PME Primary Teaching Interview

If you are talking about the Hibernia course I just had mine today, went fairly well I think, the people interviewing me were very nice and easy to talk to. When I first went in they asked if I wanted to do the Irish or English first and I started off with the Irish. They asked me to tell them a bit about myself, my hobbies, how did I prepare for the interview, why would I like to be a teacher, what skills do I think a teacher should have, how did I get to Dublin for the interview, what did I do the previous night, what am I doing for the weekend, do I like travelling and do I have any holidays planned. Fairly standard stuff and the 10 mins flew by, if you have anymore questions about it feel free to PM me.

smcar09 wrote: »

Hi has anyone had the interview lately for the PME for primary teaching ? I have mine soon and I'm just wondering has anyone any tips ? Has anything changed due to the Irish requirement changing ? I'm thinking the Irish part may be more difficult now (hopefully not) ?
TIA.

Search the forum here for that topic. Its been covered before here. My advise would be steer the conversation by what you say. The more you can talk about you the less they have to drag out of you.

You will need to be able to talk about yourself, your career/life up to now, why you want to do teaching, what makes a good teacher, informal Irish in classroom, how to promote Irish etc. Remember it's a conversation so at times it is important for you to try and lead it into talking about thing you're comfortable with and have good fluency in.

Another thing they will likely ask you is how did you get there for the interview. Keep it simple

smcar09 wrote: »

Thanks for that. I have my interview tomorrow. Wish me luck

It will be fine. Let us know how you go. Go n'eirí leat.

Hello just wondering if anyone who has gone with Hibernia can give advice in relation to the payment of fees? Waiting on a loan to come through but not sure if it will get in before the deadline.. thanks

Kerry Way wrote: »

Hello just wondering if anyone who has gone with Hibernia can give advice in relation to the payment of fees? Waiting on a loan to come through but not sure if it will get in before the deadline.. thanks

Not sure if you got sorted or not, but if you email them directly they can *sometimes* extend the fees deadline by about a week.

I had about 10 days to pay the €1,050 deposit, and then another week or so to pay the remaining fees (or first instalment), which was a unrealistic, considering most loans wait for the offer of a place first. So I emailed and they gave me another week! I have the INTO loan, and they were so quick to sort it all once you have the offer of a place

Hi Everyone I had my interview and unfortunately I was unsuccessful in both the Gaeilge and English. I'm finding it hard to get back into studying for it but getting there. I'm hoping to reapply for the Spring 2020 intake.

Has anyone any advice ? I'm working away with the Gaeilge prep (I think I was just really nervous in the interview because I was so out of practice). I'm mainly looking for advice re the English part. They asked me to speak about a topic for 1 minute (I spoke about the environment). What are good topics that people felt performed well under the time limit of 1 minute ?
Any advice about the interview in general is welcome.

I thought I would post the questions I was asked, hopefully they will help anyone who is preparing at the moment.

Topics I was asked to speak about in English was:
Why I wanted be become a teacher ?
How would I deal with a conflict ?
How would I deal with bullying- if a parent complained about their child being bullied under your watch ?
Speak about a topic for 1 minute
What would you do if you were told to go and teach second class tomorrow-how would you prepare and what would you do ?
How would you stay motivated if you were a teacher ?
What would you do if you had to work with someone that wasn't a nice person and that no one got on with ?
How would you organise a classroom ?

Topics I was asked to speak about as Gaeilge
Where I lived
What did I do the weekend
What would I do if I had a lot of money
What do I think of the internet and should the classroom utilise it
How did I get to the interview
The traits of a good teacher


Thanks all

smcar09 wrote: »

Hi Everyone I had my interview and unfortunately I was unsuccessful in both the Gaeilge and English. I'm finding it hard to get back into studying for it but getting there. I'm hoping to reapply for the Spring 2020 intake.

Has anyone any advice ? I'm working away with the Gaeilge prep (I think I was just really nervous in the interview because I was so out of practice). I'm mainly looking for advice re the English part. They asked me to speak about a topic for 1 minute (I spoke about the environment). What are good topics that people felt performed well under the time limit of 1 minute ?
Any advice about the interview in general is welcome.

I thought I would post the questions I was asked, hopefully they will help anyone who is preparing at the moment.

