The Institute of Education

Eternaldream · 06-09-2008 11:50am #1

Hello all.....:P

I'm moving house and changing school, and the school that i want to go to is the institute, fifth form....

i have a few questions, if anyone could help me out it would be fantastic!:)

1. Is it terribly hard to get in? What is usually discussed in the interview?

2. Do they enrol all year round? obviously, i would be joining the year late if i were to go in... would they be willing to let me join in at like halloween?

3. lets say i were to get accepted next year.. would i be able to go back to fifth form even though i have finished fifth year? i only ask as hear that they complete both fifth and sixth year course in fifth form.. i dont want to be trailing behind in sixth form..

4. i hear you get to choose your teachers.. is that true? and if so, any reccomendations?

i really really would appreciate any feedback re questions above!

:D:D

Cokehead Mother · 06-09-2008 12:16pm

You'd save a lot of money if you went to a regular school. You might wanna consider it.

spurious · 06-09-2008 12:59pm

You are paying them a big whack of money to go there (or someone else is) - do you really think they will turn that down?

DanOB · 06-09-2008 1:31pm

im starting there on tuesday myself, 5th form, so the interview is still fresh in my memory

1- its not terribly hard to get in, no, however the interview is a bit daunting at first. I had mine with the vice principle, and as soon as my mother and i sat down in the office we were put at ease by her. In the interview they discuss your past academic record with you, your plans for the future, hobbies, why you want to enrol in the institute etc..

2- they enrol all year around as far as im aware, dont hold me to it though

3- thats more or less what i did, i was near the end of my 5th year course in another school and i realized that i had gotten nothing out of it, so i left about 3/4 of the way through the year.. now im going back into 5th form, so yes

4- basically you choose your timetable yourself because some classes are repeated you can choose which one to do, im yet to go through this myself so, it should be interesting!

anything else just PM me!

-Dan

dressgirl · 06-09-2008 4:53pm

Hi eternaldream! Im just about to go to UCD having spent both 5th and 6th year at the institute so if youve any other questions feel free to ask.

First off Im just gonna say the Institute is great and youre going to love it!
The interview is simply a formality, and its prime purpose is really just to tell you about the school.

They take in students all year round definitely.

Just a piece of information I dont think you realise, in 6th year they pretty much start at the beginning of every subject, finishing what should be a 2 year course in a year so you wouldnt be trailing behind if you were to just to go into 6th year. That being said I loved my 5th year there and its far more relaxed than the 6th year and well worth it.

Now in terms of teachers, Im dont know what subjects you are doing, but Id definitely recommend Susan Cashell for history. Shes really brilliant. Keith Hannigan is great for Business, really good fun too! Clare Greally for Irish, shes scary but good at what she does! As for English, be prepared to pick four teachers as english is split up into Language, Drama, Comparative and Poetry. Denis Creaven and Paul Mccormack were great English teachers, so was Cian Hogan but you can only get him in 6th year.

Wow this is a really long post!! Sorry I rambled!

Fad · 06-09-2008 5:41pm

Eternaldream wrote: »

4. i hear you get to choose your teachers.. is that true? and if so, any reccomendations?

I did a Physics course there, if you do Physics chose Pat Doyle, he's brilliant.

Martin Kelly teaches in my school but he also teaches in the Institute, does the comparative section I think, if he teaches 5th year pick him

mehfesto2 · 06-09-2008 5:49pm

My advice would be to go to your regualr school until you actually do your LC. Concentrate on English especially. If you need to, then apply to the IOE.

I went there and it was a common tactic for many students. With an A in English, my best friend was able to concentrate on his other subjects in more detail with great help. I really regret going there for 5th year. Did nothing my old school wouldn't have but cose a lot more.

Fad · 06-09-2008 6:31pm

mehfesto2 wrote: »

My advice would be to go to your regualr school until you actually do your LC. Concentrate on English especially. If you need to, then apply to the IOE.

I went there and it was a common tactic for many students. With an A in English, my best friend was able to concentrate on his other subjects in more detail with great help. I really regret going there for 5th year. Did nothing my old school wouldn't have but cose a lot more.

The OP is moving school to begin with, realistically would there be any point in moving into a new school then moving to another?

Also getting into another school this late (one with no fees especially) would be next to impossible.

irondragons · 06-09-2008 7:29pm

I be going there on Tuesday also.

