B.A. in SPD

hitchcock

I'm a Leaving Cert student waiting for results, and my fourth choice on my CAO is the Bachelor of Arts course in Saint Pats, Drumcondra. If I get the course I will do Irish, English and Music for the first year, and then continue with Irish and English for the remaining two years. I've gone onto the college's website and they have lots of information for the English course but little to none for Irish or Music. I was just wondering could anyone tell me what modules you study/how many hours per week etc there are for Irish and Music? I put this question into the DCU forum as I know the two colleges are linked, so there might be some SPD students on this forum willing to answer. Thanks in advance!

karkar athlete

Hello Hitchcock,
First of all good luck with your results tomorrow! Just wondering if Arts is your forth do you have Primary Teaching as your top 3??

Anyway I am going into 3rd year now in Pats. The college website can be confusing if you do not know your way around. I actually have done none of the subjects – I am doing Maths and Geography :O with Human Development in first year. But I know from others that English and Irish are extremely popular. Each subject in first year will have 3 or 4 hour long lectures and usually an extra 1 hour tutorial (2 hour in case of Irish) per week. Usually students will have on average 14/15 hours a week – Irish and English are at better times than Music due to the amount of students involved.
This document here has a breakdown of what the modules are for each subject and shouldn’t change a whole lot of this year but is a rough guide http://www.spd.dcu.ie/site/admissions/documents/BADegreeHumanities2012Web.pdf
One thing I can tell you about taking the likes of Music (Maths in my case) is you can get to know everyone in the case and if you have any problems it is easier to talk to the lecturer.
If you have any more questions just shout and I will try and get back to you. Pat’s is grand and main bit i like about it is the size of the student body compared to the likes of DCU where you just another somebody.

hitchcock

Hi karkar athlete, thank you so much for your reply and for your best wishes for tomorrow!
You're right, my first three choices are for primary school teaching, so I would be doing the B.A. in Saint Pats with the intention of doing the H. Dip afterwards. I know that there is an Irish oral to get into the H. Dip so I think it would be in my best interests to study Irish as one of my subjects, not only for the interview, but for the career itself too, just to maintain the standard that I have at the moment.
I think I would definitely choose English as one of my arts subjects and then it is a toss up between Irish and Music, Irish would be good for primary teaching and music would be good for me as I know that a large portion of the credits for music each semester is based on a performance module/participation in choirs etc, which I'm very comfortable/confident about doing.
14/15 hours is very good for arts students and leaves a lot of time to do your own study, work etc.
Thank you so much for your reply, I really appreciate it!

karkar athlete

No bother, Hitchcock!!
I was the exact same as you two years ago but alas a D1 in Irish put me right out on contention for primary teaching and not enough points I was left with Arts in Pats. I had considered repeating, but ultimately as a hard working student the whole way through school which doesn’t result in A’s I couldn’t see myself making up at least 60 points so I decided to go ahead with the arts.
This year I actually did the LC Irish in the hopes of getting C3 and I will also receive my fate tomorrow, but there is no rush really. I have also learned that a very high standard of Irish is expected for the H.Dip but ultimately getting into it comes down to how you do in the Irish and English portion of the interview. Anyway I hope I can get through it – but should you get offered primary teaching consider your options carefully. Going straight into Primary teaching its 4 years, otherwise the BA is 3 years with I think by the time you graduate 2 year H.Dip. Benefits to the BA is the options it opens rather than just primary teaching, also should you not like Teaching as a career options are limited, however one big difference is the cost of the H.Dip and going straight into the B.Ed – so consider all options.
Anyway benefits to English that I know of that is seemingly a 0% fail rate!! Irish will look excellent going back in for a post grad but also I believe you would be able to teach in a Gaeltacht school. I am sorry but can confirm or exactly tell you how Music is marked. Irish I know the overall grades are got by 10% for the oral and 90% on exams each year. The breakdown of the subject for grades are here: http://www.spd.dcu.ie/site/students/documents/SPDBA2012-13.pdf
For second and third year the hours will also go down to about 10-12 hours per week – but the worst bit is the gaps that I had between lectures but if you do Irish and English they will normally be a better times.
I apologise for it not been any sooner with the first post and again good luck tomorrow. It’s only the start. And any more questions feel free to ask

hitchcock

Thanks for the link, it was very helpful! Good luck to you tomorrow too, fingers crossed for both of us!

karkar athlete

Just seen your results on the results page, congrats - no need for the B.A. well done. Just waiting on the postwoman myself......

Edit: Got my C3 so over the moon right now so just have to concentrate on getting a good degree next year and boom primary teaching here I come