Secondary School Irish Teachers Advice Needed !

sinkadinka

My daughter is studying for a BEd in Irish for secondary school and has completed a week in the Gaeltacht as part of her 2nd year syllabus. Unfortunately she was very unsettled and unhappy and now wants to withdraw from the course as she has to complete another 3 months there next year. I’m at a loss as to what to do here, I totally understand the idea of spending time in the Gaeltacht to help develop oral skills but unfortunately I think the remoteness and sharing a house /room with a large group of people was tough going for her. She is very quiet and finds it hard to mix socially , she has been doing great on the course but this was something that we didn’t foresee being an issue or rather a deal breaker for her to leave the course. Anyone any thoughts or suggestions of how we could get around this - she was very stressed during the week there and I don’t want to push her into going back if it’s going to affect her well being.

dory

Is it an absolute requirement of the college? Surely there are some allowances for people who find this kind of thing difficult/ people with children etc. I note the requirements from the Teaching Council are:

Prior to completion of their teacher education studies, applicants should provide verifiable evidence of an immersive educational experience in Gaeilge of a minimum of four weeks duration.This may be accessed in two blocks, each of which must be at least two weeks. At least one of these blocks must be in a Gaeltacht setting with the option of one block in an Irish medium setting.The immersive educational experience(s) must be one of the following:attending an Irish language course working as a staff member in an educational setting in the the Gaeltacht conducting an action research project which is of relevance to their teaching studies engaging in School Placement.

Could she herself go and do 2 weeks this year, 2 weeks next year, at a college of her choice? I know the place in Donegal do adult classes, might be able to get her own room there.

I know some colleges let people organise their own immersive experience. But, to make up the credits in college she may have to do extra projects etc. 3 months is an incredibly long time. IS that over the summer, or are they basically doing a semester there? If it's the latter then it'll be harder to get out of.

sinkadinka

Thanks for your reply and for the Teaching Council info. Unfortunately it’s the later, she will be doing a whole college semester there next year and because she’s also doing a modern language the second semester is to be completed abroad. So basically the whole of 3rd year is being treated as an Erasmus year.
I’m hoping she will have a chat with the course co-ordinator before she makes any decisions , as you said 3 months does seem very long and maybe if she can organise it herself they might accept that.

I’m finding it very difficult to get any information about the Gaeltacht set-up. They were only told 6 weeks before they were due to go about the week that they had to complete in 2nd year so it appears to be very dis-organised.

Thanks again for your response.