The interview was, well. So-so. I mean, it's most certainly more about touring the school, I did get a bit of an eye-to-eye because my backround is quite disastrous, but I just made it in there. They'll have a plethora of kiddies like yourself lining up to get into what places are left (mid Oct), so you'll obviously have to make a standout.

The person I had interviewing me, was digressive as ****. I swore I almost fell asleep. I do remember her asking me "What do you think of that, Michael?" And I was there, "Um..." thinking of a response, because I had no idea what the question was relating to, a "that would seem fine" sufficed. So, word of advice, don't do what I did. But then again, I have terrible listening skills.

Good luck out there. :pac:

DanOB · 06-09-2008 8:19pm

irondragons wrote: »

I be going there on Tuesday also.

The interview was, well. So-so. I mean, it's most certainly more about touring the school, I did get a bit of an eye-to-eye because my backround is quite disastrous, but I just made it in there. They'll have a plethora of kiddies like yourself lining up to get into what places are left (mid Oct), so you'll obviously have to make a standout.

The person I had interviewing me, was digressive as ****. I swore I almost fell asleep. I do remember her asking me "What do you think of that, Michael?" And I was there, "Um..." thinking of a response, because I had no idea what the question was relating to, a "that would seem fine" sufficed. So, word of advice, don't do what I did. But then again, I have terrible listening skills.

Good luck out there. :pac:

ha, im dreadin tuesday

leesmom · 06-09-2008 8:44pm

you wont find it diffucult to get in there,at 5 grand a year they wont be refusing people. there were plenty of people in there when i was in 5 th year there that had been expelled etc.
its easy to do **** all in there but really if you do the work you will be happy with your results and thats what matters at the end of the day.
i did 5 th and 6th year there and chose to do barely anything and as a result i did pretty crap and now am repeating my leaving cert this year,so use your opportunity if you do decide to go there and make the most of it

FunkZ · 06-09-2008 9:05pm

One of my mates got expelled from a boarding school and got in there in Febuary oif fifth year.

If you want to know what teachers are good you're gonna have to tell us what subjects you'll be doing :P

K4t · 06-09-2008 10:53pm

leesmom wrote: »

you wont find it diffucult to get in there,at 5 grand a year they wont be refusing people.

:eek:

wait....

:eek:

€10,000 for two years? or do you get a discount deal?

Whatever happened to 'Free Education'? :rolleyes:

Piste · 06-09-2008 11:31pm

K4t wrote: »

Whatever happened to 'Free Education'? :rolleyes:

It exists. Plenty of people go to non fee-paying schools.

Eternaldream · 07-09-2008 12:14am

Whoa, a load of responses by the time i got to check this out!!

Thanks to everyone!

Dan - thanks for the advice, has been a load of help! Good luck on tues, hope it turns out as you want it to be.. if i do go there it'll prob be next year so you'll be in sixth form!

DressGirl - you're a doll, have fun in UCD and thanks a mill for the teacher reccomendations!!

Fad - i will hopefully be doing a physics course so thanks for the heads up bout pat doyle!

Irondragons - thanks for the guidance... lol...:pac:

i really do have my heart set on the institute, so hopefully everything will go alright!

PS my subjects would be English(H) Irish(H or O, not too sure yet

) Maths(H) Chemistry(H) Physics(H) Biology(H) Spanish(H) and German(H)

XXX:P

leesmom · 07-09-2008 9:00am

no you dont get a discount for the two years , you do however get a discount if you choose to do grinds there,although when paying that kind of money you shouldnt need grinds:rolleyes:
op for german you will have orla,shes the only germsn teacher there,and a good one too.
i thought susan silke was good for biology,you will probably have tara lyons for chemistry.
for english there are alot of different teachers,paul mc cormack is good,and denis craven,like someone else said,they give you good sample answers to learn off.

DanOB · 07-09-2008 2:28pm

eh its actually €6,950 euro a year.. not €5,000

leesmom · 07-09-2008 4:10pm

oh my sincere apoligies:eek:
i gave an estimate,its not like i had the money myself at 17 years of age.it was paid for me,thankfully.
correct me if i make any more mistakes:rolleyes:

nycman · 08-09-2008 7:02am

€13,000:eek::eek: for 2 years:eek::eek::eek:

Hows that for the "Rip-Off_Republic.

