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Primary School Teaching..?

daviecronin

Hello ALL. I have recently got my Junior Cert results and I was happy enough with them. I was talking to my parents about college and stuff and they said I would be a great primary school teacher? Can anyone advise me on this? Do my Junior cert results have much to do with it. I was very happy with my core subjects. An A in Maths a B in English and Irish all higher level?:)

I have a couple of questions about Primary school teaching if anyone can help me. Well first of all is it around 500 points these days? How long is the course? Do you have to 're-learn' the subject to a 6th class level or do you have to know more in depth to more leaving cert standard? Is it a good job (Pros and Cons)? Is it true it would be easier to get it as a man..? I have a lot of certificates in Drama and Music could these improve my chances? I would like to do work experience in a Primary school but I hear that its more like doing office stuff and organising Pe and stuff?

Sorry for all the questions any help is greatly appreciated THANKS...!

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spurious

I'll move this to Teaching and Lecturing.

Bananatop

First of all, congratulations on your results : ). Any exam you do is an indicator of what you can achieve, so your Junior Cert results matter in that it's a stepping stone to your Leaving Cert. Your JC results would not come up in an interview if that's what you're asking.

There is some info in the following link about length of primary teaching courses

http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/registration-requirements-for-primary-teachers-qualifications-awarded-in-ireland/qualifications-requirements-for-primary-teachers-qualifications-awarded-in-ireland.485.html

The points will depend on when you leave school. If they're around 500 now, they will probably be around the same in two years (unless there's a dramatic economic turnaround in Ireland when people will want to go for higher earning jobs than teaching).

The subjects you teach in Primary school are as follows : English, Irish, Maths, Geography, History, Science, Drama, Music, Art, SPHE and P.E.. You would also be required to teach Religion if working in a Catholic, Protestant school. You do not have to have these subjects studied to Leaving Cert level apart from English, Irish and Maths.

Teaching is a great job, but you must be prepared in two ways :
Firstly you must have plans of what you're going to teach, how you're going to teach, how you're going to teach those who have no interest/are extremely bright/have special needs/have stuff going on at home etc.
Secondly you must be prepared to throw those plans out the window when an unexpected visitor arrives/you have unscheduled assembly/a child in class gets sick/you have to sort out a squabble/when it comes closer to the holidays etc.
For the most part it's very rewarding, but like any job there are tough days too.

I think having Music and Drama as an interest is a great asset. Schools always like to show off what they can do, and what better way than to have a show? Would you be willing to take children for Drama/Music? This would also give you some idea of what it's like to work with children (you would have to get garda vetted to work with children)

As for getting experience, you could ask if you could sit in to observe a class or help a teacher with reading groups (v. helpful because it ensures that someone has listened to the child read). You wouldn't be allowed to take over a class as the responsibility of the class lies with the teacher/principal and if anything happened while you were responsible for the class, it would be the teacher's fault. Even if you are organising PE equipment etc, you get a feel for what the school day is like. Any observation in a school at all would be useful I feel.
Once you start training however, you would be required to do Teaching Practice and this is when you go into a classroom and teach for blocks of four or five weeks under the teacher's supervision and also college supervision.

Fair play to you for even thinking about your future now. There are lots of options open to you, and you still have another year or so before your Leaving to mull over what direction you'd like to go in. All the best with your decisions in the future!

daviecronin

Thank you so much for your lengthy reply. Teaching I think is a great job and would suit me. I think there could be nothing better than helping childern towards their future. Yes Drama and Music is also another thing I am very positive about. By the time of the leaving cert Im going to be on grade 8 (Highest Grade.) in Piano, Solo singing and Acting. I will think about work experience again and reconsider my options. Thanks again.

Bananatop

daviecronin wrote: »

I think there could be nothing better than helping childern towards their future.

Great reason to go into teaching

daviecronin

Hhahah Thanks. Sorry just another question. With the new Junior cert starting next year is that going to effect the Primary school teaching at all?

