UK teacher looking for teaching jobs in Ireland

laura_kate

Hi all,

I am currently a full-time Primary School Teacher teaching in England. I plan to move to Dublin this summer and was hoping to continue my teaching career in Education. However, having read information in the Internet, it states that to teach within Primary Education you need to be able to speak/teach Irish.

Is it possible to gain more information/clarity on this:
* Does this apply to all schools?
* Does it apply to pre-schools as well?
* Does it apply to substitute teachers?
* Am I missing other options?

I am currently staying in Dublin, If you don't know the answer to above questions, would you recommend anywhere to gain advice on this matter?

I would really appreciate any help on this.

Regards,
Laura

byhookorbycrook

Yes to all subs and primary teachers, except in private schools. Dublin is the worst place for subbing due to an oversupply of teachers.Pre-schools don't tend to employ fully qualified primary teachers.

There has been a shortage of subs this year, due to the introduction of the 4 year B.Ed and the number of primary teachers who either went abroad or left teaching due to the lower pay scale and not being able to secure even long term subbing.

You will also need to be registered with the Teaching Council and have Garda vetting before you will get ANY work at all.

laura_kate

Hi byhookorbycrook,

Really appreciate the info and the help on this.

Just to confirm and clarify the options you mentioned:

- Private schools (Any point of contact on this?)
- Pre-schools

What about a Learning support teacher?

Thanks a lot again.
Laura

byhookorbycrook

There are no longer learning support/resource teachers, from Sept 17 it will be SEN teachers and yes, you have to have Irish for any primary posts due to staff rotation possibilities.

Pre-school here is not like some schools you may have experienced. The pay levels and qualifications are not those of a primary teacher.
ETA private primary schools aren't the norm here and the pay can be quite a lot less too, as many teachers wouldn't be qualified primary teachers.

ustazjoseph

In effect the system here is set up on the assumption that all teachers will have qualified here. Even being Irish qualified and returning from workin abroad is difficult. Best of luck with it.

laura_kate

Many thanks for all of your help and clarity.

It seems that although the teaching council will accept my application, it is down to individual schools/settings on whether they want to employ a non-Irish speaking/qualified teacher.
I need to find a setting which will employ me! Any suggestions on where/how to start?

Thanks again,
Laura

byhookorbycrook

I'm not sure if you are aware of the panel system here. Posts lost due to loss of numbers means the teacher "last in" gets put on "the panel." Any permanent jobs must be offered to those teachers before jobs may be advertised. Likewise, long term subs may get panel rights and again, those posts aren't open to public competition as a rule.

Most jobs are now advertised on educationposts.ie so keep an eye there. It's down to individual schools as to whether they will take you on. You have to pass an Irish exam within a certain time frame to be fully registered with the Teaching Council too.
http://www.education.ie/en/Education-Staff/Information/-New-Teachers/Irish-Language-Requirement-Primary-Teachers.html

rainbowtrout

laura_kate wrote: »

Many thanks for all of your help and clarity.

It seems that although the teaching council will accept my application, it is down to individual schools/settings on whether they want to employ a non-Irish speaking/qualified teacher.
I need to find a setting which will employ me! Any suggestions on where/how to start?

Thanks again,
Laura

I'm a secondary teacher, not primary, but except for extreme cases where a school needed a sub at short notice, for a short period of time, I would think that you would struggle to get a proper job without Irish. The level of Irish required to teach in primary schools here is Leaving Certificate our equivalent to A Level.

As regards private primary schools: there was a thread on here recently from a parent asking about them. I remember from reading up on them that there are only 34 in the whole country. Private primary education really isn't a thing. While you don't have to have any teaching qualifications / Irish etc to be employed in one, I'd imagine they all teach Irish as it is a college entry requirement for a number of our third level colleges and any state funded school has to teach it. Many of those children would be going on to such schools at second level.

Somewhere like the International Primary School in Dublin which offers the Baccalaureat would probably be most suitable in terms of the problem with Irish.

cazzer22

Any school I have experience of won't take on a teacher (for any contract/subbing) in primary level unless they have the Irish requirement. You have to be able to teach any class, in any setting (SEN or mainstream). If you've trained in England, you have to do exams and pass those before you'll even be considered/ fully registered with the Teaching Council.

ustazjoseph

Of course the majority of schools are Catholic and many like you to have a cert showing you can teach the mysteries of the one true faith.

TheDriver

ustazjoseph wrote: »

Of course the majority of schools are Catholic and many like you to have a cert showing you can teach the mysteries of the one true faith.

Where did you get this idea from? What kind of cert are you referring to??

r93kaey5p2izun

TheDriver wrote: »

Where did you get this idea from? What kind of cert are you referring to??

It's true that the vast majority of primary schools are Catholic and you must have a Catholic Cert in Religious Studies for them. Some diocese accept a distance ed one from UK (Life Light) but others insist on courses from St Pat's or St Angela's.

dory

We've an English primary teacher in our (secondary) school. Because of the Irish requirement she retrained as an SNA and works in that area now.