Lecturing Opportunities

DesKay

Hi All,

I’m new to this site so forgive me if this topic has already been covered or addressed previously.

I’m 37 and am currently in a bit of a “rut” career wise.

I have a business studies diploma, have a purchasing qualification (equivalent of level 7 I’m told) and have about 15 year’s experience in a variety of industries – telecoms, FMCG, heavy manufacturing and services.

I’m working for a good company at present in the financial services industry and while the money is good and the company are on the crest of a wave I’m seriously under-motivated. I had a passion for heavy industry but at the minute there is little or nom of this happening in Ireland at present.

I’d love a career change and have often thought about lecturing. I think I have a good knowledge base from career experiences to date and have a business diploma and purchasing qualifications (albeit no degree or masters).

Do you think that to try and branch into lecturing (part time or potentially full time) I would need to go and complete a degree or masters before I could even apply for positions? Do you think institutions would consider my career experiences when looking at me for potential positions and would any exemptions be available if I needed to complete a degree (considering work experience and Purchasing qualifications) ? to be honest I’m not sure what area of lecturing I could consider although experience should point me towards procurement and materials management.

Thanks in advance

Godge

Two separate questions really.

(1) To get a job teaching/lecturing:

To teach in a school, you need to be registered with the Teaching Council - you don't have the qualifications
To lecture at third level in a university or institute of technology, you need a masters or a doctorate, you don't have these.
That leaves further/adult education in the VECs/SOLAS and jobs as trainers etc. You could look into these.

(2) To bring up your qualifications to level 8 or 9 which would put you on a path to lecturing? Yes, you can get study credits for experience, previous study etc. but it depends on the course and the institution. Some are generous, some are not, depending often on how close a match your experience is to the nature of the course.

highly1111

I lecture in one of Dublin's most well known private colleges. You do need a Masters qualification under their requirements.

seachto7

Hi,

Rather than starting another thread, I have a similar question regarding teaching a language at 3rd level. I had been threatening every year to apply for the hdip for the last 5 years at least,and always pulled out at the last minute. Mainly to do with the fear of teaching teenagers.
I taught English abroad years ago, and while it wasn't easy, I preferred teaching adults to teenagers/kids.
The main reason I never pursued a teaching Dip.

I never found the secondary school environment appealing or nice. I'm not assuming it's all a bed of roses teaching people in 3rd level as most of them are still teenagers! But I found the atmosphere different in 3rd level, during my undergrad, and during my post grad.

So, my undergrad was an arts degree with French and Irish. In theory, I could try and pursue a masters in French or Irish?

While I have been using my languages on and off since I graduated in 1999 (!!!), I am quite aware I would need to seriously brush up on them before considering a masters.

At the end of the day, I like languages. I speak Italian and learned it off my own bat, and am learning Spanish at the moment.

Any advice on what I could do? Would a masters in French (for example) be the obvious route to teaching at third level?