HDIP Subjects and Teaching Council PLEASE HELP

shellybeans2

I need ADVICE so please help. I am due to start the HDIP in UCD at the end of this month. My subjects are Geography and Business and I have a place in a school for this. I have a primary degree in Geography and Polictics so the teaching council have approved my Geography . I have an ordinary level degree in Human Resource Management and a Postgrad in Business from smurfitt in Business studies , also 12 yrs experience in HRM. The teaching Council are still assessing my business qualifications it has been going on for 4 months and I don't know if they will approve it. lets just say why is it taking so long!!! Here my big worry. I told he school that I would major in Business studies as they asked me to plus I really want to teach it and then my 2nd subject is Geography. However I am afraid if I do business in my DIP the teaching council might say I am not approved to teach that suject and will my dip be void ??? Will I only have one subject??? Also I could do CSPE in the dip instead which I have no interest in but also then I have to go back to the school which will not look good for me but then I would defo have two sujects. Will i just go ahead and do business as my major suject and geog as my 2nd subject and it will be ok. Because business is my major subject if the teavhing council didn't approve it woudl my dip be nil and void??? Please help I am so worried about this and noone can seem to give me an answer??? TKS

UnLuckyAgain

shellybeans2 wrote: »

I need ADVICE so please help. I am due to start the HDIP in UCD at the end of this month. My subjects are Geography and Business and I have a place in a school for this. I have a primary degree in Geography and Polictics so the teaching council have approved my Geography . I have an ordinary level degree in Human Resource Management and a Postgrad in Business from smurfitt in Business studies , also 12 yrs experience in HRM. The teaching Council are still assessing my business qualifications it has been going on for 4 months and I don't know if they will approve it. lets just say why is it taking so long!!! Here my big worry. I told he school that I would major in Business studies as they asked me to plus I really want to teach it and then my 2nd subject is Geography. However I am afraid if I do business in my DIP the teaching council might say I am not approved to teach that suject and will my dip be void ??? Will I only have one subject??? Also I could do CSPE in the dip instead which I have no interest in but also then I have to go back to the school which will not look good for me but then I would defo have two sujects. Will i just go ahead and do business as my major suject and geog as my 2nd subject and it will be ok. Because business is my major subject if the teavhing council didn't approve it woudl my dip be nil and void??? Please help I am so worried about this and noone can seem to give me an answer??? TKS

Ok well first thing's first. The PGDE qualifies you as a post-primary teacher in whatever subjects you have to degree level (those subjects that have been approved by the Teaching Council). The subject methodologies you take during the PGDE year have no bearing on the ultimate qualification. Obviously, it would be more prudent and conventional to take the subject methodologies that you have studied in university, but this is not always the case (it may be that UCD offer both of your subjects at the same time, or your school don't offer a particular subject etc).

The Teaching Council are notorious for dragging out these kinds of things so I would prepare yourself for that. Is there any way you could take geography as your major subject? Only for the simple fact that you are definitely qualified in that and it would be beneficial to you to get as much experience in it as possible.

Dionysus

UnLuckyAgain wrote: »

shellybeans2 wrote: »

I need ADVICE so please help. I am due to start the HDIP in UCD at the end of this month. My subjects are Geography and Business and I have a place in a school for this. I have a primary degree in Geography and Polictics so the teaching council have approved my Geography . I have an ordinary level degree in Human Resource Management and a Postgrad in Business from smurfitt in Business studies , also 12 yrs experience in HRM. The teaching Council are still assessing my business qualifications it has been going on for 4 months and I don't know if they will approve it. lets just say why is it taking so long!!! Here my big worry. I told he school that I would major in Business studies as they asked me to plus I really want to teach it and then my 2nd subject is Geography. However I am afraid if I do business in my DIP the teaching council might say I am not approved to teach that suject and will my dip be void ??? Will I only have one subject??? Also I could do CSPE in the dip instead which I have no interest in but also then I have to go back to the school which will not look good for me but then I would defo have two sujects. Will i just go ahead and do business as my major suject and geog as my 2nd subject and it will be ok. Because business is my major subject if the teavhing council didn't approve it woudl my dip be nil and void??? Please help I am so worried about this and noone can seem to give me an answer??? TKS

