Secondary PGCE, Salary scale

hugs&xxx

Hi,
I have secured a place on a Secondary teaching PGCE course in Brighton uni doing business education. When I return to Ireland after the course is completed would it be difficult to register with the teaching council. i have rang the teaching council and they have advised me that there is no guarantee of the course being recognised that I would have to wait until I return to submit all the Pgce details. However I know I am eligible to teach as my degree is on the approved list of courses and I have sent off to get some of my subjects recognised.
Has anyone done the Secondary PGCE over in the Uk, and would you recommend it, did you find it difficult to obtain a teaching position after you returned, did you find the training difficult etc?

Also what way does the salary scale work for post primary teachers. Do you start to move up the scale once you are qualified and in a school, or does it only increase once you secure a permanent position in a school. As I am aware of what the teaching job market is like at the moment in terms of the lack of permanent teaching jobs. Thank you for your time.

rainbowtrout

hugs&xxx wrote: »

Hi,


Also what way does the salary scale work for post primary teachers. Do you start to move up the scale once you are qualified and in a school, or does it only increase once you secure a permanent position in a school. As I am aware of what the teaching job market is like at the moment in terms of the lack of permanent teaching jobs. Thank you for your time.

The salary scale is a 25 point scale, i think there is a sticky on the forum about it. basically if you have 3 years full time 3rd level education, you start on point 2 of the scale and if you have 4 years you start on point 3. for each year you are on contract in a school (or there could be a minimum number of hours taught to be eligible, free free to correct me on this) you will go up one point on the scale. you do not have to be permanent, Pro-rata contracts are also eligible.

Eg. I did a four year teaching degree so started on point 3 and have taught for 7 years on (permanent) contract so i am going onto point 10 in september. There are also a couple of allowances added onto your basic salary for your qualifications. one is for your degree, the amount you get is based on whether you have a pass or honours degree and the other for your PGCE, again pass or honours.

have a look at the details here:

http://www.asti.ie/payandcon.htm#1




Regarding your other query and registering with the teaching council, it might not be a case of recognising your degree which I assume came from an Irish university or IT, it might be the PGCE course in Brighton that they are questioning.

wingnut

rainbowtrout wrote: »

the other for your PGCE, again pass or honours.

The one disadvantage with the PGCE is that you can only get the pass on salary allowance as the PGCE is pass/fail and not graded as such. Do a masters and it will make up any shortfall in the salary scale.

They say they may not recognise it but in practice they recognise nearly all PGCE courses from decent Unis.

When you qualify if you register with the Teaching council of England under an EU directive the Teaching Council here in Ireland is obliged to recognise you and give you something like a year to make up any shortfall.

9 times out of 10 the only shortfall is the History and Structure of Irish Education which is a very easy 2 hour exam you do in Maynooth.

Also if your degree is on the approved list you shouldn't have to get your subjects recognised.

rainbowtrout

wingnut wrote: »

The one disadvantage with the PGCE is that you can only get the pass on salary allowance as the PGCE is pass/fail and not graded as such. Do a masters and it will make up any shortfall in the salary scale.

Oh, I wasn't aware of that, it is pass and honours for the old HDip

hugs&xxx

Hey,
Thanks for your replies. I rang up the dept of education and they said once I can get a letter from the uk college with my results of that pgce year, i should be able to get the extra salary allowance depending on my results, so hopefully that will work and the uni in england will do that for me.
My degree is on the approved list, however they said that I still have to get my subjects recognised so not sure what to do in this case. However my degree is only approved for business, economics and accounting so I am going to see if I can get french recognised as ideally I would love to be a french teacher too. Anyway does anyone know if I have not 30% of my degree in that subject, do the teaching council advise you on what to do to make up the shortfall in that subject? Thanks.

patsie123

Hi Huggs,

I actually did my PGCE in England and moved over to Ireland last year. Working in a secondary school here now and just got conditional registration from the Teaching Council (need to sit H&S of Irish Education Exam for full registration). My experience was that there's a lot of paperwork involved and that the TC are very strict about the documentation they need, i.e. there's no shortcuts. They will recognise the PGCE, but they are very particular about recognising your teaching subjects. Unless you actually have a degree in French, they will not recognise you as a French teacher (even if you are French).

As concerns doing the PGCE in England, I can only recommend it. Yes, it is a lot of work and it was the toughest year of my life, but you are actually well-prepared for anything that comes after once you've passed it. From what I see the PGDE in Ireland doesn't compare.

Hope that helps!

Toto Wolfcastle

This thread is over a year old so I'm sure the OP got her answer.