Does anyone else find this odd??

Pinkycharm

My friend contacted me last week to help her with irish interview prep for a post primary job, I was delighted to help her out and we literally covered everything. she had her interview today- (this is an ETB) but was not asked a single question in Irish?

I dropped her to it today and waited and saw another girl I know coming out of the same interview so I asked her what questions were asked in Irish just to see had we covered the basis and she also said she hadn't been asked anything as Gaeilge!

I just find it odd- whatever if it was very small hours but these were leaving cert classes and it was 15 hours?

Is this the new thing for Irish interviews??

TheDriver

Depends on school. Also there may have been no Irish speakers available. No hard and fast rule to be honest.

Pinkycharm

TheDriver wrote: »

Depends on school. Also there may have been no Irish speakers available. No hard and fast rule to be honest.

Really?? I just always thought it was a given to be interviewed or part interviewed in the language you were going to teach but when you look at it that way it makes sense!

evolving_doors

Maybe the interviewer was just going by previous references/length of experience.

How about if there was no Irish speaker available the interviewer could have given them part of a LC exam paper to complete. An irish teacher could then give them a quick once-over online...

Boober Fraggle

Armelodie wrote: »

How about if there was no Irish speaker available the interviewer could have given them part of a LC exam paper to complete. An irish teacher could then give them a quick once-over online...

I wouldn't agree to that. I have a very good leaving cert, degree and h dip in the language. Doing part of a LC paper now would prove nothing to anyone.

I would imagine where possible they try to get a subject specific person on the interview panel, but if there are a few jobs in a school it might be easier to just have one panel for all interviews.

doc_17

I suppose they are going on your qualifications as well. I did two interviews for Maths jobs and they didn't check my Maths ability, although they did talk generally about maths.

gaiscioch

Pinkycharm wrote: »

My friend contacted me last week to help her with irish interview prep for a post primary job, I was delighted to help her out and we literally covered everything. she had her interview today- (this is an ETB) but was not asked a single question in Irish?

I dropped her to it today and waited and saw another girl I know coming out of the same interview so I asked her what questions were asked in Irish just to see had we covered the basis and she also said she hadn't been asked anything as Gaeilge!

I just find it odd- whatever if it was very small hours but these were leaving cert classes and it was 15 hours?

Is this the new thing for Irish interviews??

Apparently it's not odd. I remember my first interview (for a post with Irish as an add-on subject) before I even had an Irish qualification and I was confidently told by Irish teachers in the same school that the VEC panel wouldn't ask any questions in Irish. When I went in, however, they had a guy with very good Irish and I was destroyed. Rightly so.

implausible

Depends on the panel on the day I'd imagine. The panel would be interviewing for several positions, so I'd say it's the luck of the draw. I did a good 1/3 of a VEC interview for my present job through Irish, but then again, I work in a county with a Gaeltacht, so finding fluent speakers for a panel wouldn't be difficult.

Powerhouse

Pinkycharm wrote: »

My friend contacted me last week to help her with irish interview prep for a post primary job, I was delighted to help her out and we literally covered everything. she had her interview today- (this is an ETB) but was not asked a single question in Irish?

I dropped her to it today and waited and saw another girl I know coming out of the same interview so I asked her what questions were asked in Irish just to see had we covered the basis and she also said she hadn't been asked anything as Gaeilge!

I just find it odd- whatever if it was very small hours but these were leaving cert classes and it was 15 hours?

Is this the new thing for Irish interviews??

I've only ever done two teaching interviews (one VEC, one Secondary) and both had a significant Irish language component as I would have expected. I mention that I have had only two as it shows that I cannot comment in any broad way as to what happens in interviews, but I would be surprised if the failure to have an Irish speaker on the panel was not due to a mishap of sorts which caused the person chosen to withdraw. It's shouldn't be enomously difficult for a Principal to source an Irish speaker and I'd would that it was planned not to have a Irish language component to the interview. I would indeed regard it as odd.

RealJohn

I presume that the OP would prefer not to tell us which ETB we're talking about here, right? It does make a difference to some extent. If you're talking about a Dublin ETB or one close to or containing a major Gaeltacht, I'd say it's quite odd. If it's a more rural ETB without a Gaeltacht, it might have been harder to get someone with enough knowledge of the Irish syllabus and suitably experienced at interviewing.