BEd or BEd with Psychology? Help!

superchic

Hi,
Just finished my leaving cert exams yesterday :Dthinking of changing my CAO form before the deadline! Was wondering if anyone has any advice?

I definitely want to be a teacher so listed the BEd course as my first preference ages ago when I thought it was 3 years long. I know now that its four years and it looks good from the website with all the options and everything. I'm wondering tho if I should list it as my second perference now and change my first preference to the BEd with Psychology as well? Their both 4 years long now but u obviously get an extra qualifaction with the psychology too. Thought it might be handy if getting a job as a teacher doesn't happen Anyone done the course and got a good job - more than if maybe u'd done the normal BEd like?

The course does look good. I hadn't really looked at it on the website before because I was focusing on the 3year BEd but there's some options to pick different modules as well and it looks like the summer schools someone mentioned on another thread aren't going ahead. Is the psychology hard and a lot of extra work tho when I know I want to be a teacher?? The new BEd sounds really good too but there's not as much info available about it as the BEd with Psychology. It's so hard to pick....kinda feel like the rest of my life could depend on this one decision Help!!

Icarus Wings

Hey superchic!

B.Ed & Psychology student of a few years here. I know how difficult it can be to choose a college course in your Leaving Cert year and although it is an important decision, remember that no matter what course you choose there are always plenty of career options and further choices in education!:)

Regarding the choice of B.Ed or B.Ed & Psychology, I can only refer to my own experiences. I have to say that Psychology is an incredibly interesting subject, with the modules in the course reflecting the huge variety within the area (Social, Cognitive, Developmental, Educational and Abnormal Psychology to name but a few). The Education lectures of the course were always shared with colleagues in B.Ed although I have heard that there will be separate lectures in Education for B.Ed & Psychology students soon and that could certainly be a good thing. I've always found that things I have learned in Psychology can help me to understand concepts in Education (and vice versa).

Other users might have more info on the new B.Ed but since it is the first year, it is only natural if there might be a few teething problems. Don't get me wrong, the B.Ed & Psychology course certainly isn't perfect either and I really don't want to get into the problems here!:D If it helps, the main reason I chose B.Ed & Psychology was to do a course with great variety and to study a subject which always interested me (but never had experience of).

Well, those are my views and I hope I put forward some kinda sales pitch for the B.Ed & Psychology course...Hmm, maybe I was just rambling!!:p

Best of luck in the future and I'm sure you'll be a welcome addition to the college, no matter what course you choose! Just make sure that the decision is right for you!:)

dambarude

I agree with everything Icarus Wings said. I wouldn't be so certain that the summer school aren't going ahead though. You should definitely get in touch with somebody in the college about it, because the website still hasn't been updated as far as I can see. If this: http://www.mic.ul.ie/education/Pages/bedpsych.aspx is the page you've been looking at, it's incorrect.

There are going to be teething problems with both the B.Ed and B.Ed & Psychology course next year. But don't be surprised if the teething problems are more serious for the latter.

I wouldn't make any presumptions about the Psychology component getting you a teaching job before those who don't have it. Other factors are much more important.

All that said the course is very worthwhile, and I certainly enjoyed it.

superchic

Thanks for all the info Icarus wings and Dambarude. It's really useful but still kinda hard to decide....especially when there's no info available on it! That was the website I was looking at alright Dambarude. I thought that was the new course. Can't believe that's the old one when everyone has to decide about changing the CAO form in the next week :eek: At least I don't have it as first choice at the moment...

Sounds like the course is good and psychology is really interesting. Seems like a lot of work but then the pay off is a recognised psychology qualification at the end of it all as well as being a qualified teacher. It would be nice to have the fallback but both of u mentioning teething problems kinda has me worried I guess anything new can have teething problems but are the college good at sorting them out or are u just expected to get on with it?

I'll definitely see if I can get in touch with someone. The idea of summer schools (does schools definitely mean more than just one!?) seems a bit crazy. None of the other courses I looked at had summer schools. Any idea how long they'd be? My sister has just finished third year in UCD and it kinda seems like summers are for travelling and trying to make some money to get u through the rest of the year! That's what I was hoping anyway...not sure I could afford summer schools. I mean, if they're on I'd have to pay rent over the summer and I wouldn't be able to work or do a J1.