Ok well first thing's first. The PGDE qualifies you as a post-primary teacher in whatever subjects you have to degree level (those subjects that have been approved by the Teaching Council). The subject methodologies you take during the PGDE year have no bearing on the ultimate qualification. Obviously, it would be more prudent and conventional to take the subject methodologies that you have studied in university, but this is not always the case (it may be that UCD offer both of your subjects at the same time, or your school don't offer a particular subject etc).

The Teaching Council are notorious for dragging out these kinds of things so I would prepare yourself for that. Is there any way you could take geography as your major subject? Only for the simple fact that you are definitely qualified in that and it would be beneficial to you to get as much experience in it as possible.

This, especially the part about taking your only real teaching subject - geography - as your primary teaching subject for the PGDE. Plenty of people take a subject which they are not qualified to teach as their second subject; I haven't heard of anybody taking it as their primary PGDE methodology subject.

Oh, and I trust you're ringing the TC on a daily basis, writing down the names of everybody, what they say and when and reminding them that you are very concerned?

shellybeans2

tk u for your advice I have been looking for this for ages. Its would make sense to major in geography and then go ahead with business studies anyway. I would haveto ring the school to ask for this change but think it would be ok. Final question if I do business as my 2nd subject would my dip be void ...I would think not as i majored in Geog??? Also once I have the Dip my understanding is I could teach in the subjects that i am qualified in. that is geog cspe and bus...I am so worried over the TC I am ringing email etc everyday

tks

UnLuckyAgain

shellybeans2 wrote: »

tk u for your advice I have been looking for this for ages. Its would make sense to major in geography and then go ahead with business studies anyway. I would haveto ring the school to ask for this change but think it would be ok. Final question if I do business as my 2nd subject would my dip be void ...I would think not as i majored in Geog??? Also once I have the Dip my understanding is I could teach in the subjects that i am qualified in. that is geog cspe and bus...I am so worried over the TC I am ringing email etc everyday

tks

Your PGDE can't be "void" unless you have no subject on the curriculum to teach...but seeing as you need one to get into the course, i'm not sure what you mean. Once you have the PGDE done, you are qualified to teach any subject that you are registered with the TC with, plus any subsequent subjects you qualify in.

E.g. say you just have geography now. If the TC tell you that you need to do a few more modules to qualify in business and you complete these, then you can teach that too.

Toto Wolfcastle

shellybeans2 wrote: »

Also once I have the Dip my understanding is I could teach in the subjects that i am qualified in. that is geog cspe and bus...

If the situation stays as it is when you finish your dip, that is that the TC haven't yet recognised your business qualification, then you will be qualified to teach Geography. The PGDE teaches you how to teach, your degree decides what you can teach, but only if the TC says it's okay.

Dip or no dip, unless the TC says that your business qualifications are okay then you will not be qualified to teach it.

Boober Fraggle

Make sure you take the CSPE elective, if it is available this year, you're not qualified to teach CSPE without it.

If you are getting classes in business and geography, I don't see why you need to tell the school which one your major subject is, unless things have changed since I did the dip.

shellybeans2

tks a mill for all this info. Yes once i do the dip I can teach. TC have given me go ahead for Geog so I am grd just wondering is it ok to do bus studies as 2nd subject as TC might or might not allow me to teach it -must check out about doing extra modules so can teach Bus according to TC. Good point re telling school re geog my major subject and bus my 2nd. The thing is for your major subject you need to do min 4 hours per week and then min 2hrs per week for other subject. It will depend how many hr sschool gives me for both but as min will need to do 4 hrs for geog per week. I am learning so much here. keep given me advise but think i am ok now....tks sooo much. School thinks i a doin Bus as 1st subject and then Geog a 2nd but bt fill them in to make sure I have at least 4 hrs in geog per week instead of just 2. Should I ring principle /vise principle and explain over phone or go straight into the school. Any tips on what to say. just say the truth I suppose!!!

linguist

The Teaching Council requires you to have an undergraduate degree in the subjects you want to teach. Those degrees have to contain certain content specified by the Council in order to be suitably qualified, in their eyes, to teach the syllabus. If you are short, they can specify modules you have to do - and pass - and give you a couple of years to achieve that. In the meantime, your registration would be provisional. The Teaching Council gets a lot of criticism from prospective teachers over this, some of it justified but much of it not justified.

