More Than One Subject?

Hollyworth

Hello.
Not taking into account career prospects with only having one teaching subject for secondary, is there a requirement to have more than one teaching subject?

I have been accepted to college for the PME, based on the fact that I have HDip in History.

Now, everybody I talk to, friends and family (some are teachers) tells me I need two subjects.
However, the Teaching Council site says you need "at least one subject".

Can anyone here help me?

And yes, I'm aware of the job prospects with having just one subject. But at this stage I'm more worried about being even allowed on the course.

greenttc

You are grand with just one subject, you will be able to register as a teacher with the teaching council with just your history.

greenttc

you may still have to learn about a second subject as part of the PME though and train in it as if you are qualified, but you wont be able to register to teach it when you qualify unless you get the required credits etc in it. so, you should pick a second subject based either on other credits you might have in another subject that you will be able to increas credits in. or pick a subject that you might be interested in teaching and will be willing to do a degree in at some stage to qualify you.

solerina

You will still be a qualified teacher with one subject, your issue is it could be much more difficult to get a job with a single subject especially history as it is already a very common subject among teachers

linguist

I think I would counsel you to reflect very carefully about this. Although history has now been restored to core status in Junior Cycle after a long and outstanding campaign by history teachers and historians, the fact is that your employment prospects are extremely limited. As solerina has stated, there is an oversupply of history teachers with the English and History combination among the most in surplus. Most junior cycle students do 2 hours of history per week. About 8500 students nationally do Leaving Cert history in a given year making it a relatively minor subject numbers-wise. In a medium sized school (600-700 students), this equates to one history class in both fifth and sixth year and even if you walked into a retirement scenario there would still be others ahead of you in the pecking order. I have to say this since I've come across plenty of frustrated history teachers in staffrooms desperate to get their hands on a fifth or sixth year class but with no chance of doing so since the senior, established history teacher has a stranglehold on those hours.

I am sorry to come across this negative, but the reality is that save for certain very niche subjects: Home Ec., Art, Practical Subjects, Music to an extent, Irish second-level schools require a minimum of two subjects for timetabling purposes. I don't see a way to a make a living in second level with history as a single subject.

Purefrank128

linguist wrote: »

history has now been restored to core status in Junior Cycle

History never previously had core status.

All students in voluntary secondary schools studied history, but it wasn't previously core in other types of schools or in the national curriculum.

How can an education system give history core status while not giving the same status to science, the field of human knowledge that defines the modern world?

linguist

Purefrank128 wrote: »

History never previously had core status.

All students in voluntary secondary schools studied history, but it wasn't previously core in other types of schools or in the national curriculum.

How can an education system give history core status while not giving the same status to science, the field of human knowledge that defines the modern world?

Thank you. I am entirely aware of that distinction but I used a shorthand explanation to contextualise my response to the OP.

It's clear that you just responded to have a puerile rant and establish a bogus dichotomy with regard to the relative merits of two subject areas. In any case, statement 19 of the Junior Cycle statements of learning taken alongside statements 9, 10, 17 and 18 - perhaps Science teachers would suggest more - makes the study of Science at Junior Cycle de facto compulsory.

Random sample

I’d echo the points made above. Absolutely you are eligible to qualify as a history teacher, but that doesn’t follow through that you would ever be employed as one.

History is a very common subject, and junior classes tend to be shared among staff for ease of timetabling. We have at least 8 history teachers on staff, with none of them teaching all history. The max anyone would have would be half a timetable.

Even if a job was advertised as history only (which I’ve never seen) you would be competing with applicants who have another subject and would offer the school more flexibility.

Hollyworth

Thanks for all the input. I just wanted to know whether just having one subject would disqualify me from getting my PME. I think you have all cleared that up for me. I'm not all that worried about career prospects. I have a career plan laid out that just requires me to be a qualified teacher.
Thanks all!

Mardy Bum

Purefrank128 wrote: »

How can an education system give history core status while not giving the same status to science, the field of human knowledge that defines the modern world?

Because science costs money in terms of labs and supplies. History doesn't.

Money is the factor that determines all policy in Ireland.

sullivlo

Hollyworth wrote: »

Thanks for all the input. I just wanted to know whether just having one subject would disqualify me from getting my PME. I think you have all cleared that up for me. I'm not all that worried about career prospects. I have a career plan laid out that just requires me to be a qualified teacher.
Thanks all!

You will still be required to study and teach a second subject as part of your PME, so be conscious of that. You will be examined/supervised as a student in both subjects Most people will only teach their second subject up to junior cycle level during the PME, but sometimes you might get stuck with TYs. Where are you doing the PME?

Hollyworth

I'm going to be doing it in Galway. When you say you have to do a second subject during the PME, you obviously wouldn't be qualified to teach in that subject once you graduate though?

rainbowtrout

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Because science costs money in terms of labs and supplies. History doesn't.

Money is the factor that determines all policy in Ireland.

Schools still have to have science labs, whether the subject is compulsory or not. The government have been pushing STEM subjects and careers for the last 15 years. Yet the new course has been reduced to 200 hours (which is a heap of watered down crap) where the old course was a minimum of 240 hours.

r93kaey5p2izun

You would not be qualified no matter what you do in the PME unless you have the required degree credits covering the correct subject content.

I know Maynooth have a special research module for those with just one subject. Most people used to just do SPHE or CSPE. Maybe Wellbeing is an option now?

Polka_Dot

You will probably have to do a subject like SPHE or CSPE as said above. However, depending on your degree, you may be able to teach LC Politics & Society.

TheDriver

It'd be very hard to fill your timetable and hence it will be very hard to get a job. The only single subject teachers that have a hope are English, Maths or Irish. And even with that, you'd need something else to fill the timetable.

Treppen

TheDriver wrote: »

It'd be very hard to fill your timetable and hence it will be very hard to get a job. The only single subject teachers that have a hope are English, Maths or Irish. And even with that, you'd need something else to fill the timetable.

Hollyworth wrote: »

... I'm not all that worried about career prospects. I have a career plan laid out that just requires me to be a qualified teacher.
....

Tl:;Dr Tap on the shoulder :pac:

TheValeyard

Just going to repeat what others have said.

To have any chance of employment, you need at least two well established subjects.

I currently teach five subjects. Really breaks up the week, love it.