Primary School Teaching - Irish Requirement

iamyourending

Hey guys,

I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I'm about to go into final year of my degree, and I think I'd like to go on and do a postgrad course to become a Primary School Teacher. I was only 16 when I did the Leaving Cert so I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, hence I did ordinary level Irish and got an A2 (I've regretted it since I got my results, seems as I might have gotten a C3 in HL Irish). So, if I wanted to apply for a postgrad course in Primary Teaching, I'd need to fulfil the Irish requirement.

I'm wondering what you think is the best option - re-sitting LC HL Irish or doing the alternative exam? Seems as I've only been away from Irish for 3 years, I should be able to brush up on it easily enough and hopefully improve it to a HL standard, but I don't really know which the best route to take.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

RealJohn

The advice I would give you is that unless you're going to get better than a C3 in HL Irish then your level of Irish isn't good enough to teach it whether you can get on the course or not. If you can do better than that, I would imagine your old school are likely to be amenable to allowing you to resit the exam (not this year obviously). I don't know what you should do about getting back up to speed though.

rainbowtrout

The LC route is the most straightforward way and you know how it is assessed. I would agree with RealJohn, while C3 is the minimum requirement, you should aim for higher than that. You can't do the teaching qualification until you have your Irish requirement so perhaps when you are finished your degree this year and perhaps working/studying Irish it might be worth your while to spend some time in the Gaeltacht to improve your Irish.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

RealJohn wrote: »

The advice I would give you is that unless you're going to get better than a C3 in HL Irish then your level of Irish isn't good enough to teach it whether you can get on the course or not. If you can do better than that, I would imagine your old school are likely to be amenable to allowing you to resit the exam (not this year obviously). I don't know what you should do about getting back up to speed though.

Nonsense. Students doing the new B.Ed are required to get 70% in Irish competency, among other topics, in every year. If you aren't good at Irish going in teaching, you will be good by the end of the course - provided you get the pass grade - and more than capable at teaching it.

OP, it seems to me that you have to re-sit the leaving cert Irish exam to get the C3 grade required, I don't think there's any other way of getting in unless you do teaching abroad. Bear in mind though that places on the post-grad course are extremely competitive. If you don't have any experience working with kids you'll find it difficult getting a place. You'll need to do a lot of prep work for the interview also.

brassbutterfly

Go for it! Go for the lc route. At the end of the day, right now all you need is the entry requirement. You'll be surprised how fast it will come back to you and you can keep brushing up after you're in! Take it from someone who went down a very similar route- if you want it, do it!

Windorah

Go for the Leaving Cert Irish route and aim as high as u possibly can! It will stand to u in the interview for the post grad and in your teaching career.

If at all possible do some volunteer work in your local primary schools. It would be be beneficial to see what day to day teaching is actually like, hear Irish spoken throughout the day (hopefully!) and it's always good to have some contacts for teaching practice and further down the line!!

Check educationposts.ie and see if any schools near you are advertising for special needs assistants posts too!

Best of luck:)

RealJohn

THFC wrote: »

Nonsense. Students doing the new B.Ed are required to get 70% in Irish competency, among other topics, in every year. If you aren't good at Irish going in teaching, you will be good by the end of the course - provided you get the pass grade - and more than capable at teaching it.

I hope that this really is the case because it certainly hasn't been up to quite recently. Thanks for the information.