Primary teaching without honours irish

msbrightside

Well i think the title of the thread speaks for itself.
I don't do honours Irish and while I'm not absolutely terrible at it I'm no way able to do honours. I'm better at speaking it than writing it if i'm honest.
Despite this, I would like to do national school teaching.
I don't do career guidance so I'm not absolutely sure of how i could do this.
Do you still have to do honours Irish for the leaving cert even if you do three years in arts?
Is there any courses in Northern Ireland for primary school teaching? I don't mind if this means I'm only able to teach in the north.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Black Magic

Why do you want to teach in a primary school?

dlofnep

I think you have to pass an Irish exam prior to teaching here. If you do plan on teaching in a primary school here, make sure you brush up on your Irish because it's not fair to the children to have a person who's not capable of instructing the language correctly.

cork*girl

To do Primary Teaching in Ireland you have to have a C3 in higher level leaving cert Irish, and you have to have it for the post-graduate aswell if you plan on doing that after your Arts degree. I think if you dont have higher level or fail higher level you can do just Leaving Cert Higher level Irish in a place like The College of Comm. I think anyway! I dont know for the North..hope that helps

msbrightside

dlofnep wrote: »

I think you have to pass an Irish exam prior to teaching here. If you do plan on teaching in a primary school here, make sure you brush up on your Irish because it's not fair to the children to have a person who's not capable of instructing the language correctly.

Is this exam after the three years in arts?
I really do plan to brush up on my irish and I think I might attempt honours again even though now I am a term behind. :oI think i have the necessary Irish skills to teach but my problem is i'm not able to write long essays.
Thanks for your advice.

To Black Magic who posted before I suppose it is just something I have an interest in a suppose?like a dream job. I just genuinely like helping others.:o

msbrightside

cork*girl wrote: »

To do Primary Teaching in Ireland you have to have a C3 in higher level leaving cert Irish, and you have to have it for the post-graduate aswell if you plan on doing that after your Arts degree. I think if you dont have higher level or fail higher level you can do just Leaving Cert Higher level Irish in a place like The College of Comm. I think anyway! I dont know for the North..hope that helps

Thanks that was a good help!

dambarude

msbrightside wrote: »

Is this exam after the three years in arts?

The exam that you're probably talking about is called the SCG ( an scrúdú le haghaidh cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge), which AFAIK can only be taken after obtaining a qualification in teaching, though I'm open to correction.

To enter any teaching degree in Ireland (the three year undergrad, or the postgrad after a degree such as arts), you need a C3 in higher level Gaeilge. Either that, or a pass in first year Irish in third level (which probably isn't attainable without a C3 in LC tbh).

sugardan

hello. my cousin didnt do honours irish
but went to a college in the uk.
definitely look it up with you career guidance
teacher if it's what you want to do.

pixiegaga

^^^
one of my friends older cousin didnt have honours irish either...
she studied primary school teaching in england, did some experiance there and tried to come back and teach in Ireland
alot of primary schools have a special teacher for irish..and for the amount of people looking at primary school teaching in ireland atm there will be plenty!!

good idea to talk to carreers teacher too!!^^

implausible

If you want to teach in a primary school, the easiest and most straightforward way to do it is by getting your honour in Irish now.

I can think of about ten people who didn't do Higher Level Irish and then decided 3, 5 and 10 years down the line that they wanted to be primary school teachers.

I know two people who repeated HL Irish at 23 and 28 years of age. They had to get grinds for a solid year and resit the Leaving Cert in their old schools to get into the primary teaching course.

Anyone who qualifies in the North or anywhere other than Ireland has to sit an Irish exam within 5 years of qualifying and the exam is college standard, not Leaving Cert level and your Irish will probably be rusty. Primary schools will hire someone who has their Irish done before someone who hasn't done it yet.

So, do yourself a favour and get working on your Irish, get grinds and do whatever you have to do, if this is really your dream job. At the end of the day, you only have to scrape the C3. Any other route you take will be longer and more complicated and you cannot avoid the Irish.

pathway33

best bet is to do a 3 year honours degree in arts (don't know if it makes a difference which subjects you pick but maybe english, history and geography would be more beneficial than greek and philosophy for primary teaching interview)

while you are at college do a specialised honours leaving cert irish course. if you are in dublin then leeson street run one. You then have 2 or 3 shots at getting the HC3. People will say oh it will be too much doing a degree and honours but most of the people doing that course are working 9 to 5 everyday.

then do the 18 month post graduate in primary teaching.

