Teaching in Ireland

CandyLion

Hi,

I'm looking to find out about teaching in Ireland. Okay I know about the Irish language requirement and that can be sort of put on the back burner for 5 years. What I really want to know is where can I find primary teaching jobs? It doesn't seem like there's a lot of jobs posted online. Is this a quiet time? Will the number of openings increase in the next few weeks/months? Would it be wise to send CV, personal statement etc to schools or would it be best just to wait for the positions to become available.

Any help is much appreciated.

whassupp2

Alot of teaching jobs here are filled from what are known as panels, whereby teachers are put on a list and when a job comes up in their area the school are obliged to offer the position to that teacher. I'm not sure how panels are decided but new teachers arent on them.

Panels are generally cleared around end July/August and then you will notice newspapers full of ads.

I'm not saying you cant get a job, im just saying what i think is the case. Sending aroun CVs help or doing substituting to gain experience.

Im not a teacher and am not sure how the system works

CandyLion

Thanks. If anyone else has anything more to add then feel free. I'm in the UK at the moment, but the plan is to move this summer. I'm just hoping the number of jobs increases soon.

gaeilgegrinds

Rather than put the exam on the back-burner I would get cracking on courses to ensure you do get it. Principals like to see initiative and showing you have started preparing is always good. Best of luck!

killbillvol2

CandyLion wrote:

Hi,

I'm looking to find out about teaching in Ireland. Okay I know about the Irish language requirement and that can be sort of put on the back burner for 5 years. What I really want to know is where can I find primary teaching jobs? It doesn't seem like there's a lot of jobs posted online. Is this a quiet time? Will the number of openings increase in the next few weeks/months? Would it be wise to send CV, personal statement etc to schools or would it be best just to wait for the positions to become available.

Any help is much appreciated.

The bulk of primary school jobs are advertised from June to August. The panels referred to are redeployment panels. Where a school loses a permanent post (due to falling enrollment) that teacher is placed on the panel to be redeployed to another school. They're organised on a diocesan basis.

All permanent appointments must be made from the panel until it's cleared. The length of time taken to clear the panel varies from one part of the country to another. There's always a sort of game of chicken surrounding the panels. Principals who'd like to make an appointment from existing temporary staff don't advertise in the hope that the panel will clear. (I think the DES have some strategy to smooth things this year).

In any case, there are lots of jobs out there but they might not appear until July / August.

Any idea where you'll be looking for work?

CandyLion

Not really sure on exact location. I'm moving with my Husband to be. He works in IT, so he's hoping to get a job in Dublin. He's from Wicklow, so the Southside of the city is where I might concentrate my search. I suppose Bray, Greystones those areas would be good too.

I'm approaching this kind of blind and I'm just looking to get as much info as possible. I was worried that there might not be work available to me, but I think now I'm more hopeful that I'll get something.

ArthurDent

The panel for ET schools was released last week and only has one person on it - so should be cleared soon and that means that you'll see adverts for ET schools in the next couple of weeks

CandyLion

So am I limited to ET schools having been qualified in the UK and lacking the Irish language qualification?

ArthurDent

CandyLion wrote:

So am I limited to ET schools having been qualified in the UK and lacking the Irish language qualification?

No, but you might find it difficult to get a permenant post without SCG and also as far as I know nearly all diocese now require a certificate in catholic religious studies for a permanant teaching post. Don't know what the story is with COI schools.
Re ET schools without SCG - you are probably no more or less likely to get a job in an ET school than any other school - exactly the same curriculum is followed by ET schools as all national schools.

CandyLion

Thanks for all the help. So where should I be looking for a job? I keep an eye on www.educationposts.ie, but are there any other websites or printed media that I should be tracking also?

ArthurDent

We always advertise our vacancies in Independent on Thursdays and Sundays - good luck with job hunt

Melski

I am an Australian trained High School teacher (humanities) with 9 years experience and my Masters Degree. I do have religion as a teaching area, but no Irish language background at all.

Can someone tell me about the Irish language qualification thing? Would not having this be a deal breaker?