Bananatop

daviecronin wrote: »

Hhahah Thanks. Sorry just another question. With the new Junior cert starting next year is that going to effect the Primary school teaching at all?

You mean with regard to the primary curriculum? If so, the last time the Primary Curriculum was updated was 1999 and it hasn't been touched since. With the uproar over the new Junior Cert being brought into secondary schools without adequate training and/or resources, I doubt very much that the Dept of Education would even care about what that would mean to primary school teachers! The Dept of Ed is a lumbering behemoth which lags years behind everyone else, and then scurries to catch up when an OECD report is published by issuing half-baked circulars which are expected to be implemented without any extra resources.

EDIT : Other than that teaching is a great job!

daviecronin

Okay so in otherwise they don't care and they probably wont. Is it true that it would be easier to get the job as a man as they are trying to even out the gender ratio?

spurious

daviecronin wrote: »

Okay so in otherwise they don't care and they probably wont. Is it true that it would be easier to get the job as a man as they are trying to even out the gender ratio?

No. That would be against the law.
There are not that many jobs around anyway.

mick5344

I am a primary school teacher. I would advise you that I at present there is often 400+ applications for any one job. Be prepared to be unemployed or having to emigrate. Teaching itself is great but with rising class sizes, a lack of resources, focus on more and more hours being spent on often unneeded note making and severely reduced wages I would recommend that you carefully consider your options. A teaching degree is largely useless outside teaching unlike many other degrees that allow for a wider use. As I said, teaching itself is great but there is a lot to consider besides just teaching v

daviecronin

Okay thanks.

daviecronin

Okay thanks for reply will take a lot of thinking. Since there are more and more childern wont there be more and more Jobs..?

mick5344

daviecronin wrote: »

Okay thanks for reply will take a lot of thinking. Since there are more and more childern wont there be more and more Jobs..?

It is true that these things have always followed cycles. Too many jobs, too few teachers. Too many teachers, too few jobs. However with online teaching degrees now available via Hibernia the size of the traditional teaching colleges no longer limits the number of qualified teachers graduating at any one time. I don't mean to negatively influence you but I do believe that you should be encouraged to very carefully investigste the big picture before commiting yourself.

As I mentioned before I know people who, using their degrees/experience have the ability to change job types/companies at various stages in their careers. A teaching degree, on its own, will severely limit your options. Again that's not meant to put you off but rather to highlight a reality.

daviecronin

mick5344 wrote: »

It is true that these things have always followed cycles. Too many jobs, too few teachers. Too many teachers, too few jobs. However with online teaching degrees now available via Hibernia the size of the traditional teaching colleges no longer limits the number of qualified teachers graduating at any one time. I don't mean to negatively influence you but I do believe that you should be encouraged to very carefully investigste the big picture before commiting yourself.

As I mentioned before I know people who, using their degrees/experience have the ability to change job types/companies at various stages in their careers. A teaching degree, on its own, will severely limit your options. Again that's not meant to put you off but rather to highlight a reality.

Okay thanks very much!

daviecronin

Sorry for starting this up again but about secondary school teaching. Lets say I want to teach maths and Business for example. Is there courses that I can do that will teach them but or in college is it all separate? - uneducated school student. hahaah

lilmizzme

Hi Daviecronin,

I know you've had most of your questions answered, but just wanted to pop in with my two cents. Although there is a lot of uncertainty in the teaching profession at the moment, I really wouldn't let this deter you from a career as a primary school teacher. No one can say what way the system will be in 8-10 years time when you qualify, so I wouldn't let talk of "oh there's no jobs/prospects/stability" put you off. These days, no one's job is a dead cert. If you really want to be a teacher, and it seems like you've already put some serious thought into it, then by all means go for it. You'll hear a lot of negativity about job prospects and college choices over the next year or two, but if everyone took the advice of "don't do that, there's no jobs there" we'd never have anyone qualifying or studying to be teachers/nurses/gardaí/social workers/tradespeople. My point is, if you feel suited to the job, and you think you'd enjoy it, then by all means go after your course and worry about the job later.

