were happily doing sickies or taking career breaks to be yummy mummies are now clinging to their good jobs for dear life. Makes it very difficult to break in.

spurious

Newteacher wrote: »

The way it has been explained to me is that teachers who during the boom were happily doing sickies or taking career breaks to be yummy mummies are now clinging to their good jobs for dear life. Makes it very difficult to break in.

Indo style explanation there.

More likely to be as a result of the cutbacks and moratorium on promotion that no-one is moving or taking career breaks to 'upskill'- why bother when your pay just gets cut and the great unwashed see you as a dosser who finishes at 3 every day, works eight months a year, is paid colossal amounts of money and can afford to be a yummy mummy.

rainbowtrout

Dionysus wrote: »

Am I getting a false impression of the situation?
I'm driving 60km each way per day for a 22-hour week of teaching. I get the distinct impression that principals further into rural Ireland have more difficulty in finding substitute teachers.

Anybody have a more sophisticated understanding of the job opportunities in rural Ireland versus job opportunities in Dublin (and the other cities?)?

Rural counties have a smaller population so have less schools. Most towns only have one school. It means that there are less schools in the radius in which you are willing to travel. Eg. there are only 7 second level schools in Co. Roscommon, so job opportunities within the county are small as well as a commute between each town. In Limerick City on the other hand (where I'm originally from) there are 16-17 schools in the city, all within a 4 mile radius of my home. Less of a commute, better chance of a subbing job, not to mind all the schools in smaller towns outside the city.

It depends on the subject really. Not many people want to move to North Roscommon to do a maternity leave if they can live somewhere 'cooler' like Galway. We've had difficulty in getting a physics sub when needed in the last couple of years, but for other subjects (business, english, geography) there's no shortage

Newteacher wrote: »

Not sophisticated I'm afraid D but...as a newbie there is absolutely nothing in the west....

The way it has been explained to me is that teachers who during the boom were happily doing sickies or taking career breaks to be yummy mummies are now clinging to their good jobs for dear life. Makes it very difficult to break in.

That post reeks of bitterness. I don't know many teachers who were off taking career breaks to be yummy mummies. To the best of my knowledge, women who have babies are ALLOWED take maternity leave. If they choose to take a career break, they do not get paid. You've been reading far too much tabloid trash.

Maybe you might consider this view. Lots of people didn't go into teaching during the boom because it wasn't seen as a sophisticated job where you could earn buckets of money in no time. Now it's seen as a safe bet because so many businesses are failing and the country is grinding to a halt. Third level colleges are charging an arm and a leg for the PGDE and taking in huge numbers of graduates although there aren't enough jobs to sustain the numbers qualifying every year. They are also churning out graduates who are qualified to teach but have such a poor subject combination that they will never find work. I'm sorry but if CSPE is one of your two teaching subjects you may as well be pissing in the wind. There was a post in one of the other threads during the week from a teacher who qualified in German and Italian. Her prospects of securing a job teaching both those subjects are practically non-existent. Do you think the college she did the PGDE in told her that? Did they fcuk. The increase in pupil teacher ratio has also lead to increased class sizes and a reduction in teaching staff in every school in the country. That might have something to do with the lack of jobs.

Maybe have a look at some of the threads on this forum, there's at least one new one every day of the type 'Thinking of a career change/ there's no work in my area of qualification, I'm thinking of becoming a teacher' if you're wondering why there are so many teachers out of work. The market is flooded, and I for one will not be giving up 'my good job' because another teacher is out of work, because then I would be the one on the dole queue.

implausible

Newteacher wrote: »

The way it has been explained to me is that teachers who during the boom were happily doing sickies or taking career breaks to be yummy mummies are now clinging to their good jobs for dear life.

I know you're only repeating what someone has said to you, but if you want to survive in this profession, you cannot alienate everyone in the staffroom with such statements. As well as being cynical and insulting, it's also paints a stereotypical picture of teachers as dossers.

I'm on maternity leave at the moment and if in the future I have a few more kids and take a career break, it'll have far more to do with the price of childcare than any desire to be a 'yummy mummy':rolleyes: If my husband's job goes, the option won't even be there.

The jobs aren't there, schools are stretched and there are too many graduates. That's the problem, not the hundred or so teachers who aren't taking a career break.

drusk

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Lots of people didn't go into teaching during the boom because it wasn't seen as a sophisticated job where you could earn buckets of money in no time. Now it's seen as a safe bet because so many businesses are failing and the country is grinding to a halt. Third level colleges are charging an arm and a leg for the PGDE and taking in huge numbers of graduates although there aren't enough jobs to sustain the numbers qualifying every year. They are also churning out graduates who are qualified to teach but have such a poor subject combination that they will never find work.

Hear, hear. Couldn't have put it better.

The amount of silly assumptions people make when it comes to the teaching profession is staggering.