Seeing as the info for the BEd with Psychology is wrong does anyone know if the info for the BEd is even correct? Are there summer schools in that too now? I have St Pats as my second preference at the mo...maybe I should make it my first perference? There's a lot more info on their website, definitely no summer schools and at least I'd know exactly what I'm getting myself into! I might try contact someone in the college tomorrow. It's so confusing without info I just want to get a good degree and with any luck a job teaching once it's all done....

dambarude

superchic wrote: »

Sounds like the course is good and psychology is really interesting. Seems like a lot of work but then the pay off is a recognised psychology qualification at the end of it all as well as being a qualified teacher. It would be nice to have the fallback but both of u mentioning teething problems kinda has me worried I guess anything new can have teething problems but are the college good at sorting them out or are u just expected to get on with it?

You don't need to worry your head about teething problems. That's for the college and the SU to sort. And the SU have their heads screwed on, so the course won't go too far astray.

superchic wrote: »

I might try contact someone in the college tomorrow. It's so confusing without info I just want to get a good degree and with any luck a job teaching once it's all done....

Make sure you do. Ring the Admissions Office, and don't hang up until you get the answers you need! I'd let them know that it's very disconcerting to only have ten days before your final CAO form is set in stone with little or no information available.

The idea of summer schools (does schools definitely mean more than just one!?) seems a bit crazy. None of the other courses I looked at had summer schools. Any idea how long they'd be? My sister has just finished third year in UCD and it kinda seems like summers are for travelling and trying to make some money to get u through the rest of the year! That's what I was hoping anyway...not sure I could afford summer schools. I mean, if they're on I'd have to pay rent over the summer and I wouldn't be able to work or do a J1

I couldn't say how long they'd be, but I'd imagine they would not last the whole summer. More than likely a week or two. Everything you said there has been highlighted to the college. Some resolution will be found.

Seeing as the info for the BEd with Psychology is wrong does anyone know if the info for the BEd is even correct? Are there summer schools in that too now?

The B.Ed info is correct. It has no summer schools. I wouldn't let the changes put you off choosing any course in the college. Any issues that arise will have to be ironed out.

Icarus Wings

dambarude wrote: »

You don't need to worry your head about teething problems. That's for the college and the SU to sort. And the SU have their heads screwed on, so the course won't go too far astray.

I didn't mean to worry you when I mentioned teething problems earlier superchic! Just the voice of an old pessimist!:rolleyes: Dambarude is spot on when he says that those are issues for the college authorities and the SU to deal with. When it comes to problems that need to be addressed, the college can be relied upon to solve them swiftly!

dambarude wrote: »

Make sure you do. Ring the Admissions Office, and don't hang up until you get the answers you need! I'd let them know that it's very disconcerting to only have ten days before your final CAO form is set in stone with little or no information available.

Dambarude has given you some really solid advice about ringing Admissions. Have a pen and paper beside the phone and take down any details that you hear! If you still feel a little sketchy (and even when you feel confident) about the course details towards the end of the call, ask for information to be sent to you through email/post etc. The office should be more than willing to oblige.

The college website seems to be rather unclear on information for prospective students at the moment so that phone call is vital! As regards summer schools, if they lasted more than two weeks I'd say there would be a fair bit of outrage from both students and lecturers!:D

superchic

Great to hear that the college will sort out any problems quickly cos it sounds like theres gonna be a good few problems from what you said!

I’m gonna try the admissions office later when it opens and see if I can get more info. Hopefully they’ll know when the summer schools will be on and for how long. Maybe a one off week wouldn’t be too bad :rolleyes: My sister tho just finished her exams a few weeks ago and she said there’s no way she’d be able for more classes straight after her exams and there’s no way she’d go back to into college for a week in July either??

Thanks again for all the advice If I change this to my first preference course I want to make sure it’s the right one for me cos if I get the points I won’t be offered my second preference!