As for your secondary teaching question, I'm studying to be a secondary teacher at the moment, and what you'll need to do is first get a level 8 degree from a university in the subject you think you might like to teach, eg. Business Studies, French, English etc. A business degree from a University like DCU for example often means you're qualified to teach Business Studies, Accounting and Economics, but the Teaching Council website has all the info on what subjects you can teach with your degree.

Best of luck with everything!

daviecronin

lilmizzme wrote: »

Hi Daviecronin,

I know you've had most of your questions answered, but just wanted to pop in with my two cents. Although there is a lot of uncertainty in the teaching profession at the moment, I really wouldn't let this deter you from a career as a primary school teacher. No one can say what way the system will be in 8-10 years time when you qualify, so I wouldn't let talk of "oh there's no jobs/prospects/stability" put you off. These days, no one's job is a dead cert. If you really want to be a teacher, and it seems like you've already put some serious thought into it, then by all means go for it. You'll hear a lot of negativity about job prospects and college choices over the next year or two, but if everyone took the advice of "don't do that, there's no jobs there" we'd never have anyone qualifying or studying to be teachers/nurses/gardaí/social workers/tradespeople. My point is, if you feel suited to the job, and you think you'd enjoy it, then by all means go after your course and worry about the job later.

As for your secondary teaching question, I'm studying to be a secondary teacher at the moment, and what you'll need to do is first get a level 8 degree from a university in the subject you think you might like to teach, eg. Business Studies, French, English etc. A business degree from a University like DCU for example often means you're qualified to teach Business Studies, Accounting and Economics, but the Teaching Council website has all the info on what subjects you can teach with your degree.

Best of luck with everything!

AWW Thank you so much for saying that. If you don't mind me getting personal! What subjects do you teach and at what level? and the BIG question do you like it? And I was just wondering lets say if I wanted to teach Music and Maths is there a course that I could do them both or would I be doing two part time courses or something? Thanks

whiteandlight

I'm music and maths. BA Double Honours in NUIM with Mathematical Studies and Music, followed by the PGDE. Brilliant time.

Be sure you want to teach, if you can get some experience in a school first

lilmizzme

Musicmental85 already answered, but generally, if you choose to do an arts course in one of the colleges like Trinity, UCD or the NUI's, you can normally pick two subjects, like Music and Maths or Spanish and History for example. I studied English and History in Trinity, and doing a postgrad for English teaching, so I'll hopefully be able to teach from 1st year up to Leaving Cert. I absolutely loved my course, and love what Im doing at the moment! Everyone on my course knows the job situation isn't great at the moment, but it isn't putting anyone off, and we're all looking forward to qualifying!

My advice would be to maybe get some work experience in primary schools, or help out at summer camps next year. There might be some drama or sports camps you could volunteer at. This would give you a really good idea what its like to work with kids all day and if it suits you. You've still plenty of time to have a think and do all your research!

daviecronin

lilmizzme wrote: »

Musicmental85 already answered, but generally, if you choose to do an arts course in one of the colleges like Trinity, UCD or the NUI's, you can normally pick two subjects, like Music and Maths or Spanish and History for example. I studied English and History in Trinity, and doing a postgrad for English teaching, so I'll hopefully be able to teach from 1st year up to Leaving Cert. I absolutely loved my course, and love what Im doing at the moment! Everyone on my course knows the job situation isn't great at the moment, but it isn't putting anyone off, and we're all looking forward to qualifying!

My advice would be to maybe get some work experience in primary schools, or help out at summer camps next year. There might be some drama or sports camps you could volunteer at. This would give you a really good idea what its like to work with kids all day and if it suits you. You've still plenty of time to have a think and do all your research!

Good for you.! Ya will do that. Teaching resource maths in my school atm and thinking of doing work experience in a Primary school