teaching in ireland

rachel201285

Hey

Im currently studying my English degree in England (im also from England) and i want to teach English in secondary schools in Ireland. I was wondering after i have completed my BA Hons degree would it be best for me to embark on PGDE course in Ireland or complete a PGCE course in England giving that i want to teach in Ireland? Also if its the case that its better for me to study PGDE will it be easy to get accepted onto a course given that my experience in a classroom and my degree have both been based in England? And if its the case that it would be better to do PGCE how long will i have had to have been teaching in England for me to be able to apply for the same job roles in Ireland?

Thanks to anyone that can help

Rachel

#15

Hi Rachel,

job situation in Ireland is depressing right now. Many qualified teachers unemployed.
If you want the ability to travel the world, a British qualification would be better - it would enable you to teach in British Council schools around the world.

To teach in Ireland, you would be better off doing the PGDE in Ireland. However, you will need to be familiar with the Irish language. Are you?:cool:

Rosita

#15 wrote: »

Hi Rachel,

job situation in Ireland is depressing right now. Many qualified teachers unemployed.
If you want the ability to travel the world, a British qualification would be better - it would enable you to teach in British Council schools around the world.

To teach in Ireland, you would be better off doing the PGDE in Ireland. However, you will need to be familiar with the Irish language. Are you?:cool:

Why would a prospective second-level English teacher need to be familiar with the Irish language?

#15

Rosita wrote: »

Why would a prospective second-level English teacher need to be familiar with the Irish language?

Because I didn't read her post properly, that's why. Thought she meant primary:o:pac:

rachel201285

thanks for the comment .....so let me get this straight it wont matter if i have no experience at irish as a language (which i dont) either route should allow me to become a teacher of english in ireland? sorry i couldnt understand

starre

No you don't need Irish language to be a teacher of English at second level.

Do you have a second subject? Most teachers here have at least two. It would be very difficult to get employment with just one subject, especially if it's English. I know many English teachers who are applying to the UK to look for work at the moment as the job situation is bad, so do as much research as you can before you decide where you want to work.

dory

You'd need a Christmas miracle to get a full-time job with just English. Much better job prospects in England.

gaeilgegrinds1

With just English, from England I'd say it would be near-on impossible. Knowledge of Irish would not be necessary but of Irish works desireable in my opinion. In my interview I was asked about lots of texts (the English interview that is) and the answers were extremely specific.

rachel201285

ah really thanks again for all who replied any advice is much appreciated. looks like i may have to look into learning irish which by the looks of your comments would definatly be advisable. see i dont really understand why i would have to have another subject field though as in england every teacher has a specific subject area we never had teachers who had us for two different subjects so does this mean that even if i did learn some irish that i would also have to have another subject aswell as english ? sorry about all the questions im still waiting for a reply off the teaching council aswell so thanks again

gaeilgebeo

rachel201285 wrote: »

ah really thanks again for all who replied any advice is much appreciated. looks like i may have to look into learning irish which by the looks of your comments would definatly be advisable. see i dont really understand why i would have to have another subject field though as in england every teacher has a specific subject area we never had teachers who had us for two different subjects so does this mean that even if i did learn some irish that i would also have to have another subject aswell as english ? sorry about all the questions im still waiting for a reply off the teaching council aswell so thanks again

You do not need to learn Irish to teach English in a second level school in Ireland. End of!

#15

rachel201285 wrote: »

ah really thanks again for all who replied any advice is much appreciated. looks like i may have to look into learning irish which by the looks of your comments would definatly be advisable. see i dont really understand why i would have to have another subject field though as in england every teacher has a specific subject area we never had teachers who had us for two different subjects so does this mean that even if i did learn some irish that i would also have to have another subject aswell as english ? sorry about all the questions im still waiting for a reply off the teaching council aswell so thanks again

No you won't need to learn Irish at all.

That was my fault - I didn't read your post properly last night.

As others have said, you will not need any knowledge of the Irish language.

rachel201285

thanks again for your speedy responses so as its not nessesary to have any knowledge of irish do i then have to have knowledge in another subject other than english which is what my degree will be in just to get a better stance for jobs then?

dambarude

You need to have a degree in the other subject (i.e. it must have been a subject you took as part of your degree, worth 30% or more).

Postgrad10

Hi
In ireland secondary school teachers usually teach two(or even three) subjects in schools. That's why people are recommending doing an addditional subject if you would like to teach here. It would make you more employable. Teachers here depending on their degree combination can teach any combination, everything e.g home economics and business, biology and French:) Are you doing any other courses other than English in your degree? Look into the option of doing other subject modules.

Printer

Hi all,

I have a first class honours in International Business with French and Spanish and I am thinking of doing my PGCE in England as thats where my girlfriend lives. I would like to teach in Ireland eventually though.

Is the English PGCE recognised to teach in Ireland? If I did the PGCE in Modern Foreign Languages in the UK, could I teach French and Spanish in Ireland?