MISU Office

Hi superchic,

This is the Mary I Students' Union. We just want to confirm most of what you've heard on this thread already.
There are 2 meetings which have to take place to early next week to discuss the B. Ed & Psychology. Once they have taken place there will be more up to date information provided.

Until then, we can only speculate as to what the new course entails including summer schools (if they will go ahead, how many etc.).
Once that information is available, it should be a lot easier to make comparisons and decide which course is the one for you. It is very much a case of personal preference.

Hope this helps.

Icarus Wings

MISU Office wrote: »

There are 2 meetings which have to take place to early next week to discuss the B. Ed & Psychology. Once they have taken place there will be more up to date information provided.

Good to hear that these issues are a high priority on the college agenda!

jinxy18

Hi Superchic,
Did you ring the college today? I have the education and psychology down as my first choice on the form. I checked all the details of it last week on the website and I was happy with it all. From the sounds of it though that's all wrong. I only found out a little while ago when my cousin said to check boards.ie and I saw this. The admissions office is closed now. Was wondering if you got any information?

superchic

Hi Jinxy,
I was out for the day but my mum got through to the addmissions office this afternoon for me. She's really worried about me changing course.

Thanks for the advice about ringing the office Dambarude My mum said the lady in the admissions office was really nice and very helpful. Anyway, good news is the lady confirmed there definitely won't be any summer schools for the BEd with Psychology and the info on this board is wrong. She said the summer schools are only for people who are qualified as teachers already and want to upskill. Looks like I was worrying for nothin :rolleyes:

She did say though that all the information on the college website about the course is incorrect but she said it would be fixed by July 1st before we have to decide about changing our mind. She said the information in the college handbook is probably incorrect as well :eek:

It doesn't really give us much time to decide if we want to change. I'll make up my mind next week tho once I see what its like compared to the normal BEd and how much extra work it looks like for the extra qualification in psychology Hopefully everyone else who has picked the course is gonna check it out too. Guess we'll just have to wait another few days....

dambarude

superchic wrote: »

Anyway, good news is the lady confirmed there definitely won't be any summer schools for the BEd with Psychology and the info on this board is wrong. She said the summer schools are only for people who are qualified as teachers already and want to upskill. Looks like I was worrying for nothin :rolleyes:

The summer schools were definitely in the mix up until a few weeks ago. If that's what admissions told you they must have decided to remove them. If that's the case it's likely that the content that was supposed to be taught in those weeks will be merged with the normal semester workload.

The summer schools you refer to for qualified teachers are on topics like teaching maths or GAA. They're short courses that they complete every summer in return for 'EPV days' or basically days off during the year. They're different to the summer schools that were touted for the B.Ed Psych programme, and they're not what I was referring to when posting.

superchic

dambarude wrote: »

The summer schools you refer to for qualified teachers are on topics like teaching maths or GAA. They're short courses that they complete every summer in return for 'EPV days' or basically days off during the year. They're different to the summer schools that were touted for the B.Ed Psych programme, and they're not what I was referring to when posting.

Yeah, the lady said they were the only summer schools and there were definitely none on the BEd with Psychology or on the normal BEd

dambarude wrote: »

The summer schools were definitely in the mix up until a few weeks ago. If that's what admissions told you they must have decided to remove them. If that's the case it's likely that the content that was supposed to be taught in those weeks will be merged with the normal semester workload.

Do you think that means there'll be extra work during the semester then? I hope not!

dambarude

superchic wrote: »

Do you think that means there'll be extra work during the semester then? I hope not!

I couldn't say, and I wouldn't want to speculate. Best wait until the college updates its info on the website

jinxy18

Thanks for that superchic. I'm relieved to hear there's no summer schools. A bit annoyed though that I've no idea exactly what I've signed up for :mad: At least there's another week to change my mind...

MISU Office

Hi everyone,
Just to update you on the issue of summer schools, it looks like they will be going ahead, though the admissions office were not aware of this. It is still undecided what format they will take, so they could be carried out online or involve coming into college. The exact length or when in the summer they would take place is not known. There should be more up to date information made available next week!

dambarude

MISU Office wrote: »

Hi everyone,
Just to update you on the issue of summer schools, it looks like they will be going ahead, though the admissions office were not aware of this. It is still undecided what format they will take, so they could be carried out online or involve coming into college. The exact length or when in the summer they would take place is not known. There should be more up to date information made available next week!

