Teaching Apprentices

oliviah

http://www.independent.ie/education/latest-news/plan-to-fill-teaching-jobs-with-1000-apprentices-at-halfpay-1665720.html


Sorry for the messy link.

What do you think of the above? I'm thinking of just giving up for good.

A newly graduated teacher gets to work, build up a working relationship with schools and a masters while those of us who've struggled to get a foot in a door by ourselves for years, get told to f off.

I know I'm probably coming across as very bitter, but I don't think this one is anyway fair. It's cheap labour at the cost of real jobs.

dory

I don't understand where you're coming from. So, you have the hdip done and are having trouble getting a permenent position?? Couldn't you also apply for this? At €20,000 I know you wouldn't want to but that's what they're going to have to live on.

I feel terrible for friends of mine who I know have struggled to get themselves through college and are graduating next September and all along expected to get a well paying job and now won't.

It sucks for everyone. Simply too many teachers, not enough jobs at the moment.

oliviah

As far as I can make out it's proposed for newly graduating teachers.

It's acknowledging that there is work in schools that will need to be done. It's being removed from the teachers who are doing it and instead given to students who will be paid less. This is what I have difficulty with.

I'd jump at 20k if I knew it was certain for two years. That's pretty good money for 15 hrs work and getting to do a masters.

I doubt anyone who went into college in the last few years had any expectation of getting a well paid job. I know when I did mine, no one had, and that was a good few years ago.

Too many teachers, a programme like this will encourage more. A good way of packing them into the colleges and paying fees.

rainbowtrout

yes, my understanding is that it is for newly qualified teachers too. It's a real kick in the teeth to teachers who are qualified, experienced and being let go this year. Or those out there currently seeking work. And a Masters is being thrown in as well. 10-15 hours teaching is one teacher's job.

of course it would probably also mean the work is not contracted in the normal sense and not eligible for years of service towards a pension, just cheap labour with no guarantee of work at the end of it.

ulysses32

It is more likely that Tom Collins sees this apprenticeship idea as a useful way to maintain funding for PGDE and masters courses in the university sector. It makes much more sense to structure the PGDE along the lines of system demands. At present it is a deregulated, neo-liberal deluge on the education marketplace. Flood the country with qualified teachers, lower wages as supply is greater than demand, sit back and watch the education system crumble( see taxi driver problems). Well done Tom!

gaeilgegrinds

It is only for NQTs, terrible kick in the teeth, will lead to uproar if it comes about if our staffroom is anything so go by. My answer-cancel the Dip for 5 years. Simple. Pity about the colleges, let them run different courses, but no Dip.

sitstill

gaeilgegrinds wrote: »

It is only for NQTs, terrible kick in the teeth, will lead to uproar if it comes about if our staffroom is anything so go by. My answer-cancel the Dip for 5 years. Simple. Pity about the colleges, let them run different courses, but no Dip.

I agree with you. This whole scheme has to be a joke - it will not solve anything. There are simply far far too many new teachers graduating. When I did the dip there were about 80 in my English methods class - English is a subject for which there are already too many teachers! They should either regulate the entrance to the programme so only people who can teach subjects that are actually in demand are allowed in or put it on hiatus for a couple of years.

Powerhouse

gaeilgegrinds wrote: »

It is only for NQTs, terrible kick in the teeth, will lead to uproar if it comes about if our staffroom is anything so go by. My answer-cancel the Dip for 5 years. Simple. Pity about the colleges, let them run different courses, but no Dip.

By my rough calculation, cancelling the Dip for 5 years would reduce this direct source of funding to the university sector by some €25 million over that 5 years at a time when the public purse is already in dire straits. There are two chances of this happening. It would suit not one of the vested interests.

But the Dip seems to be like Cocaine as far as I can see. Anybody whose head has an external relationship with their rectum, should know the score fairly well before they go doing it, but they go ahead and do it anyway as if they are somehow going to be the exception to the general experience. Nobody is forcing anyone to part with €6k to do the course. A little bit of the caveat emptor policy would help. It should not require government/university decisions to save people from their own folly.

Coolio

That scheme he's suggesting will never be allowed to come in by the unions. Problems with discrimination against current teachers would surely be the no.1 issue. If a teacher with 5/10 years experience competes for the same teaching job does the graduate get it? Why? If a school has a requirement for a teacher surely it's their right to choose what candidate they wish to fill the position? You can say that we could take same job if we wanted for the lower salary but why should an experienced teacher have to go through an apprenticeship-type scenario?

Ultimately if it was to come in, you would see people questioning why we need to pay teachers their full wage if there are people willing to do it for lower.

I believe there is a need for a more organised mentoring/probationary system in schools but this is not the way to do it. Yes, allow the new teacher to have a reduced timetable and spend the rest of the 22 hrs observing/evaluating/planning. Please don't discriminate against those out there already fighting for an increasingly scarce job so you colleges can justify the ridiculous numbers of hdip students they churn out every year.