Ag Science teaching or grad programme?

c_emz

Hi everyone - at a bit of a crossroads regarding my next move. I’m due to start my PME in September for Ag Science and Biology teaching (with my placement sorted) and have given grinds in both as a bit of extra money during undergrad - this dried up a bit in my final year due to the pandemic and my own workload. Not knowing if I’d have enough money for the PME and its related costs (rent and possibly a car), I applied for grad programmes too and managed to get offered one which I think would be interesting and definitely open up a new path for me. 

I’m thinking of taking it and if the desire to teach is something I still have in 3-5 years time, I’ll have money saved to do the PME at that point. What’s driving me away also is that I looked on education posts and found a grand total of nine open positions for the subjects I have - surely this is not correct? I thought science would be in high demand? I mentioned it to a friend of mine teaching PE and Biology (qualified a good few years back) who said he only managed to get CID this year. While I originally had my heart set on teaching and really helped students in getting great marks in ag and biology through grinds, it’s so disheartening to hear that the situation is that dire in terms of job security. Has anyone here any experience of how long it took for a science teacher to get CID? I know it’s a bit like asking how long is a piece of string but interested to hear different perspectives on it all.

rainbowtrout

It's July, schools are closed and principals are on their holidays. Most jobs are advertised in May/June and again in August.

dory

I don't know if Science is that high demand. From what I've seen it's mostly Irish, Home Ec and Physics. Most Science teachers have Biology, less have Chemistry and even less have Physics. If it's something you really want to do, then go for it. But you will most likely be a few years on part time hours before you get a CID, that's the normal run of things. Not a bad idea to take a grad position until you save up a bit. I wouldn't have survived my first few years of part time work had I not had savings from a previous job. But as was said above, July is holiday time.

Dickie10

Hi there, looking to see if my current principal might throw me even 7 or 8 hours CID this year, hopefully I will get it. But I have to be willing to do pretty much anything, like I said I would be willing to teach Ag and I would gladly do it, Im preparing myself in case i might get called into action to teach it in a few weeks. I have heard it can be very tough to get an Ag teacher at times. I only have the green cert level 6 in Ag but would know a good bit of the course. Its a lot of luck involved in subjects falling the right way for people really.

rainbowtrout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117735384#Comment_117735384

Aren't you a history teacher? I'd be mighty pissed off if a history teacher in my school thought they could just rock up and start teaching my ag science classes. I'd also be straight on to my union if my classes were given away to a non science teacher. Sure, I suppose I've watched Reeling in the Years, that should qualify me to teach history.

c_emz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117735384#Comment_117735384

I remember having a few teachers take classes that weren’t necessarily their subjects but it was only ever for sick days. From talking to other friends who came from the same undergrad as me and are doing teaching already it seems that ag is not on offer in every school so it’s probably not the wisest choice in terms of security. As mentioned above physics does seem like the golden ticket for science teachers in terms of CID. I’m back to college very soon and also have to make up my mind on the offer I received so it’s all coming down to the final seconds for me!

Dickie10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117756248#Comment_117756248

Bloody hell , bit harsh there! what does a school do if they have no one free to teach Ag and cant get one? Im just saying I would be more comfortable with some topics in Ag science than a science teacher with no agricultural experience, i was advised by a DP to tell any schools that I had an Agri qualification and they said that they would use someone like me over a science teacher with no Ag experience thats all. Thats a very flippant remark to make without knowing anything about anyone. I presume if there was an Ag teacher in the school naturally they would be teaching the Ag science class, its not the school just going on a solo run! would it not be better to have someone that knows what there talking about teaching an Ag class than them being merely supervised by a teacher? what harm if a teacher goes in and does a topic there quiet familiar with and the class actually learn and cover matierial.

rainbowtrout

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117760768#Comment_117760768

What i know is that you don't have a qualification to teach ag science. There are plenty of graduates who do have ag science qualifications and what your DP is saying is not true. Can't imagine any school would have a leg to stand on putting a non science teacher in a science lab to teach any science if there was a science teacher available. It's a huge disservice to the students too. And you're changing the slant on it to 'it would be better to have someone teach that supervise'. It's not about a casual subbing class where a teacher is absent, in your earlier post you are talking about contracted hours.

Dickie10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761278#Comment_117761278

God no not contracted hours, but hours of work during a school year where you might not have full 22 each week, sorry of you thought I meant contract hours. No this was only in a case where a school used a science teacher who had no experience with Ag and it turned into a disaster thats all.