Thanks

shtopthelights

rachel201285 wrote: »

Hey

Im currently studying my English degree in England (im also from England) and i want to teach English in secondary schools in Ireland. I was wondering after i have completed my BA Hons degree would it be best for me to embark on PGDE course in Ireland or complete a PGCE course in England giving that i want to teach in Ireland? Also if its the case that its better for me to study PGDE will it be easy to get accepted onto a course given that my experience in a classroom and my degree have both been based in England? And if its the case that it would be better to do PGCE how long will i have had to have been teaching in England for me to be able to apply for the same job roles in Ireland?

Thanks to anyone that can help

Rachel

Hey Rachel,

dambarude wrote: »

You need to have a degree in the other subject (i.e. it must have been a subject you took as part of your degree, worth 30% or more).

The only exceptions to this, as far as I know, are CSPE and SPHE, which you can 'qualify' to teach by 'working up' a certain number of hours teaching them (the more standard way to be considered qualified to teach these subjects is to have taken the methodologies for them during a PGDE -you DO NOT need a degree in a relevant subject -like Sociology, to teach CSPE, for example and I read a post on here awhile back from a UK qualified teacher who had a degree in Sociology and had taught it at A Level, yet the TC ridiculously would not recognise him to teach CSPE!!). I'm not sure exactly how many hours this route entails, but you would need to be timetabled to teach one of these subjects for x number of weeks when in a school I believe. It's a bit of a long shot to go planning your career around, but it might be an option if you find you need some later...?! You would need to wait and see how things panned out, but considering that many schools regularly give teachers 'serious' subjects they have no qualification in and neither of these subjects have much status, if you found the right school, they might well be able to facilitate you. Though of course, it would involve becoming known in the school first and them wanting to hold onto you/you being lucky/relentless in getting the hrs…

That's all rather tenuous, I know, but there you go!

I'm Irish and did my degree and PGCE (Secondary English) in the UK. The process for getting these assessed is extremely user-unfriendly and I would advise you to get in touch with the Teaching Council as soon as you can for a couple of reasons (1) so you can ensure that your degree will meet the subject-specific criteria for teaching purposes, particularly if you plan to take modules from another subject to enable you to teach that second subject (in case it impacts upon your ability to meet the criteria for either English or the second subject) and (2) there's no time like when you're actually still at uni to start the process of getting all the documents they claim to need to assess your degree (module descriptors, course handbooks, booklists, grades achieved -on official uni paper etc....)

To explain why I stress checking with the TC about your degree; they recently told me that while my PGCE is fine (as long as I pass the History and Structure of the Irish Education exam, as I'd expected) they consider that my degree has 'shortfalls' according to the 'subject specific requirements' they have set down. They wanted me to take modules from Oscail before they would register me.... I have sought a review of the decision and should hear back in the next couple of weeks if I need to return to an academic standard I attained nearly a decade ago, even though I have studied all four elements into which they divide English (Drama/Theatre Studies, Fiction, Poetry and Film/Media Studies) for the purposes of assessment/registration. One is supposed to have studied at least three of these areas to teache English and at the order of 30% or more of their degree. Their take on it was that I haven't studied 'enough' poetry and fiction, even though there is no indication in the special requirements as to how much of any area is 'enough'. (I do meet the requirement to have at least 30% of my degree in the subject, but I've studied a lot more of the other two areas and funnily enough they claim that my degree level media and film studies are too confined to be of significant relevence to the junior certificate curriculum...). As a teacher trained outside the state, you will feel as though they are trying to find reasons not to register you, or recognise the value of your qualifications, rather than assess your qualifications and experience on their own merits. I'm not the only one who has had this experience.

Be prepared for a lot of faffing about and some expense before you can get your qualifications recognised and bear in mind that while a PGCE is an EU qualification, the TC get around the EU directive about reciprocal recognition between member states by insisting that you need to have completed the induction year in the UK before you can be recognised under it. (Even though you will have attained 'Qualified Teacher Status', they manage to use the presence of an induction year to avoid registering you unless you've completed the induction, which, according to the General Teaching Council for England, is for 'teachers who qualified in England who wish to teach in England' and which 'does not affect QTS'. Therefore, you would be well advised to do the induction if you know this in advance (unless the TC eventually sees sense/someone takes them to the High Court...)

So, as for the PGCE/PDGE quandary, I guess you will have to weigh the following up, along with your personal situation and career intentions -a PGDE from Ireland which will have you registered without hassle versus a PGCE which you'll be put through some hoops to have assessed and will most likely have to follow with an induction year, but for which you will receive a (most useful!) bursary and which is probably a more highly regarded qualification internationally (if travelling is something you wish to do....). Of course, if you don't do the induction year, you could still teach, but you'll be getting the 'unqualified' rate of pay...

Finally, some people have mentioned the difficulty of getting a job full stop as a teacher in Ireland and particularly with just one subject and I'd agree (as you’ll see from the timing of my post, I’m not working today –there’s generally a lull either side of school breaks, though if you were in a city it probably wouldn’t affect you as much –just an impression) but if you're dead set on teaching here, you will be able to substitute so long as you're prepared to teach what you're given and can put up with the odd 'rest day'...! (I've taught English in combination with a few other subjects as a substitute and I've done general cover too).

Anyway, good luck! If there’s anything I’ve left out or that you think I might be able to shed light on, get back to me.