Jeezum Crow:eek:

leesmom · 08-09-2008 1:21pm

could have got me some nice clothes with that money:Dthe money would have been more useful in that way

spurious · 08-09-2008 6:42pm

leesmom wrote: »

oh my sincere apoligies:eek:
i gave an estimate,its not like i had the money myself at 17 years of age.it was paid for me,thankfully.
correct me if i make any more mistakes:rolleyes:

Do you think the fact that someone had paid all that money had any effect on how much you applied yourself to working while there or do you think you would have put in as much effort elsewhere?

leesmom · 08-09-2008 7:49pm

not really, i was only 16 when i started in 5th year there and the cost of it wasnt really on my mind as my mum had just died a few days after i began there.
thats just me though, but i did meet some people who actually took out student loans to pay for themselves to go there and for accomodation etc and i could see the difference in them and those whos mummy and daddy paid for them to go there,a lot of them were more concerned with how they looked rather than applying themselves to study.
i found it difficult to apply myself because of all going on in my personal life which left me with a lack of wanting to do anything to do with study or school.
im nearly 21 now and am repeating my leaving this year in a non fee paying school as this time i really want to do it,and make a proper go of it,if i really wanted i could probably go to the institute again however i really dont feel the need for a massive amount of money to be paid for me to do something i can do for free and get just as much out of it.
you can get 600 points in a public school just as much as you can get 600 points in a private school.

spurious · 08-09-2008 7:57pm

Sorry to hear about your mum - that must have been hard.
Good luck with the Leaving this time round.

fvsmm · 09-09-2008 9:43am

leesmom wrote: »

could have got me some nice clothes with that money:Dthe money would have been more useful in that way

whats more useful the your education?

PurpleFistMixer · 09-09-2008 4:07pm

The insight to not spend money on something that can be obtained for free otherwise? : p

gaybitch · 09-09-2008 4:12pm

There are some brilliant teachers in the Institute. I went to a non-fee paying school, but I did a 4 day crash course at Christmas last year, and my French and Biology grinds were great. Corinne Gavenda was the name of the French woman, and something Burke was the name of the Biology man.

Seriously, that Biology grind was really good. He really explained things in a way that meant you could understand them easily, and in a funny, memorable way. Definitely one of the best teachers I've come across! I'd recommend him highly.

leesmom · 09-09-2008 8:15pm

at the time for me the money would have been spent better somewhere else as i didnt do well beacause i wasnt too bothered,thats all i was saying.you have to really want to do well in your leaving cert,you can spend all the money in the world on grinds in fancy schools and on a private education but thats worth zero if you dont want to apply yourself.
yes there are some good teachers in the institute but there are also some pretty bad ones too,just like any other school

K4t · 12-09-2008 7:02pm

- The problem with your average non fee paying school is that you will probably have more than one or two teachers who are as good if not better than the teachers in the fee paying schools in their respective subjects.
- However, in the fee paying schools, you can be sure that all the teachers will be to a certain standard i.e. an extremely high one, while in your average non fee paying school, you are bound to have a few poor teachers.
- You also won't have all the pricks who haven't matured since first year and continually disrupt classes in the Institute, which is a plus I must admit.

I still don't think fee paying schools are worth the money and are about prestige in a lot of cases :rolleyes:

catchthepigeon · 12-09-2008 9:14pm

'' at 5 grand a year they wont be refusing people''

eh its actually €6950 a year. GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!!

leesmom · 12-09-2008 9:47pm

bit late sweetie someone got there waaaay before you,i went 3 years ago and it was 5 grand a year then.anyways how about read all the posts before you go repeating what someone has already said..............................

Fad · 12-09-2008 10:15pm

K4t wrote: »

- The problem with your average non fee paying school is that you will probably have more than one or two teachers who are as good if not better than the teachers in the fee paying schools in their respective subjects.
- However, in the fee paying schools, you can be sure that all the teachers will be to a certain standard i.e. an extremely high one, while in your average non fee paying school, you are bound to have a few poor teachers.
- You also won't have all the pricks who haven't matured since first year and continually disrupt classes in the Institute, which is a plus I must admit.

In all seriousness you just distinguish between any school at all and grind schools, fee paying schools that arent grind schools can have abysmal teachers that cant be got rid of, because the school doesnt pay them, the government does. One thing the institute really has going for them is the lesser affiliation with the department of education, so they can fire teachers at will if they dont preform to the standard expected of them.

To reiterate what i said, i go to a fee paying school, and theres a high standard expected, there are quite a few horrific ones, alas i shant go into specifics as one of the maths teachers in my schools floats around here every so often.

You are right on the last bit though, some people never change.

spurious · 12-09-2008 11:44pm

K4t wrote: »

in the fee paying schools, you can be sure that all the teachers will be to a certain standard i.e. an extremely high one

Not sure what evidence you could base that on, to be honest.

Some of the most gifted teachers I have ever met are working in special schools with children who will more than likely never sit a State examination. Churning out notes to enable highly literate, motivated, able and ambitious students to play the exam game better than a student in a school up the road is not that difficult to be honest.

There are brilliant teachers in all sectors and there are plenty of duffers in all sectors too.

catchthepigeon · 13-09-2008 8:52am

eh sorry bitch but im not sad enough to read all the threads

JackKelly · 13-09-2008 10:16am

catchthepigeon wrote: »

eh sorry bitch but im not sad enough to read all the threads

Come back in a month

leesmom · 13-09-2008 11:34am

heres hoping you dont have the same attitude when it comes to studying or your on the road to nowhere.

Piste · 13-09-2008 12:54pm

Ok calm down everyone lets get this thread back on topic. Caththepidgeon will be banned if s/he keep on acting the eejit.

K4t · 13-09-2008 3:32pm

spurious wrote: »

Not sure what evidence you could base that on, to be honest.

Some of the most gifted teachers I have ever met are working in special schools with children who will more than likely never sit a State examination. Churning out notes to enable highly literate, motivated, able and ambitious students to play the exam game better than a student in a school up the road is not that difficult to be honest.

There are brilliant teachers in all sectors and there are plenty of duffers in all sectors too.

I don't dispute that there are some great teachers working in special schools. Of course there are. But that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

I hope you're not insinuating that students in fee paying schools are more dedicated or intelligent than those in public ones. That's ridiculous to be honest.

I think you'll find that the standard across the board of teaching in fee paying schools is far superior to that in public schools because as another poster said, grind school teachers can be fired for poor performance, public school teachers cannot.

spurious · 13-09-2008 3:52pm

I never insinuated anything about the level of intelligence in public schools, but seriously, do you think the Institute are going to take in slow learners who will mess up their 'outstanding' results statistics? It's a business - a successful business based on training people to play the exam game. Candidates with good potential in, good results out.

How many in the Institute are doing Foundation level?

Again, I would dispute that much of what goes on in the Institute is actually teaching, so whether it is 'far superior' is neither here nor there, but we may have to agree to disagree on that one.

As I understand it Institute staff are not employed under the same conditions of work as teachers in schools, so they may well not have the job protection of people in schools.

It's great that places like the Institute fill a gap in the market, but they are no better or worse than many schools in the country, operating on much smaller budgets.

gaybitch · 13-09-2008 4:25pm

I happen to know of people who have got in the high 100s to 200s in the Institute. There's no doubt they do try to churn out as many high-points students as they can, but they actually do take on such a vast amount of people that the results vary a lot.

The Institute isn't any better or worse than schools around the country - I mean look at the amount of A1s Cork produced this year - but they do have a higher proportion of really good teachers than your average secondary school. There's no denying that.

They deliberately take on teachers with a track record of many A1s, and the teachers must continue to deliver a high number of good grades in order to keep their job. So it's not just because a lot of students are highly motivated that the Institute delivers good results. The standard of teaching can't really be compared to anything else around the country in any real way, because it's an apples vs oranges situation.

Fad · 13-09-2008 4:30pm

K4t wrote: »

I think you'll find that the standard across the board of teaching in fee paying schools is far superior to that in public schools because as another poster said, grind school teachers can be fired for poor performance, public school teachers cannot.

Whats wrong with what youre saying is: that a fee paying grind school is COMPLETELY different to a fee paying secondary school.

Teachers CANNOT simply be fired in anywhere other than the more business orientated schools.

K4t wrote: »

I still don't think fee paying schools are worth the money and are about prestige in a lot of cases :rolleyes:

The facilities are generally exponentially better in private school, like having a swimming pool, or gym facilites.
5 grand a year doesnt really justify having better facilities, but it can explain it partly.

(There are of course exceptions to this, so please dont waste your time pointing them out to me

)

Fad · 13-09-2008 4:32pm

gaybitch wrote:

The Institute isn't any better or worse than schools around the country - I mean look at the amount of A1s Cork produced this year

Isnt there an institute type thing in Cork?