I had a feeling that that would be the case. The college would really need to get its affairs in order, as it's not acceptable that prospective students would be given incorrect information like that. Especially when it's about something that would encroach on time outside semester time. Thanks to the MISU for clarifying the issue.

Icarus Wings

Thanks to the MISU for keeping us in the loop. From what I recall of a talk given to students which provided a general outline of the new changes in the B.Ed & Psychology programme, many of the proposed changes are to iron out kinks that were previously present in the course. After talking with others in the class, we all agreed that the changes seemed to be for the best!

jinxy18 wrote: »

Thanks for that superchic. I'm relieved to hear there's no summer schools. A bit annoyed though that I've no idea exactly what I've signed up for :mad: At least there's another week to change my mind...

To superchic, jinxy18 and others who are considering the B.Ed & Psychology course, if you choose the course as your first preference, you will be going into an established programme that has listened to the views and opinions of past and present students and has worked to improve itself. The fact that you were all drawn to the course in the first place and gone to the trouble of researching it has to count for something! After all, change isn't always a bad thing!:)

Granted, it is a shame that the summer schools are still going ahead but I can understand where they are coming from, since teachers in the profession often have to take part in countless extra courses (particularly in the summer).

I don't claim to be a clairvoyant or master of divination (nor do I want to be!:D) and I think it would be unwise for me to comment any further on the changes until new information from the officials emerges...Predictions which eventually come to nothing just generate unnecessary panic in a very stressful time! I know it's tough (and time is a factor) but the best course of action seems to be to wait for the meetings next week to shed some light on matters...and that was my two cents!

dambarude

As Icarus Wings said, best wait for further information, and relax a bit! The college and SU seem to be working to make the course the best it can be. They asked for the opinions of lots of the current students in designing the course. It's a pity for yourselves, and the college authorities that the course is still changing so late in the day, but in fairness to the college that's because they're taking on board the advice of the SU and other students. They could have rubberstamped it weeks ago without this consultation if they wanted, as far as I understand. The whole B.Ed revision seems to have happened in a hurry, and that has had knock on effects on the B.Ed Psych programme.

jinxy18

Thanks for the update about the summer schools MISU. It's definitely a negative against the course for me but at least it's some more information. If it wasn't for these boards I wouldn't have a clue what's going on. The college website still has information about the old course and it looks like even if you ring them the information is still wrong...don't really know who to believe at this stage...

Obviously the college wants to get the new course right if the current course has problems as Icarus Wings says but seriously...I filled in my CAO form for this course 6 months ago and there's only a week left before that decision is set in stone.

Sorry, I know I'm ranting a bit. I'm just really annoyed by the lack of official information. If it wasn't for the information here I'd be completely in the dark.

superchic

I can't believe their are summer schools on the new course! The lady in the college was really sure there wouldn't be any

MISU said theres still two meetings to finalise it next week - maybe the college will change it's mind about the summer schools again

jinxy18

This is probably a bit of a longshot but I was wondering if anyone has any information yet on the updated education and psychology course? I checked the college website this afternoon and it said that information on the course would be posted later today. I decided I'd just wait and see what the information says rather than ring the Admissions Office but so far no information is available yet and the office is obviously closed at this hour. Do you think will the information be there later tonight....I'm just getting very aware of the CAO change of mind deadline. This is a big decision and there isn't a lot of time left to make it

dambarude

That info probably won't go up tonight at this stage jinxy.

jinxy18

Thanks for letting me know Dambarude. Figured it was a long shot. Hopefully there'll be information tomorrow....I made my decision 6 months ago for the CAO and I was happy with it until last week when I found out the decision was based on incorrect information...maybe the new course won't even be that different and I'm worrying for nothing....don't know what I'm going to do if it is very different though.

dambarude

It will be more or less the same as the new B.Ed, just with the electives replaced with psychology modules. It's not like the course details will go up saying it is five years long, with 40 hours lecture per week, and a requirement to be fluent in Mandarin to gain entry That said, I can understand your concern.

