Second/Third Level Teaching Qualifications

RosalieMcFall

Hi,

I recently obtained a BSc Hons degree in Environmental Science with Spanish (minor) from the University of Ulster.

I live in the Republic of Ireland and I'm considering teaching as a career. I'm interested in secondary school or third level positions (perhaps in a college of further education or institute of technology).

I'm a mature student and have no idea of where to begin, so I'm hoping I can gain some useful information on this forum.

1) Firstly, how does one become a secondary school teacher in Ireland? There seems to be a variety of courses out there but I'm wondering about the most straight-forward, shortest path.

2) How does one become a teacher/instructor in a college of further education or an institute of technology?

3) Are there any reputable short courses available, e.g. one year as opposed to two?

4) I wonder if my Environmental Science qualification would suffice to teach geography, as geography and marine science were integral parts of the course? Could I teach Spanish even though I only studied it as my minor degree subject?

5) What is the average cost of fees I should expect to pay in order to qualify as a teacher?

Many thanks in advance for any advice you can offer me.

Powerhouse

RosalieMcFall wrote: »

Hi,

I recently obtained a BSc Hons degree in Environmental Science with Spanish (minor) from the University of Ulster.

I live in the Republic of Ireland and I'm considering teaching as a career. I'm interested in secondary school or third level positions (perhaps in a college of further education or institute of technology).

I'm a mature student and have no idea of where to begin, so I'm hoping I can gain some useful information on this forum.

1) Firstly, how does one become a secondary school teacher in Ireland? There seems to be a variety of courses out there but I'm wondering about the most straight-forward, shortest path.

You do the PME (Professional Masters in Education) at the NUI Colleges (check out www.pac.ie which is the central applications process for the NUI colleges and you'll find the PME information on the front page) or TCD (which has its own application process unless this has changed recently). There also, apparently, is an option to do so with Hibernia College but I am unfamiliar with that one.

2) How does one become a teacher/instructor in a college of further education or an institute of technology?

I have no idea. I suspect in the case of the latter a Master's would be an absolute minimum requirement.

3) Are there any reputable short courses available, e.g. one year as opposed to two?

None of which I am aware. Presumably if there were short courses everyone would be doing them.

4) I wonder if my Environmental Science qualification would suffice to teach geography, as geography and marine science were integral parts of the course?

This would be a matter for the Teaching Council to decide. I think they used to have a list of approved degrees on their website which gave information about what a degree enabled you to teach but I just had a look at their website and there's so much going on there it's hard to find. But they are the arbiters of this decision. To be absolutely candid this should be your first port of call. No point in considering a teaching qualification without being sure you will be qualified to teach a specific subject. For what it's worth, on the face of it, I would be sceptical about the applicability of your degree to post-primary teaching in terms of employability. But that's a separate debate - just something to consider.

Could I teach Spanish even though I only studied it as my minor degree subject?

Technically no. You must according to the Teaching Council have a subject to degree level to be registered to teach it. Notwithstanding this, at a practical level you might be asked by a principal to teach it.*

Every so often some genius in the media gets his knickers in a twist about the amount of 'unqualified' teachers teaching subjects but sometimes this happens because of timetable requirements. Principals might find it difficult to recruit a specialist teacher for maybe four hours of Spanish or Physics a week. As it happens Spanish would be scarce enough in schools with twice as many doing German and 6/7 times as many doing French.

* (This can be problematic in the case of languages where people really need a strong grasp of the language in order to teach. A lot depends I suppose on how 'minor' it was in your degree.)

5) What is the average cost of fees I should expect to pay in order to qualify as a teacher?

Just googled this for UCD and it's €6,100 for the first year. Not sure if it's the same for year 2 but won't be far off it anyway I'd say. Expect the other universities to be similar. Hibernia, according to their website, charge 12,400 and that seems to be for the two years. Suffice to say that it's a substantial outlay.

RosalieMcFall

Thank you Powerhouse. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. That's really helpful.