Bachelor of Education in St. Angela's Changed?

eve al ryan

OK, so I'm a leaving cert student and I had planned on pursuing the bachelor of education degree in Home Economics with either biology or religion in St. Angela's college Sligo.
I was looking at their prospectus and above all bachelor of education degree it had written that all such degrees are being reconstructed and that further information willbe pposted on their website by October 2014. I couldn't find any information on their website in reference to this at all, the only information I could find was on careers portal. Their website told me that the degree had changed, after 4 years of studying you must do a masters degree ( level 9) before pursuing a career in teaching and that St. Angela's had not yet posted any further information on the course change.
Could anyone please tell me what's going on, is it really necessary for me to have a masters degree before I can teach in my subjects and why haven't St. Angela's posted any more info on the matter seeing as it is the end of November?!
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated!

thegreatescape

Hi, I'm in St Angela's doing Home Ec and Biology.
As far as I know the course is being moved to a 5 year course from next September, basically you do the 4 years and an add on year. It's compulsory so you wouldn't be qualified until the 5 years were completed.

happywithlife

Yes it's moving to a 5yr course. You must do the masters because the way the new PDME is structured (the "dip" is now a 2yr course)

eve al ryan

happywithlife wrote: »

Yes it's moving to a 5yr course. You must do the masters because the way the new PDME is structured (the "dip" is now a 2yr course)

Thanks so much! Do you know if the grant covers the full 5years?

lennyloulou

It is a four year degree course-this will not cover you to teach.
In order to teach you will have to complete a 5th year and pay St Angelas directly between ten or twelve grand for the year.
This was explained to me by a colleague of Home Ec at a recent Home Ec marking conference 2 weeks ago. she also teaches career guidance so attended a recent CAO/Colleges convention. Trust me- she is in the know!
It is an appalling situation of which ATHE and Home Ec teachers nationally have not spoken out about. Simply because they do not know! Think of the damage this will do to the subject!
UL have refused to extend their teaching four year degree eg PE/Woodwork and have politely told Dept of Ed and Teaching Council NO!

happywithlife

lennyloulou wrote: »

It is a four year degree course-this will not cover you to teach.
In order to teach you will have to complete a 5th year and pay St Angelas directly between ten or twelve grand for the year.
This was explained to me by a colleague of Home Ec at a recent Home Ec marking conference 2 weeks ago. she also teaches career guidance so attended a recent CAO/Colleges convention. Trust me- she is in the know!
It is an appalling situation of which ATHE and Home Ec teachers nationally have not spoken out about. Simply because they do not know! Think of the damage this will do to the subject!
UL have refused to extend their teaching four year degree eg PE/Woodwork and have politely told Dept of Ed and Teaching Council NO!

That is appalling if that's the case! It's such an expensive course to do anyway and meant to be concurrent. If it's no longer going to be a bachelor of education qualifying you to teach what qualifications will you actually have at the end of the four years so? The ATHE should defintely raise this with them. Pity it wasn't known for their AGM. Head of home ec from st Angela's was there and all.

Pang

I had absolutely no idea this was happening. What a dreadful idea. There is no way that it should become a five year course, especially at a time when HE is being cut in schools. I can only imagine what filler subjects Angela's will add to the course. I remember when they came up with a module called Contemporary Issues in HE and it was as if they were making it up as they went along.

I can't believe the ATHE have not tried to stop Angela's. I honestly would not recommend the course to anyone. The four years were incredibly intense and I can't imagine the five years being any less. It's sad to hear especially when UL, Mater Dei don't seem to be changing from the 4 year course.

eve al ryan

Pang wrote: »

I had absolutely no idea this was happening. What a dreadful idea. There is no way that it should become a five year course, especially at a time when HE is being cut in schools. I can only imagine what filler subjects Angela's will add to the course. I remember when they came up with a module called Contemporary Issues in HE and it was as if they were making it up as they went along.

I can't believe the ATHE have not tried to stop Angela's. I honestly would not recommend the course to anyone. The four years were incredibly intense and I can't imagine the five years being any less. It's sad to hear especially when UL, Mater Dei don't seem to be changing from the 4 year course.

Its an absolute disgrace! St. Angela's haven't even released any official info of the course change online, so its impossible to find out what's official and what's not! CAO forms are to be filled out by 1st of February and there's no easy way to find out if the fifth year is covered by the grant or not!
By the sounds of things I think I'll take your advice and opt for a bachelor of education in UL!

thegreatescape

eve al ryan wrote: »

Its an absolute disgrace! St. Angela's haven't even released any official info of the course change online, so its impossible to find out what's official and what's not! CAO forms are to be filled out by 1st of February and there's no easy way to find out if the fifth year is covered by the grant or not!
By the sounds of things I think I'll take your advice and opt for a bachelor of education in UL!

I'm speaking on behalf of the course itself, I know as much as you about the grant and 5 years etc. But the course itself is great in my opinion. I just started in first year so I've only been here 3 months, but I absolutely love it. I'm a boy as well and everyone is just so lovely and you fit in so easily with everyone else. The lecturers are incredibly helpful and the class sizes are small which makes it even better. If Home Ec is what you want to do I wouldn't let anything stop you from doing it. I'm doing Home Ec with Biology if you want to find out any information I may be able to help with don't be afraid to send me a message

phish

I know there was talk all of last year of the Ed. courses in UL being either changed to 5 years as well or else having the ed. courses do six modules each semester instead of five like the other course their to try and bring up the credits etc. so that they would still be ok.

This is what lecturers were telling us anyway last year, but I've been out on teaching practice since sept. so I haven't heard if this has changed.

2011abc

Cant imagine how terrible this must be for people on grants , race to the bottom steps up another gear .

Dave0301

You will have to pay fees for the last year if it is a five year course. This is quite a problem for all of the Bachelor of Education degrees at the moment. Some will be going to five years, while others will cover more content in the four years to reach teaching council requirements.

HomeEc_teacher

This update was on twitter earlier

Sorry can't do direct links yet as a new member

Essence is
B.ed. is changing to a BA and you'll have to do additional 5th yr to allow you teach. There may be a cost to do this -which is estimated at around €4000 (but minus the registration fee of €2750 it only comes in at an extra €1250)

Hope this helps you

spurious

This is such a racket.

Primary teachers - oh you're not qualified after your course you have to do a probationary year.
Secondary teachers - oh the one year Dip isn't enough, you have to do a 2 year PME.
Specialist teacher courses - oh no, the specialist teacher course doesn't qualify you for teaching, you have to do another expensive year.

Money, money, money - and all the time herding hundreds into the courses when they know damn well there are not enough jobs for them.

Pang

A 4 year BA in Home Economics is a joke. What a waste of a course. So the teaching part will only be in the 5th year? 5 years is completely unnecessary.

thegreatescape

Pang wrote: »

A 4 year BA in Home Economics is a joke. What a waste of a course. So the teaching part will only be in the 5th year? 5 years is completely unnecessary.

No, the teaching will take place during the 5 years. It just means they're adding a 5th year before you're fully qualified.

varberg

spurious wrote: »

This is such a racket.

Primary teachers - oh you're not qualified after your course you have to do a probationary year.
Secondary teachers - oh the one year Dip isn't enough, you have to do a 2 year PME.
Specialist teacher courses - oh no, the specialist teacher course doesn't qualify you for teaching, you have to do another expensive year.

Money, money, money - and all the time herding hundreds into the courses when they know damn well there are not enough jobs for them.

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