This time four years ago I was doing serious jumping between secondary and primary school teaching, couldn't decide which to do. I made the right decision in the end though, as will you:)

jinxy18

Thank Dambarude! That's more than I knew yesterday. Glad to hear there's no Mandarin required Still nothing on the website this morning....

MISU Office

There is information on the B Ed Psych now up on the MIC page.

http://www.mic.ul.ie/education/Pages/bedpsych.aspx

If you have any more queries pop them up here or ring the admissions office

jinxy18

Thanks for the update MISU! It's good to have some more information about the course...although there was a lot more information on the website about the old course last week than there is about the new course. I didn't see anything on the website about summer schools...have they been removed?

The website doesn't say a lot about what the course involves on a day to day basis...what classes you might be doing in education or in psychology...

dambarude wrote: »

It will be more or less the same as the new B.Ed, just with the electives replaced with psychology modules.

I looked at the website for the new B.Ed and I was wondering if everything that's there except the electives applies to the eduction part of the education and psychology course...the bits about what you do in year 1 and the aims of the course etc?

MISU Office

If you look at the section labelled Programme Structure you will see information about what had been referred to as summer schools.

Students will undertake two Gaeltacht placements, each of two weeks, in Years 1 and 2 of their programme. The first of these placements will take place during the Easter break of Spring 2013. In addition a small number of modules will take place in out-of-semester time during Years 1 and 2.

The education part of education and psychology is not the exact same as the B Ed except for the electives. There are some education modules you do in the B Ed that you don't do in the B Ed Psych.

Icarus Wings

I have to say that I like the way in which the Education part of the B.Ed & Psychology programme has been adapted to suit the needs of these particular students.

The absence of certain education modules from the B.Ed & Psych programme (which the B.Ed will be doing) may prevent needless repetition of certain concepts which will already be covered by B.Ed & Psychs (in Developmental/Educational Psychology etc.).

As regards spending thirty weeks in schools during the programme, I think this will be very beneficial. Although it sounds very extensive/daunting, many have felt that both B.Ed and B.Ed & Psychology programmes have previously been slightly disconnected from the work in the education professions. Teaching Practices have been infamous for suddenly placing students in classrooms without appropriate observation times, clear understanding of the day-to-day activities in a school or knowledge of the children and their routines in the classroom. For a series of placements which is weighted so heavily in terms of grading, a more appropriate built-up was needed.

The Gaeltacht placements will probably be similiar to the current three-week placement (except more spread out and with one extra week in total). Out-of-semester modules are still a little ambiguous but it is important to emphasise that there is a small number of them.

Finally, I'm a bit disappointed about no Mandarin...although it might be in the out-of-semester modules, coupled with Samoan!:p:D

jinxy18

Sounds like you're a big fan of the new course Icarus Wings It's good to hear from someone that has done the course and to know that current students and the SU had a lot of input into the new one and they think it's good...

dambarude wrote: »

The college and SU seem to be working to make the course the best it can be. They asked for the opinions of lots of the current students in designing the course.

....though I think I prefer the look of the old course that was on the website until a few days ago....the one without the summer schools!

MISU Office wrote: »

If you look at the section labelled Programme Structure you will see information about what had been referred to as summer schools.

Students will undertake two Gaeltacht placements, each of two weeks, in Years 1 and 2 of their programme. The first of these placements will take place during the Easter break of Spring 2013. In addition a small number of modules will take place in out-of-semester time during Years 1 and 2.

Thanks for pointing that bit out about the summer schools...I missed it the first time round...it's clearer now the full structure has been posted....but why don't they just call them summer schools? I know there's only four modules but does anyone have any idea how long they might be? I thought modules normally last for about 12 weeks in college? There are summer schools listed in 1st, 2nd and 3rd year....that'd be the summer gone for the first 3 years and it's only a 4 year course! :mad: Looks like if I got the points for this it would be nearly straight through from September 2012 to June 2016 :eek: