Teaching Opportunities in Adult/Further Education?

Polymorpheus

Would love to hear from anyone teaching in adult or further education. I have no real idea what opportunities exist, say, for somebody whose eventual aim it might be to teach subjects like creative programming, web design, 3d modelling, digital art etc, but without pinning all hopes on doing so at a university?

I know there are, or at least will be, requirements for anyone teaching in adult/further education to hold a relevant teaching diploma, but apart from that, could anyone give me an idea of how to get into this field? I've come across Aontas and Activelink - are these the best resources out there?

Are opportunities scarce? Is it more a case of finding and applying for advertised vacancies, or taking a more entrepreneurial approach and designing courses you think/hope people will find useful, and then approaching institutions that could facilitate you in teaching them?

Nadser

I work in further education and have a degree in Computer Science. To be honest the job situation is as bad as all other areas. There's a cap on PLC numbers and the student teacher ratio was increased so if anything, current teachers have seen their hours cut.

For example, in our college we have 6 computer teachers, 4 of whom are permanent, 1 CID (seems to be on close to, if not, full hours) and one part-time, possibly CID by now. Last year I think she was only on 2 hours.

Of course I can't speak for other colleges, but I presume they're all the same. We haven't seen a new face in here for a number of years, apart from in a very specialised area, our student numbers have remained the same and quite a few teachers have left (due to retirements or no hours).

Sorry I can't be more positive!

Tessa6

Hi,

Where do I apply for a teaching position in the further education sector?

Do I post in a speculative CV to my local ETB?

Thanks.

smallgarden

Theyre normally advertised along with secondary posts on the vacancy section of their website. The dublin ones do large scale advertisements around may and throughout summer months.