Secondary School Teacher with one subject

Seanchai

Heydeldel wrote: »

Realistically I can't see myself learning a language to the standard needed to teach it.

Neither could I, but you learn so, so much while teaching it every single day. This makes you much more confident. You then find yourself escaping to RnaG (or your French/Italian etc podcasts) naturally rather than the same boring stuff on the car radio and understanding everything more quickly each time. Then you find yourself coming home and, when you have the energy to pick up a book, picking up one in the language you're teaching. And so on every day. Just because you are somewhere today, doesn't mean you cannot be somewhere else in five years time. It's about determination.

Heydeldel

I will pick up another subject. I was good at French and with some work over the summers I could get it up to scratch. My problem at the moment is not having the funds to do another course. The Hdip broke me.

Seanchai

Heydeldel wrote: »

I will pick up another subject. I was good at French and with some work over the summers I could get it up to scratch. My problem at the moment is not having the funds to do another course. The Hdip broke me.

I disliked the dip considerably; it wasn't academically challenging but I just found I couldn't focus on one thing properly, going between two intellectual worlds so to speak (the creative interpersonal world of teaching and the intellectually creative, insular one of academia). That was what put me off studying at night fulltime and teaching fulltime at the same time (i.e. doing the Higher Diploma in Arts over two years at night after my PDE). Nonetheless, it definitely got easier to balance both once I decided that I had to do it for my longterm job security.

As for funds, I got 20% back in tax (well, slightly less to be honest: 20% of €2000, as they don't take the first €1000 of the €3000 annual fee for 30 ECTS credits into account). There is also a scheme in Marino which all TC-registered teachers can apply for a refund of fees, this scheme. I applied for it in April 2013 for the 2011-2012 year and hope to find out how much I receive back by the end of July. I, too, was also tight for cash so UCD allowed me to defer payment to them for some 6 months, as long as I brought my debt down to €500 by the time the exam results came out.

As for French, I'd be certain there are meetup groups for people to practice their French, like this. Alliance Francaise could be a good place to start, also.

ayeates

I am a graduate of law and Irish and agreeing pursuing a career in law I realised ttaching is always what I wanted to do.

As far as I can see law does not qualify as being sufficient to teach cspe. I'm wondering can I take modules during the pme to boost this ?
I've also hear they teach law at second level in the UK and some Catholics schools teach Irish.

If all this fails I may have to resort to spending a 3rd yr completing a hdip in Arts .

Any insights or help would be greatly appreciated

Butterfly182

ayeates wrote: »

I am a graduate of law and Irish and agreeing pursuing a career in law I realised ttaching is always what I wanted to do.

As far as I can see law does not qualify as being sufficient to teach cspe. I'm wondering can I take modules during the pme to boost this ?
I've also hear they teach law at second level in the UK and some Catholics schools teach Irish.

If all this fails I may have to resort to spending a 3rd yr completing a hdip in Arts .

Any insights or help would be greatly appreciated

I'm sorry but C.S.P.E as it stands is usually given to someone as a filler subject on their timetable if they need the hours i.e. given to an existing teacher in the school. Irish is your best bet, but if you want a second subject C.S.P.E is not the route to be taking to get there. There are talks of politics becoming a secondary school subject but that is not going to be for a very long time if ever. You also need to have done the subject methodologies for the subject from now on. Have you spent time in the Gaeltacht area as part of your degree and the other requirements if registering after 2017? I've applied for the PME this year and they say you need to fulfill the teaching council's requirements for the subject(s) you wish to be recognised in before you do the PME. With regard to England, I don't know about that.

katydid

TheDriver wrote: »

Biology is common and religion wouldn't be best unless big school, Irish would be a great bet. Can't help you on courses but make sure its teaching council approved
remember the second subject could end up being your main employment so pick carefully.

I can't imagine that a part time one year course would be acceptable. The person should check with the Teaching Council first.

katydid

Heydeldel wrote: »

Why would management do that though? What's their rationale?