Are Irish schools interested in hiring foreign teachers? I'm not entirely sure how to go about applying for a job in Ireland. Can someone point me in the right direction? I would like to work around Dublin if at all possible.

In most Australian schools (other than state government run), applicants apply direct to the school for jobs. The panel system that some of you were talking about is similar to how the state schools fill jobs here.

Thanks!

ArthurDent

All schools advertise independently. The panel is a disocesan based grouping (if COI/RC school) - if there are exisiting permenant teachers whose job is gone for the following year (usually because of a reduction in pupil number in school), they are placed on a panel and must be offered any permenant jobs before they are advertised. Once the panel is cleared all the schools usually advertise then (probably from mid june onwards)

Re not having Irish - it may be a hindrance - many principals will not employ people who are not Irish trained or have the SCG (it makes life difficult for them if they have a mainstream teacher that can't teach Irish). Many non-Irish trained teacher find roles as ESL (English as Second language) or resource or learning support teachers (many of these roles are temporary). Some catholic schools are now insisting on a qualification in teaching the catholic faith, if you are not Irish trained (depends on the area).

Having said all of that our school employs several non-irish trained teachers - some in mainstream roles (team teaching with another teacher to cover Irish) and others in non-mainstream roles. If you get a permenant job you have 5 (or 7) years to pass the SCG - if you do not get your qualification in Irish by then you are no longer entitled to keep your job.

HTH

AD

kittex

Melski wrote:

I am an Australian trained High School teacher (humanities) with 9 years experience and my Masters Degree. I do have religion as a teaching area, but no Irish language background at all.

Can someone tell me about the Irish language qualification thing? Would not having this be a deal breaker?

Are Irish schools interested in hiring foreign teachers? I'm not entirely sure how to go about applying for a job in Ireland. Can someone point me in the right direction? I would like to work around Dublin if at all possible.

In most Australian schools (other than state government run), applicants apply direct to the school for jobs. The panel system that some of you were talking about is similar to how the state schools fill jobs here.

Thanks!

Melski, you've posted elsewhere that you are only looking for a job for a year for the experience of teaching in Ireland - has this changed?

Melski

Not particularly. I don't know how I'd go moving permanently to Ireland as I don't know anyone there. Initially I'd be interested in a year or so, but I saw this forum and thought I'd ask about the Irish language thing.

kittex

I asked because I don't think the Irish language requirement would apply if you were doing something like a one-year teacher exchange.

You should look into exchanges offered by your territory - the Australian exchange programmes are supposed to be very good no?

RealJohn

Not directly related to the topic but something I feel needs to be said:
Please do not consider the Irish language requirement as something small that can be put on the back-burner. It's bad enough that the majority of Irish primary teachers only seem to pay the language lip-service and mostly regard it as an inconvenience that gets in the way of important subjects.

Also, I think foreign teachers who actually go to the trouble of learning the language will look good, firstly for showing interest in the language in the first place and secondly for not looking like they're going into the job unprepared.

kittex

RealJohn I wasn't belittling it at all. I have read threads where the poster has said he is only coming for a year.

It's an awful lot to ask for a 1 year teacher/traveller to meet the Irish language requirement.

RealJohn

Sorry about the late reply.
I realise you weren't belittling the language and I realise it is a lot to ask a foreign teacher to learn a language but then again, would you consider it reasonable for a teacher who wanted to teach in France to be allowed to do it without a knowledge of French? (that's not directed at you specifically by the way kittex)

While I realise that it isn't exactly the same, I feel foreign teachers need to realise that many people in the country do consider the Irish language important and I personally would not be at all happy if one of my children (if I had any) was not being taught Irish to a reasonable standard in school. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Again, I'd like to stress that I don't intend this as an attack or anything like it on kittex or any specific teacher but I do hope that it serves to emphasise how many people in this country feel about the Irish language. Sadly, this view isn't shared by nearly enough primary teachers.

gaeilgegrinds

A teacher in my school is not Irish, nor was she required to learn Irish as she is a secondary school teacher. However, she did learn it and has been employed since day one. Why? Because she showed initiative. For one year surely a teacher would only get subbing anyway so this requirement would not be an issue.