Teaching Jobs

ptolemy2738

I just wanted to find out from other people here what the teaching climate is like. I graduated last May and have yet to find a job. I signed up to subbing lists, applied to hundreds of jobs, had one interview but didn't get it. I desperately do not want to go to England but I feel like I'm losing all hope at this stage. My subjects are History and English which I hear everyone seems to have. Can anyone else share their thoughts or ideas on this.

Hazelnut Button

Not the same subjects but here's my story anyway.

Don't give up. I was in a similar situation last year. Had just qualified, applied for hundreds of jobs over the summer but had no work lined up. Late October I got some casual subbing. Once I got that call it was like a domino effect. I was subbing in various schools for all of November. In November I got an interview for a maternity cover. Started the maternity in December and that lasted until end of school year. This put me in a stronger position this year and I have my own hours in a different school for the year.

Be patient. Lots of maternity covers will come up over the next few months. Keep your eyes peeled. Check the etb websites as well as education posts. You'd be surprised how quickly things can change.

maynooth_rules

Your subject choices are the most common Im afraid to tell you as well. For some reason there are hundreds of History and English teachers. You are not alone, lots of teachers are in a similar situation, even teachers with plenty of experience. I know how tough and demoralising it can get sometimes but try to remain confident and make sure to look after yourself. Unfortunately teaching is over subscribed and it is making it so difficult to get working hours.

Redser87

Does the common combination not mean that it should be easier for the OP to slot into casual subbing/ maternity leaves than someone with a more unusual subject combination though?

mtoutlemonde

Redser87 wrote: »

Does the common combination not mean that it should be easier for the OP to slot into casual subbing/ maternity leaves than someone with a more unusual subject combination though?

No it means that there are too many graduates with the same subject combination and not enough jobs.

Redser87

Fair enough, hope it works out for you OP - can't offer any advice as I am at primary level rather than secondary, but hopefully you'll get a lucky break soon.

Clint212

Hi,

Ive been qualified 6 years, teaching 7 years, the same subjects as yourself. Ive basically been covering maternity leave most of my career and had my own hours in some cases too. Im quickly running out of steam waiting for the right job to come up, but since your only qualified stick with it for a while at least.

Ive had the ambition to be a secondary teacher since I was very young, but no career is worth the wait, especially when there is a certain amount of 'pull' going on not only in the education system but I believe as a whole in Irish society.

Best of luck with the job hunt, and fingers crossed something will turn up for you in the near future!

clearview99

Clint212 wrote: »

Hi,

Ive been qualified 6 years, teaching 7 years, the same subjects as yourself. Ive basically been covering maternity leave most of my career and had my own hours in some cases too. Im quickly running out of steam waiting for the right job to come up, but since your only qualified stick with it for a while at least.

Ive had the ambition to be a secondary teacher since I was very young, but no career is worth the wait, especially when there is a certain amount of 'pull' going on not only in the education system but I believe as a whole in Irish society.

Best of luck with the job hunt, and fingers crossed something will turn up for you in the near future!

This is my third year out and again, have been covering bits and pieces since graduating - this year I was lucky enough to find a years contract in one school, September to May, covering the other half of a permanent member of staff's job share, with some resource hours as well. It's so disheartening though - I was only there about a month when the teacher in question told me, not in so many words, not to get too comfortable as she'll be returning to full 22 hours next year - while it's experience, I can't help to feel discouraged at the fact that i'll be starting, as it were, all over again next year. Some people have said to me that I need to be more 'active' in finding a job with more permanency - can I ask, is it too pushy to contact schools (for example, where I am from) and sound them out for work, or is that acceptable these days?? Is there a diplomatic way of approaching a principal and letting him/her know that you're looking for hours without sounding too demanding - I realise that you can't conjure up jobs out of the air, but at least you'd feel as if you were doing something

gaiscioch

The History and English combination has been notoriously oversubscribed for years. Anybody who has qualified as a teacher of those two subjects in *at least* the last six years cannot plead ignorance of this as it was well publicised before they began their PGDE/PDE. They knew what they were getting themselves into. When I did the Dip English and History were by far the most common combination and everybody with that combination knew the job reality for them. Some may have been away with the fairies on the delusion front but anybody with basic cop-on knew they would struggle for a job if they hadn't close family or friends managing a school or on a VEC board.

Similarly, all those people who entered the Dip with a single subject knew from the outset that they would have to go back and get qualified in at least one other good subject to stand a chance. If they entered the Dip without the subjects which were/are in demand they have, quite frankly, only themselves to blame. The dip is a money-making racket, pumping out qualifications in joke subjects like CSPE, joke subjects because they never have been treated as serious subjects in the timetable of Irish secondary schools, yet a ridiculous number of dippers delude themselves on this well-publicised reality and do the subject methodology for CSPE because they do not have "real" teaching subjects. They have no right to whinge about their inability to get a job with such inadequate subjects in the first place when they've known the solution is to go back and spend two years getting the required degree credits in a real, in demand, school subject. Problem sorted.

/rant over! (I began the Dip with a single real subject and then immediately returned at night to add other subjects to it. It wasn't easy to do while working full time, but it's better to light a candle than curse the dark.)

gavwaldo

ptolemy2738 wrote: »

I just wanted to find out from other people here what the teaching climate is like. I graduated last May and have yet to find a job. I signed up to subbing lists, applied to hundreds of jobs, had one interview but didn't get it. I desperately do not want to go to England but I feel like I'm losing all hope at this stage. My subjects are History and English which I hear everyone seems to have. Can anyone else share their thoughts or ideas on this.

on the plus side you'll end up sooner or later as one of the first choice subs in a school and as you've the most common subject combo there's a good chance you'll get a maternity in that school if someone in you're subjects goes out on mat leave. higher % mat leave in your area than any other.

rainbowtrout

gavwaldo wrote: »

on the plus side you'll end up sooner or later as one of the first choice subs in a school and as you've the most common subject combo there's a good chance you'll get a maternity in that school if someone in you're subjects goes out on mat leave. higher % mat leave in your area than any other.

Assuming all of the English/History teachers are female and in their 20s/30s. They might all be 60 year old men.

mcgowak3

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