Employees they can get rid of when it suits.

katydid

whiteandlight wrote: »

I know it's wishful thinking but the profession is being destroyed by this. I was chatting to a friend of mine who works in tesco and she was stunned at the conditions of employment in teaching. She has more rights than we do and her hours cannot be cut

That is the tragic situation. The decades of hard work put into education by teachers has been wiped out in one fell swoop. The countless unpaid hours were thrown back in our face and instead we were given detention every week, just to make the public happy. And all the goodwill is gone down the toilet. Teachers are stretched and stressed, and motivation is at an all time low. It's awful, what's happened to the system. And all initiated by a Labour minister, to make it worse.

katydid

mj84 wrote: »

Jesus Chris, that's amazing for such a qualified person, i was under the impression that the situation had only deteriorated in the last few years....

It's been like that for years. When I qualified in the early eighties, it was the same. Most of my generation who have permanent jobs didn't get them until the nineties, when it picked up for a bit. But it's been bad again since the early two thousands. Teaching is not a secure job anymore, and if you have a permanent job, you hang on to it for dear life, as you sure as hell won't get another one. Which means teachers working in the same place for twenty years and more who sometimes go stale and would benefit from new challenges, but can't.

BonCourage

ok, so I know this is an old thread but sure look. I am going to apply for the next PME course in all of the universities and private colleges too! my grades are good, Im happy with them, and Im hopeful I'll get somewhere, even though I understand that it is extremely competitive! Anyway, in the situation that I don't get anywhere, Id like to do a hDip in Arts in UCD (where Im doing my undergrad) to entitle me to teach another subject to make increase my job prospects. My degree will be in music and Irish. I know that Irish is quite a good one to have, I also know that music is not! What subject should I add on???

Side-not: maths really isn't an option, bless my soul I haven't a breeze!

Thanks in advance guys

Postgrad10

BonCourage wrote: »

ok, so I know this is an old thread but sure look. I am going to apply for the next PME course in all of the universities and private colleges too! my grades are good, Im happy with them, and Im hopeful I'll get somewhere, even though I understand that it is extremely competitive! Anyway, in the situation that I don't get anywhere, Id like to do a hDip in Arts in UCD (where Im doing my undergrad) to entitle me to teach another subject to make increase my job prospects. My degree will be in music and Irish. I know that Irish is quite a good one to have, I also know that music is not! What subject should I add on???

Side-not: maths really isn't an option, bless my soul I haven't a breeze!

Thanks in advance guys

What subjects did you like /do well in school? You might as well enjoy what you teach. What about another language? Even history ( I know it's over populated) but at least it's an extra subject which goes well with Irish.

BonCourage

hmmm, i studied french in first year, loved it in school, got an A in the LC, but when I got to uni, i really was turned off it. Maybe it was how it was taught in UCD, dunno!

I was think maybe Geography or English? Didnt do geography for the LC though! Would that make it much more difficult?

Thanks for reply btw

Postgrad10

BonCourage wrote: »

hmmm, i studied french in first year, loved it in school, got an A in the LC, but when I got to uni, i really was turned off it. Maybe it was how it was taught in UCD, dunno!

I was think maybe Geography or English? Didnt do geography for the LC though! Would that make it much more difficult?

Thanks for reply btw

Geography is really interesting. I suppose English is a good option because of the numbers of students that have to do it. You could have a look for their module descriptors so you could get an idea of what's covered.

I know what you mean about French , I was good at it at Leaving and then it all changed in first year arts, not what I was expecting at all. I put it down to a brilliant leaving cert teacher but my French uni lecturers weren't so great.

ayeates

I graduated with a degree in Law and Gaeilge and am considering secondary school teaching, although I would only have Gaeilge ( I did English in first year but I don't think this is applicable). I have heard that there is a major shortage of Gaeilge teachers but could I really get 22hours teaching only Gaeilge?

I would really appreciate any advice, especially from any Gaeilge teachers. Thank you

katydid

ayeates wrote: »

I graduated with a degree in Law and Gaeilge and am considering secondary school teaching, although I would only have Gaeilge ( I did English in first year but I don't think this is applicable). I have heard that there is a major shortage of Gaeilge teachers but could I really get 22hours teaching only Gaeilge?