[i hit quote on my post rather than edit, sorry]

PurpleFistMixer · 13-09-2008 5:07pm

K4t wrote: »

I hope you're not insinuating that students in fee paying schools are more dedicated or intelligent than those in public ones. That's ridiculous to be honest.

So you're saying that having your parents fork out thousands for you to go to a special school is not an inventive to be dedicated? I certainly know that if my parents had paid that much, I would be SURE I was going to get the best possible results... value for money and all that.

leesmom · 13-09-2008 5:08pm

there are so many students in 6th year there,around 1,000 so is it any suprise that there are a lot of high grades but there are also a lot of low grades which obviuosly they are not going to boast about,i only got 280,i know a lot of people who only scraped 300 points also.your average seconadary school would have about 100 students in 6th year so obvioulsy the number of A1s achieved in the institute is going to be greater as there are ten times as many students

gaybitch · 13-09-2008 6:53pm

Fad wrote: »

Isnt there an institute type thing in Cork?

I actually believe it was a Christian Bros school that got lots of good marks this year.

From the Irish Times site:

Irish Times wrote:

AMBITIONS REALISED: STUDENTS AND teachers in Cork welcomed yesterday's Leaving Certificate results, which revealed six students from the city and county were among the 13 students nationally who achieved eight A1s.
Principal of Christian Brothers College on Sydney Hill, Cork city, Dr Larry Jordan, was particularly pleased with the results achieved by the school's 131 students who sat the examination. "There's been a lot of emphasis this year on maths and physics and our results have been tremendous, particularly in maths - we had 30 students who sat higher-level maths and 24 of them achieved A1s, three received A2s and three achieved B1s, so we're very pleased," he said.
"We had seven students in all who achieved the maximum 600 points and three of these received received eight A1s, so there's great credit due to all of them and their teachers and their parents because a lot of hard work goes into achieving those results."

Just goes to show, I suppose!

postalservice · 13-09-2008 8:44pm

You have to pay to get in there too.

Public schools all the way!

Fad · 13-09-2008 9:14pm

gaybitch wrote: »

I actually believe it was a Christian Bros school that got lots of good marks this year.

You kinda missed my point, if theres an institute type thing in Cork, theres institute type grinds, some abysmal teachers can have classes with loads of A's, cos half their class can go and get grinds.

DanOB · 13-09-2008 9:32pm

im currently in 5th year in the institute

at our induction on tuesday they told us that they would provide the best teachers, the best notes, and the best facilities this country has to offer.. they made it clear that the core of the students get high c's and d's.. they made not illusions about that, they told us that they would help us all to reach our full potential.. so theres no need to have a dig at the institute for people getting 100's and 200's

leesmom · 13-09-2008 10:18pm

thats very true,they help you reach your full potential whether that be 200 or 600 points

gaybitch · 14-09-2008 2:30pm

Well, with regard to the school in Cork, I think the facts speak for themselves. Whether or not that class all got grinds doesn't matter - plenty of people in my year of 250-odd students went to the Insitute for crash courses and grinds, and my school didn't get those sort of results. You can't deny they must have a great maths teacher!

aliqueenb · 14-09-2008 4:14pm

DanOB wrote: »

im currently in 5th year in the institute

at our induction on tuesday they told us that they would provide the best teachers, the best notes, and the best facilities this country has to offer.. they made it clear that the core of the students get high c's and d's.. they made not illusions about that, they told us that they would help us all to reach our full potential.. so theres no need to have a dig at the institute for people getting 100's and 200's

ahhhh my friend started there monday and said he had to sit and listen to them talk for like 3 hours and his lunch on one day is his first thing, haha how retarded

gaybitch · 14-09-2008 5:08pm

DanOB wrote: »

at our induction on tuesday they told us that they would provide the best teachers, the best notes, and the best facilities this country has to offer.. they made it clear that the core of the students get high c's and d's.. they made not illusions about that, they told us that they would help us all to reach our full potential.. so theres no need to have a dig at the institute for people getting 100's and 200's

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't having a dig at all. I was making the same point you are - some people have this idea that the tute is a magic solution to guarantee high points, and I was just saying I know of people who got 100s and 200s after going there. There's nothing wrong with them getting that, absolutely nothing, but it's just some people have the idea that fee-paying schools don't have students that achieve those points - and they do, just like public schools do.

The Institute of Education

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