Becoming a teacher?

roonimirza

Hi all

We would really appreciate your help on few questions, which we struggling to find answer.

Background:

I am a MBA (Finance) and has worked in Bank for three years.
I did my BSc in Maths and Stats with distinction. All of the study and work was outside Ireland.

Goal:

Like to be a Post Primary Maths teacher, following the recent news where
shortage of such teachers was expressed and I do consider myself as good candidate for such job.

Questions/ hurdles:

• What is the difference between Irish teaching Council and Department of Education and Science?
  And do I have to register with both to be a qualified teacher.
  
  
• Irish teaching Council have to access my degree for its suitability and have
  asked for €90 Registration Fee and €200 Assessment fee/ degree. Should I get my MBA degree assessed or BSc?

Many many thanks as I have no one to ask these questions but boards.ie!

Rooni

TheBody

roonimirza wrote: »

Hi all

We would really appreciate your help on few questions, which we struggling to find answer.

Background:

I am a MBA (Finance) and has worked in Bank for three years.
I did my BSc in Maths and Stats with distinction. All of the study and work was outside Ireland.

Goal:

Like to be a Post Primary Maths teacher, following the recent news where
shortage of such teachers was expressed and I do consider myself as good candidate for such job.

Questions/ hurdles:

• What is the difference between Irish teaching Council and Department of Education and Science?
  And do I have to register with both to be a qualified teacher.
• Irish teaching Council have to access my degree for its suitability and have
  asked for €90 Registration Fee and €200 Assessment fee/ degree. Should I get my MBA degree assessed or BSc?

Many many thanks as I have no one to ask these questions but boards.ie!

Rooni

Hi there!!

First of all to be a recognised second level teacher in Ireland you need to do a Graduate diploma in education. Your primary degree or masters isn't enough.

The teaching council are a crowd of wasters are charged with keeping a register of qualified teachers and making sure that degrees and qualifications are up to scratch. You need to register with them when you get the dip in education.

I'd get your B.Sc assessed as that is what dictates what you will be able to teach. Not sure about the masters too. Perhaps somebody else here can help you on that.

rainbowtrout

Check if your degree is on this list:

http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/_fileupload/Registration/AutoQuals/Autoquals%2520updated%25201st%2520July%25202011.pdf

If it is, it should be straightforward enough. If not, the Teaching Council would have to assess it.

Then you would have to apply for the PGDE, I think the closing date is by December each year for the following academic year.

Just a word of caution. There is a lot being written about unqualified maths teachers in the media in recent months. Much of it seems to be unsubstantiated. However that is neither here nor there. There is probably more job opportunities for teachers with subjects like Irish or Maths than there are in other subjects currently (English, History, Business etc).

However overall there aren't a lot of jobs out there at the moment, so do bear that in mind if you are planning on making this your long term career.

EDIT: I just spotted that you did your degree outside Ireland. You will most definitely need to get it assessed by the Teaching Council. This could take a while.

whiteandlight

Good advice re registering. Just to add to the note of caution, I'm a fully qualified Maths teacher with v good results in both ba and PGDE but I'm in my third year of teaching and am on 16hrs a week. I applied to about 15 jobs this summer in Maths and only had one interview, luckily I got it. No matter what your subject there are very few jobs and they are highly sought after.

In relation to the unqualified Maths teachers I cannot see the dept doing anything about it in the foreseeable future. Quite frankly they don't have the money to ensure that all teachers are qualified at second level

roonimirza

Thanks folks for all the answers above.

Now I am in process of finding the right post graduate diploma course.

Three questions?

1- Do I have to be registered with teaching council and assess my degree before enrolling for the Post Grad course?

2- Which is the most recognized/ reputable course in Ireland for Post Grad Education. I wanted to be in Trinity but it seems their deadline has passed now.

3- Does the study session of Diploma in most colleges start in Sept only? Or do they have another session starting in March etc.

Thanks again for all the help

Toto Wolfcastle

roonimirza wrote: »

1- Do I have to be registered with teaching council and assess my degree before enrolling for the Post Grad course?

You cannot register with the teaching council until you are qualified as a teacher. It would be wise to get your degree assessed if it is not already recognised. It would be a terrible waste of time and money if you found out after doing the PDE that you could not register as a teacher. I'm not sure if the colleges actually require you to have a degree that is recognised or not before they will accept you, but I suspect not.

roonimirza wrote: »

2- Which is the most recognized/ reputable course in Ireland for Post Grad Education. I wanted to be in Trinity but it seems their deadline has passed now.

From talking to other people who did the PDE in different colleges to me it seems that the content is pretty similar in all of them. That doesn't mean that they're all good. Maynooth seems to have a good reputation. I wouldn't recommend Galway from my own experience. The deadline has passed for the NUI colleges as well. Late applications were accepted until the 9th January.

roonimirza wrote: »

3- Does the study session of Diploma in most colleges start in Sept only? Or do they have another session starting in March etc.

They all start in late August/early September. I'm not sure about DCU or Hibernia (I know they start at various different times for primary teaching) but I'd imagine they're similar. Because the courses require students to be in secondary schools for teaching practice it wouldn't make sense for the course to start in March. I stand to be corrected but I would be very surprised if this was the case.

Benicetomonty

roonimirza wrote: »

Thanks folks for all the answers above.

Now I am in process of finding the right post graduate diploma course.

Three questions?

1- Do I have to be registered with teaching council and assess my degree before enrolling for the Post Grad course?

2- Which is the most recognized/ reputable course in Ireland for Post Grad Education. I wanted to be in Trinity but it seems their deadline has passed now.

3- Does the study session of Diploma in most colleges start in Sept only? Or do they have another session starting in March etc.

Thanks again for all the help

To answer your qs 1) You wont be able to fully register until youre qualified so to save 90e Id leave it till then! Teaching Council visit student taking the pgde during the year anyway so thatd probably be the best time to register. You dont need to register before enrolling. 2) Im biased but I would guess that Maynooth grads are quite sought after-from what Ive heard its certainly the most challenging Dip. That said, the Trinity name is always recognised so thats a consideration too. With Trinity, you are told in advance when your inspector is coming, a huge benefit and one that will significantly reduce your work load where lesson planning is concerned. 3) Sept to May is the norm so as to coincide with the school year. Dont think theres another option.

whiteandlight

You really should get your degree assessed before hand! Otherwise there is no guarantee they will take you and the college will not check that you have done this. You cannot register as a teacher beforehand however

I went to Maynooth too based on the advice of my principal and it's very rigorous but an excellent course.Remember the principals also know that trinity tell you in advance of inspections and this could have a bearing on comparisons of teaching practise grades.