I would really appreciate any advice, especially from any Gaeilge teachers. Thank you

If you have English in first year, you can teach it to Junior Cert level, as far as I know. If you really want to teach, could you go back in the evening or something and do the other two years? That's what I did a long time ago.

rainbowtrout

ayeates wrote: »

I graduated with a degree in Law and Gaeilge and am considering secondary school teaching, although I would only have Gaeilge ( I did English in first year but I don't think this is applicable). I have heard that there is a major shortage of Gaeilge teachers but could I really get 22hours teaching only Gaeilge?

I would really appreciate any advice, especially from any Gaeilge teachers. Thank you

Probably not unless it was a very large school. In most schools irish would be blocked in each year group to facilitate streaming students into higher or ordinary level. Even having 5 year groups 5 times a week with 40 minutes for each class would give a max of 16:40 of irish. That's not to say you couldn't be given something like CSPE or SPHE to fill a timetable but ultimately a teacher with irish and another subject is going to be more attractive in terms of hiring

ayeates

Thanks for the replies. That is what I had thought although I was unsure because the Gaeilge teachers in my school only taught Gaeilge. Hopefully I would be able to teach English up to JC.
A lot of decisions to be made

rainbowtrout

ayeates wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. That is what I had thought although I was unsure because the Gaeilge teachers in my school only taught Gaeilge. Hopefully I would be able to teach English up to JC.
A lot of decisions to be made

There's no such thing as being qualified to teach to Junior Cert. You're either qualified or you're not. If you are serious about teaching, your best bet is possibly to make up the credits you need for English.

The Irish teachers in your school may not have had full hours. Or if classes weren't blocked could take more than 2 classes in one year group.

katydid

rainbowtrout wrote: »

There's no such thing as being qualified to teach to Junior Cert. You're either qualified or you're not. If you are serious about teaching, your best bet is possibly to make up the credits you need for English.

The Irish teachers in your school may not have had full hours. Or if classes weren't blocked could take more than 2 classes in one year group.

Are you sure that is the case? I was always under the impression that you could only teach your first year subjects to JC.

ayeates

I know there isn't such a thing as "qualified to teach up to JC level" that's why I specifically did not use that phrase. I said it may not be applicable. I know you can't register to teach your 1st year subject but I have spoken to school principals and they advised that if needed I could be given English classes up to JC level.

Yes that may well have been the case, I know some of the teachers took two classes in the same year group so that could be a possibility ( at the principal's discretion obviously)

rainbowtrout

ayeates wrote: »

I know there isn't such a thing as "qualified to teach up to JC level" that's why I specifically did not use that phrase. I said it may not be applicable. I know you can't register to teach your 1st year subject but I have spoken to school principals and they advised that if needed I could be given English classes up to JC level.

Perhaps. But that would be assuming you were hired with one teaching subject and the school had a shortage of English teachers. To be honest, it wouldn't be a very solid basis for pursuing work.

ayeates wrote: »

Yes that may well have been the case, I know some of the teachers took two classes in the same year group so that could be a possibility ( at the principal's discretion obviously)

More to do with timetabling rather than discretion really. In my school for example, students are streamed for Irish and Maths in second year, so theoretically you could have more than one first year group, but from second to sixth year only one per year as classes are blocked for Irish/Maths. TY obviously would mean potentially another year group but not every school offers it.

ayeates

That's true. Very risky career route altogether. I'll have to weigh up whether it's worth the risk.

Thanks

Mardy Bum

katydid wrote: »

Are you sure that is the case? I was always under the impression that you could only teach your first year subjects to JC.

No it was just a myth that seemed to have been perpetuated. You are either qualified to teach a subject or not at all.

katydid

Mardy Bum wrote: »

No it was just a myth that seemed to have been perpetuated. You are either qualified to teach a subject or not at all.

It does seem strange that you can teach subjects you only studied for a year at the same level as subjects they studied for three or four.

mirrorwall14

Mardy Bum wrote: »

No it was just a myth that seemed to have been perpetuated. You are either qualified to teach a subject or not at all.

Possibly stemmed from the JC only subjects, eg qualified to teach science or business studies to JC only because they only exist at JC level