Yeah if you dont get the HC3 in irish you can go to the UK to do the PGCE but you still have to pass an irish exam when you come back

pathway33

haha completely opposite advice posted at same time

implausible

pathway33 wrote: »

haha completely opposite advice posted at same time

Different advice but making the same point I was - that any other way of becoming a primary school teacher in this country is the long way around.

Doing an Arts degree takes three years and you then do 18 months of a post-grad, that's four and a half years. There is no guarantee that you will get into a post-grad as there's huge competition for places on these courses, so they only take the best results and the best interviewees. (Apologies for the bolds, but everyone wants to be a primary teacher thesed days).

If, however, you apply and get into the primary teaching course now through the CAO, you will be out and teaching in three years.

Do HL, if you fail, you fail, you can always repeat. Believe me, doing it now when you're in the LC system, surrounded by others in the same boat, with experienced teachers helping you for free, is the best time.

If you still need confirmation of what I'm saying, pop over to the Teaching & Lecturing board and you'll find loads of people who are trying to get into primary teaching by various means.

dambarude

pathway33 wrote: »

then do the 18 month post graduate in primary teaching.

Don't underestimate how difficult it could be to get into this course (in Pats/Froebel/Marino/Mary Immaculate colleges of education at least). The number of places in these courses was cut significantly this year. In Mary I alone apparently 330 people applied for 60 places. An interview in Irish is an important part of the entry process. You can also do the postgrad with Hibernia, online.

clairek6

im in jc at the moment and at the begining of the year i dropped down to ordinary level irish tbh it was the higher level teacher who turned me off the class as i hadnt a clue what was going on in the class..,in my mocks i got 86% so im just wondering is it possible to change to higher irish for senior cycle, as i would love to be a primary school teacher...

spurious

If you are getting 86% on an OL exam, you should be doing HL.
Your school should not have let you drop at JC level. Madness.

dambarude

clairek6 wrote: »

im in jc at the moment and at the begining of the year i dropped down to ordinary level irish tbh it was the higher level teacher who turned me off the class as i hadnt a clue what was going on in the class..,in my mocks i got 86% so im just wondering is it possible to change to higher irish for senior cycle, as i would love to be a primary school teacher...

I know someone who did HL LC Irish after doing OL JC Irish. It's doable, but done very rarely I'd say. Your school mightn't jump at the idea, so you'll probably need to prove yourself in the JC.

There'd be a big jump in standard from what you're doing now. If you find what you're doing now easy you should be able for it. If you're struggling in any way with what you're doing now, you should maybe think about getting extra help for the LC, or before you start fifth year.

Bare in mind that a Primary Teaching course will involve a lot of further study of Irish, so a C3 in the LC won't be the end of it.

Behind you Joey

spurious wrote: »

If you are getting 86% on an OL exam, you should be doing HL.
Your school should not have let you drop at JC level. Madness.

Agreed. Get your ass in honours!:pac:

BrokenHeels_Ox

in my school we were always told if you do OL for JC then you do OL for LC...we were fed the bullhonkey that the SEC wouldnt allow us to move up a level, only this year did i find out otherwise, which really made it hard, as i could of done honours irish, i got an A in JC OL, after my irish teacher being terrified i was going to fail HL, and "no one in his class was failing", he rang the dept and got my paper changed! i obviously listened as the thoughts of failing killed me, but I got an A in OL, when I approached the school about HL in fifth year (considering Id done HL in TY), they said the Dept wouldnt allow it.

spurious

The SEC don't care what level you do for LC, regardless of what level you did for JC, or indeed if you ever sat a JC.

An A on an OL paper means the candidate was in for the wrong level - it means the student should have been doing Higher. Every candidate should be doing as many HL papers as possible in any exam.

christina_x

msbrightside wrote: »

Well i think the title of the thread speaks for itself.
I don't do honours Irish and while I'm not absolutely terrible at it I'm no way able to do honours. I'm better at speaking it than writing it if i'm honest.
Despite this, I would like to do national school teaching.
I don't do career guidance so I'm not absolutely sure of how i could do this.
Do you still have to do honours Irish for the leaving cert even if you do three years in arts?
Is there any courses in Northern Ireland for primary school teaching? I don't mind if this means I'm only able to teach in the north.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

the woman i babysit for did this. She qualified as a primary teacher in the north and was working for a few years then moved to Donegal. She had to do some irish course though before she was able to teach here, but once she had that done her qualification was the same

Oh, you can also get to primary teaching through a childcare course! A friend of myn is doing some childcare course in sligo IT, she has her B in HL irish just not the points so she's doing it this way, think it only takes like 18 months longer, not too sure

dambarude

christina_x wrote: »

Oh, you can also get to primary teaching through a childcare course! A friend of myn is doing some childcare course in sligo IT, she has her B in HL irish just not the points so she's doing it this way, think it only takes like 18 months longer, not too sure

Your friend is talking about the postgrad in primary teaching. You don't need to do childcare to enter this course, any level 8 degree is sufficient. Though I'm sure childcare would be a much more beneficial degree than Forestry Management, for example, when going through the interviews to get accepted to the postgrad.