Topics I was asked to speak about in English:
Why I wanted be become a teacher ?
How would I deal with a conflict ?
How would I deal with bullying- if a parent complained about their child being bullied under your watch ?
Speak about a topic for 1 minute
What would you do if you were told to go and teach second class tomorrow-how would you prepare and what would you do ?
How would you stay motivated if you were a teacher ?
What would you do if you had to work with someone that wasn't a nice person and that no one got on with ?
How would you organise a classroom ?

Topics I was asked to speak about as Gaeilge
Where I lived
What did I do the weekend
What would I do if I had a lot of money
What do I think of the internet and should the classroom utilise it
How did I get to the interview
The traits of a good teacher


Thanks all[/QUOTE

What college did you do the interview for?

Hi, I interviewed with Hibernia College.

Firstly well done, interviews are never easy. If you are re interviewing I would suggest some of the following





Why I wanted be become a teacher ? I thought this was very general and I answered it something like this: I want to help and inspire the next generation of young people. (maybe give a more personal reason why you want to be a teacher, family history of teachers etc, inspiring the next generation is impossible to measure from their perspective.







How would I deal with a conflict ? I would remain calm and treat both children the same. I would listen to both sides and try and resolve by sitting both parties down and ask them what was bothering them. ( i would refer to the schools policies on conflict and follow the appropriate steps).


How would I deal with bullying- if a parent complained about their child being bullied under your watch ? (poor question by them in some respect, but again I would follow the schools policy with regards to complaints procedures from parents) (you could ask them to give you more detail in the question because if thats how they phrased it it would be open for picking if you fancied so) I wasn't sure how to answer this. I said that I would sit with the bully and the victim and try and resolve it ? (you wouldnt take it on yourself, follow the school procedure for bullying).





Speak about a topic for 1 minute-I spoke about global warming and the environment (never heard them do this before, i suppose if it happens again, think of it from the grand scale of global issue to national, regional and how you would use it as a topic in the school for every child to do their bit to pick three plastics or turn off lights/taps/close doors etc.


What would you do if you were told to go and teach second class tomorrow-how would you prepare and what would you do ? (suggest that you would briefly ask some questions as to what topics are currently being covered so that you could plan some activities, on arrival then you would read the timetable for the class and aim to work with that to minimize change in routine for the children, also that you might refer to the pdst.ie website and curriculum guidelines for some guidance on what you will cover tomorrow).



How would you stay motivated if you were a teacher ? I would keep challenging myself. I would ask older or more experienced teachers for advice. Personalize your teaching style ? (continue to upskill and take part in teacher training, cpd courses)


What would you do if you had to work with someone that wasn't a nice person and that no one got on with ? (I had this question before, I said, How would i know no one didnt get on with them, to find that out I would have to be involved in gossip, i thought it was a half ass question that really didnt deserve a serious answer but as you said prob fits best) I said I would remain professional at all times and I would make my own mind up regarding the person. they are a colleague so it is important to understand that there doesn't need to be a friendship but a polite working relationship.




How would you organise a classroom ? Depending on the class but I would separate fun tasks from school work tasks. I would also do seating allocations.(subject sections on the wall, displaying the work of the children and current learnt information, seating arrangements in small groups ensuring all have view of the boards and interactive boards, have a prayer space and a quiet space for when needed like solo reading)


Topics I was asked to speak about as Gaeilge
Where I lived
What did I do the weekend
What would I do if I had a lot of money
What do I think of the internet and should the classroom utilise it
How did I get to the interview
The traits of a good teacher[/QUOTE]


Gaeilge would probably be very similar again, so work on those answers.
best of luck. Only my opinions here and others might disagree but take from it what you will.

Unless you have a relative who can get you a job in a school afterwards don't do it. Hibernia (and the other colleges) are turning out huge numbers of newly qualified teachers - way more than there are jobs for. There will be about 500 in your class (There were 450 in September 2018 cohort - and that was just the September cohort. Add to that the April cohort and then all the others NQTs coming from other colleges - and back from the middle east, now that the minister is out there bribing them to come home!).The course is horrendous and way over priced. If you must - go to Scotland where they will practically pay you to study and convert the Irish requirement later. You probably won't need it anyway as majority of NQTs have to go abroad to get work where you will not be required to teach Irish. Honestly, don't take my word for it. Go in to any staff room in the country and meet the NQTs there scrambling about trying to find the scraps of subbing and maternity leaves that keep them hoping for a full time job for years on end.