Is it worth my while doing a masters?

dalington10

Hi all,

I just finished my B.Ed undergrad in Pats there last year and have been doing my DIP year this year. Over the course of the year I've been handed leaflets from respective colleges in the Dublin area at school about future masters programmes. I am just wondering is there any point in taking part in a full time/ part masters seeing as the previous allowances in place in the Dept have been cut? Is there any gains/ advantages of having a masters when applying for permanent jobs or more superior positions? Would principals rate you more highly if you have a masters under your belt? I was thinking of doing a masters in maybe leadership or literacy.

I do realise that I am only less than a year out of college and most of the 2014/2015 masters' deadlines have closed, but I would be interested in finding out now if it would be worth my while to do a masters so I could start saving to do a masters the following year possibly.

Any feedback would be much appreciated

PinkCat86

I am in a similar position. If you apply for jobs in England, a Masters would be advantageous. If you just do it to be more competitive then this is good.

sitstill

It would depend on which Masters you are interested in. For example, you are not teaching long enough to study for a Masters in Educational Leadership.

spurious

I think experience would count for more than a Masters in terms of jobs. If you could, I'd get a few years teaching (maybe in different sorts of schools) and then maybe address a Masters, if you felt you wanted to.

teacherhead

There was a fascination with doing masters a while back to get into the dip. I never thought it was a great idea myself.some of the best teachers I have seen had a degree and the feaqrs teastas gaeilge.

A masters wont make you a better teacher. Teaching well and learning from your mistakes will. I wouldn't be inclined to hire people who have a masters just because they have one.

Get experience, make your cv stand out and shine at interview.

Powerhouse

teacherhead wrote: »

There was a fascination with doing masters a while back to get into the dip. I never thought it was a great idea myself.

To be fair it is more a practical response to not having the degree points to get into the Dip rather than a fascination. It certainly led to some people doing a Master's in 'anything' but it could hardly be considered a bad idea for the people doing it as presumably they were going nowhere without it.

If you mean that it was a bad idea that it could take someone with a very middling degree past someone with a half-decent one in the race for places on the Dip then it is hard to argue with that.

An Bradán Feasa

Many of the Master of Education courses require at least three years professional teaching experience.

I would recommend doing one at some point in your career. Lack of financial incentive aside, it's worth doing purely for what you can learn from it.

gaiscioch

I also think experience is much more valuable than a masters. On the other hand, in fairness to you, you're understandably trying to make your cv stand out now in order to get a job in the first place. Without experience, how can you do that? I did that by making myself available for subbing at short notice everywhere in my area. I took very few hours at first and was "on call" to go in all the time. Even though I was merely on call for a school, that experience made it much easier to get my next job because in the interview I could talk about experiences and that resonated much more than theory. This is the first reason why I would advocate that you take even a few hours subbing per week initially over doing a masters.

Moreover, I suspect you might get more out of a masters after teaching for a few years. In my subject area, for instance, the more thoughtful students regularly ask me questions which make me aware of how much more knowledge I need. I can, and do, find the answers myself without doing any postgrad. I am, nonetheless, more interested in improving my understanding of issues related to my daily job simply to make me better at it.

I could do much of that more intensive work needed on my own. However, I am more productive when I have goals imposed on me and to that end I will return and do a very specific masters. That's the real reason I will pay €6500 to do a masters (net cost of @ €3400 after recouping money from Revenue and the Teachers' Refund Scheme). Financially it will be of no benefit whatsoever -at least in the short-medium term - as I already have a Level 10 qualification, and am at the top of the allowance scale for that and my employment is as secure as it can be. In short, I'm only doing a masters, as opposed to studying independently for free, because the structure suits my idiosyncratic temperament: a masters is not necessary.

In summary, then, put the masters on the long finger and knock on every principal's door in your area, making it clear to them that you're available at very short notice. Even if you get few hours per week this will allow you to put down "substitute teacher" on your cv and talk up those experiences at interview. Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat.

evolving_doors

I reckon it depends on the type of masters you want to do OP. If it's the Education side of things then I think it would be much easier to do this whilst in the loop of teaching. Mainly because you can draw on the experiences of other teachers and your own teaching within a school.

Although if the masters is going down the route of subject specialisation then maybe that would be a good thing before you head into a school.

If you're young/single I'd say get the DIP and start getting as much experience in the bank as possible. i.e. head to the UK as you will start clocking up the full time teaching experience pretty soon. Contrast that with hanging around Ireland looking for a few days here and there in any school.

In my experience it's better to do the masters whilst in a job as it informs your studies no end.