UrbanSea

clairek6 wrote: »

im in jc at the moment and at the begining of the year i dropped down to ordinary level irish tbh it was the higher level teacher who turned me off the class as i hadnt a clue what was going on in the class..,in my mocks i got 86% so im just wondering is it possible to change to higher irish for senior cycle, as i would love to be a primary school teacher...

Course you can switch,but if you hadn't a clue in junior cert than you would need to do a lot of work for leaving cert,it's much harder

gaeilgebeo

spurious wrote: »

The SEC don't care what level you do for LC, regardless of what level you did for JC, or indeed if you ever sat a JC.

An A on an OL paper means the candidate was in for the wrong level - it means the student should have been doing Higher. Every candidate should be doing as many HL papers as possible in any exam.

Spurious, a candidate who attains an A in leaving cert ordinary level irish may not be able to attain a C or even a D in higher level. There is an ocean of a difference.

As for junior certs, I am always proud of weaker students who work their socks off and get an A in their exams. This does not always mean they are misplaced at the wrong level. Again there is an ocean of a difference!

I'm all for pushing students to do higher level but sometimes a student is thrilled to get an A in junior cert ordinary level rather than a D at higher level. Are you saying that no student should get an A in ordinary level as they are misplaced??? I don't think its fair to categorise all students as the same.

implausible

gaeilgebeo wrote: »

I'm all for pushing students to do higher level but sometimes a student is thrilled to get an A in junior cert ordinary level rather than a D at higher level.

But this student wants to do primary teaching and needs the Hons Irish to get into it the most straightforward way, so she wouldn't be thrilled.

Claire, speak to your form teacher and/or Irish teacher and get yourself moved back up again pronto!

gaeilgegrinds1

Claire I would suggest you move to higher if you want primary teaching. It may not be easy but will be well worth it in the long run. 86% would lead me to believe the course is not hugely challenging at ordinary so moving may well be within the realms of possibility for you. Go n-éirí leat!

spurious

gaeilgebeo wrote: »

Spurious, a candidate who attains an A in leaving cert ordinary level irish may not be able to attain a C or even a D in higher level. There is an ocean of a difference.

Absolutely, at LC, but the OP was talking about JC.
There are occasional instances of candidates successfully stepping up a level to LC, but they are very rare.
In terms of entries for LC, the SEC don't care what you did at JC.

MariaBabii

sugardan wrote: »

hello. my cousin didnt do honours irish
but went to a college in the uk.
definitely look it up with you career guidance
teacher if it's what you want to do.

Hey yeah my cousin also went to the UK to do primary teaching and is now a qualified primary teacher! I'm wanting to do primary teaching myself but I am finding the Irish hard! I am hoping that I can get the C3 in it!

Chuchoter

clairek6 wrote: »

im in jc at the moment and at the begining of the year i dropped down to ordinary level irish tbh it was the higher level teacher who turned me off the class as i hadnt a clue what was going on in the class..,in my mocks i got 86% so im just wondering is it possible to change to higher irish for senior cycle, as i would love to be a primary school teacher...

You can certainly try, but just be aware HL JC Irish is leaving cert ordinary. So you'll be jumping into Irish now that will be twice as hard as the stuff you would have been doing for leaving cert. I have a few ordinary level people in my class (which is teaching the honors course) and they all got As in OL but can't even attempt the stuff we're doing. Look through the honors junior cert papers and if you can make a decent attempt at them maybe you can convince your school to let you.

Catari Jaguar

You can go to Strawberry Hill in London to get your B.Ed, but it's a totally different curriculum.

If you decide to come home to teach, you'll need to get your Inspectorate Report (visits from inspector in your first year out). If you trained in the UK you'll need to do one of solely for the teaching/ planning of Gaeilge also.

AND you have to spend 6 (?) weeks in the Gaeltacht.

Nead21

cherub rock wrote: »

If you decide to come home to teach, you'll need to get your Inspectorate Report (visits from inspector in your first year out).

if you qualify in Ireland you also have to do the probationary year of having approx 4/5 visits from inspector.