I want to say to the OP that I welcome him/her to teaching. People with experience outside the classroom can bring much to a school, however teaching is a skill and many of us would view it as a vocation and there are a few things I think the OP needs to take on board. Twelve years in HRM makes you an expert in HRM - not in teaching. I don't think much of this experience would transfer over to Junior Cert business studies save for any chapters there might be on HRM. The OP says they have a degree in geography and politics so doing CSPE in the HDip might be an option except he/she has no interest in CSPE. I think the OP needs to be more flexible regarding the start they are likely to get after the HDip. I would be 'developing' an interest in CSPE, SPHE, learning support, English as a Foreign Language - in fact anything that would make me employable in a very tough market!

highly1111

i did economics as my second subject for my dip in my school and obviously with ucd. i am still battling with the teaching council to recognise it. so my advise is to do the geog and business and worry about the registration battle later. the school aren't even going to ask about the TC and if they do, tell them taht they are reviewing your smurfit qual but you haven't recieved final confirmation yet.

i cannot see how the TC could not recognise your smurfit business but as there are COMPLETELY self regulating, they make up their own rules - and you can pay €200 and go through loads of stress and worry for the privilage of them being absolute morons......

welcome to the wonderful world of the TC - record absolutely everything with them - cross every t and dot every i and get absolutely everything in writing......

shellybeans2

highly1111

tks for that. I hear u its a hard battle cause its been going for 4 months I have sent in all the stuff they r asking for but I get no feedback at all. i ustand they r doin their job just very frustrating ... no timescales or feedback is ever given to me ...i think it all one sided which I don't agree with. anyway tks again

Toto Wolfcastle

shellybeans2 we do not allow posters to use text speak on this site. It makes things difficult to read.

gabbytheking

Wouldn't it be mad to put a business subject as your major subject with the limited % intake of people who can do business subjects. Look at the pac site you will see that to major in business you need 52 points and just 45 points for Geography in 2011.

One other point I would like to make is from talking to the teaching council I believe the following: If you do the grad dip is in say Geography and CSPE you can then later teach business(if the TC later approves it) even if it wasn't part of your HDip. From my knowledge and I may be corrected here (its what D in the TC told me) but by doing only one subject your Qualified to teach and a second other subject like career guidance you can actually add another subject to your armory which is always handy. Happened to me that my best degree result was in a subject which allowed me to teach Accounting only, and I had a qualification to teach Economics, Accounting and Business so I could only apply for Accounting to stand a chance of getting in with that degree result. The teaching council told me that eventhough my DIP was in Accounting alone I was still qualified to teach the other subjects all the way to LC Level.

He said to me if you do degrees recognized to teach other subjects such as maths/science etc later in your career it will upon registration with the TC also be ok to teach these subjects even without having studied them as subjects in the Grad Dip. Makes since really! If I were you I would get subjects like Career Guidance or CSPE under my belt rather than worrying about doing the Dip in Business if you can't do both. Every school needs these qualifications and i'd imagine their alot rarer than HDip Business teachers!!

Unfortunately I didn't get in this year (Sept 2011) though stuck on 49 points Can you believe even though its a L9 qualification being a qualified accountant doesn't amount to a masters just a second degree per PAC even-though the exams are tougher than any masters and way tougher than any degree!! Clueless I say! It wouldn't have mattered this year but might have next year.

wingnut

I did my PGCE in the UK through a subject methodology for a subject that dosen't exist here. The TC recognised me to teach my undergrad subjects regardless.