Help: Would love to teach science, math and computers to secondary

thehegdes

Hello All,

I have an Engineering degree in Electronics and Communications and industry experience of 8.5 years in computer software industry. Lately, I have helped one of my friend's daughter more than once with her secondary mathematics. It was then that I realized that I actually enjoy teaching. Since I am not from Ireland (I am from India), am not completely sure what the secondary teaching system here in Ireland is. Have some idea from reading from the web. Was wondering how I can go about teaching science, mathematics and computers to secondary in Ireland; atleast want to give it a shot... I am passionate about the subjects; but until I try teaching, I will not know if I can get my thoughts through the students..

Well, here are some of my questions..
1. Since I am not a native English speaker, do I need to take some exams like TOEFL?
2. Would I need some diploma in teaching like PGDE since I have no prior experience in teaching? How can I go about doing this? What is the duration of these courses? Can they be done part-time?
3. Read somewhere that sub teaching would help with getting into diploma courses. Plus I think it would help me figure out if I am really keen on teaching. How can I find out where and how I can do sub teaching?
4. What are my chances of landing a permanent secondary teaching job in Ireland, realistically?

Regards,
TheHegdes

spurious

First thing, you need to check with the Teaching Council whether or not your degree is recognised for teaching.
See here(.pdf file)

TheDriver

1. Depends on how clear your English is. However if your English is poor or the ability to understand you is difficult, then schools will be afraid of Parents complaining that they can't understand you. Only you can answer that.
2. Yes if you want to stick with it fulltime. Try subbing first.
3.apply to schools, drop your cv in but you must be prepared to get calls at short notice
4. not much of a hope to be honest.
like the above post, check your degree with the TC first before you waste your time

thehegdes

Thanks both of you. Will contact the TC first

2011abc

You would think that helping someone one to one learn something would be a good indicator of how good a teacher youd be ...alas its far more complicated in the real world ...if they wont listen to you you may as well forget about it.Maybe if you had a stint in riot police /crowd control it might be more practical use ?!Sorry but only slightly tongue in cheek ,bad day at work,kids go mental this time of year.

thehegdes

Do you teach in primary or secondary? Isn't teaching secondary kids much easier compared to teaching kids in primary; are they not more disciplined and manageable? I am afraid I would be a bad teacher if it needs me to be a policeman...

I still have to check with TC about the validity of my degree..

Not sure what the format of my CV should be for a teaching job, remember I have no previous teaching experience. My CV today represents me as an experienced embedded software developer.

Could anybody here help me with getting a few teaching sub jobs? I can do it for free.

Lord TSC

thehegdes wrote: »

Do you teach in primary or secondary? Isn't teaching secondary kids much easier compared to teaching kids in primary; are they not more disciplined and manageable? I am afraid I would be a bad teacher if it needs me to be a policeman...

Strikes me that student behaviour isn't determined by age but by how "nice" the school is. Even within a school though, there can be hugely varying degrees and you only need one student in a group of thirty to be akward to create difficulties in a class...

gaeilgegrinds1

Only factors I have found determining behaviour are parental support and staff collegiality, I could be wrong though!