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Alternatives to teaching courses on CAO?

  • 06-06-2011 3:36pm
    #1
    plmokn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13 ✭


    Hi, I need help please!

    Doing the Leaving Cert on Wednesday, not too confident at all! Have primary school teaching down in Pats, Marino and Froebel on my CAO. Didn't bother with Marys as it just wouldn't suit me to move out this year. Anyway, I haven't been studying as well as I hoped to be, and I really can't see myself getting over 465, let alone 485 or 490 to be sure of getting a place in any of these!

    Just wondering if there are any alternatives to an actual teaching degree that I can put on my CAO, that would allow me to get into teaching that way? I'm 100% sure I want to be a primary school teacher, so this is pretty urgent incase I don't get the points!

    I have Arts down as well, but I've heard it's gotten extremely difficult to get into teaching this way.. I also heard about a DIT childcare course that would lead me into teaching eventually, but looked it up and it never mentioned any route into primary teaching!!

    Help me please :confused:
    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    Grindylow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,919 ✭✭✭Grindylow


    Marino has a course that prepares students for the post grad course in primary teaching! Check out their site, it's on there and it's a new course for 2011!


  • #3
    implausible
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,937 ✭✭✭implausible


    Noel2k9 wrote: »
    Marino has a course that prepares students for the post grad course in primary teaching! Check out their site, it's on there and it's a new course for 2011!

    But you still have to do a primary degree first!

    Your options are: do a degree (doesn't have to be Arts) and apply to do either the post-grad (in Mary I or St Pat's) or the online post-grad with Hibernia. For either of these, competition for places is stiff and you'd have to get very high marks in your degree to be in with a chance. You still need to have your Hons Irish.

    Either way, assuming that these courses are still running and you get in the first time around you're talking 3+ years for your primary degree (Arts is 3, most others 4) and 18 months+ for the postgrad and they don't always start in September so you're talking 5 years.

    Another option is to train in England.

    A friend of mine who was 25 at the time researched all of her options, she had a degree but not her Irish and she went back to sit her HL Irish and then did the full degree course in St Pat's as it was the only guaranteed option into primary teaching for her. Now, do the sums, her initial degree (3 years) + repeating LC Irish (1 year) + B.Ed (3 years) = 7 years!!!

    To be honest OP, your best and most straightforward option is to repeat the LC if you don't get in the first time around.


  • #4
    plmokn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13 ✭plmokn


    deemark wrote: »
    To be honest OP, your best and most straightforward option is to repeat the LC if you don't get in the first time around.

    See, that's what I really want to avoid at all costs; repeating definitely does not appeal to me!

    Considering that Pat's is the only 3 year teaching degree, and Marino and Froebel are both 4 years anyway, I would consider doing the post-grad! Even at 18 months, it would only be a few months longer than the extra year I would be spending in Marino or Froebel... Then again, as you said, competition is fierce :( I'd be very worried about interviewing for the post-grad as well! The part through Irish in particular...

    However, my standard of Irish is alright (for Leaving Cert; would definitely need to be improved to be in with a hope of the post-grad) and the honours LC paper should go well enough, assuming nothing too tricky comes up...

    Hopefully I'll get in the first time though! Thanks for your advice.


  • #5
    implausible
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,937 ✭✭✭implausible


    plmokn wrote: »
    See, that's what I really want to avoid at all costs; repeating definitely does not appeal to me!

    Considering that Pat's is the only 3 year teaching degree, and Marino and Froebel are both 4 years anyway, I would consider doing the post-grad! Even at 18 months, it would only be a few months longer than the extra year I would be spending in Marino or Froebel... Then again, as you said, competition is fierce :( I'd be very worried about interviewing for the post-grad as well! The part through Irish in particular...

    Avoiding repeating is a very short-sighted way of looking at it. It's only a few months longer if you work really hard the whole way through college and get high marks in your degree, if you get through the interview, if the course begins in September (it's usually Feb) and if the course is running at all. That's a lot of 'if's.

    It's also 5 years of supporting yourself through college, unless you have generous parents.

    Best of luck in whatever you decide though.


  • #6
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,316 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    It's also 5 years to let the teaching job market recover. There's nothing around for the foreseeable future.


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  • #7
    yurmothrintites
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 705 ✭✭✭yurmothrintites


    It is nearly certain that by September 2012 ALL Bachelor of Education courses in Ireland will be 4 years instead of 3, not just Froebel and Marino.

    OP, your best bet would be repeating, to ensure that you gain a place as the post-graduate courses are extremely competitive and an applicant usually has to have experience working with children or volunteering in a primary school setting over a period of time. By the time you have done that, you will probably have more than four years under your belt.

    Saying that, don't put down your chances this year. Try your best tomorrow and the coming weeks and you never know, you might surprise yourself. A defeatist attitude will only impact negatively on your performance, so go into the exams confident, even if you're not as prepared as you would like.

    Best of Luck! :)


  • #8
    essdee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 72 ✭✭essdee


    Noel2k9 wrote: »
    Marino has a course that prepares students for the post grad course in primary teaching! Check out their site, it's on there and it's a new course for 2011!
    deemark wrote: »
    But you still have to do a primary degree first!

    I think that this is the course that Noel2k9 was referring to in Marino:

    http://www.mie.ie/Colaiste-Mhuire-Marino/BSc-Education-Studies.aspx

    It is an undergraduate course (and although it is eligible for grants, it does not qualify under the free fees scheme).


  • #9
    dambarude
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 2,503 Mod ✭✭✭✭dambarude


    essdee wrote: »
    I think that this is the course that Noel2k9 was referring to in Marino:

    http://www.mie.ie/Colaiste-Mhuire-Marino/BSc-Education-Studies.aspx

    It is an undergraduate course (and although it is eligible for grants, it does not qualify under the free fees scheme).

    TBH I think a BA would stand to somebody more than that degree. It seems to be aimed solely at people who want to do the primary postgrad.


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