subject choices for primary teaching

malascoile

im in ty now and thinking of doing national teaching. which subjects will i need for 5th year??

GarIT

malascoile wrote: »

im in ty now and thinking of doing national teaching. which subjects will i need for 5th year??

All you need is English, Irish and Maths. If you want to be the best teacher you can i'd do History, Geography, a language, and something that will help with teaching, like music, art, maybe home ec. Avoid construction, engineering, dcg, business and science subjects.

malascoile

do they all need to be higher level and do you need a language for Mary I

GarIT

malascoile wrote: »

do they all need to be higher level and do you need a language for Mary I

You need a Higher C3 in Irish a higher D3 in Engish and a D3 in ordinary Maths and a Higher C3 in a language.

If your not doing all higher lever theres not a chance youll get the points anyway, youd need all Bs at higher level to get enough points, if you get a few As though that would give you some room in other subjects.

Cailin CoisFarraige

malascoile wrote: »

do they all need to be higher level and do you need a language for Mary I

Irish is the only language you NEED for Mary I. If you want to study a language as your minor arts degree, you'll need either French or German, however it is likely that the arts component of the primary teaching course will be gotten rid of by the time you get there anyways.

Since you don't need any specific extra subject to get into the course, Science, Business etc., my advice would be to stick to subjects you enjoy and you're good at, in order to get the points requirement. I agree that Music, Art etc look good on a CV, but you'll have a chance to study these in college anyways, so only go with them if you think they'll help you get the points.

dambarude

If I had a free choice of my subjects again (I'm doing PT now), I'd choose

English
Irish
Maths
History
Geography
Music / Art
Physics

But it doesn't really matter what subjects you do as long as you have HL Irish.

rainbowtrout

GarIT wrote: »

All you need is English, Irish and Maths. If you want to be the best teacher you can i'd do History, Geography, a language, and something that will help with teaching, like music, art, maybe home ec. Avoid construction, engineering, dcg, business and science subjects.

Science is taught in primary school now. Not quite so useless.

dambarude

And the primary science curriculum involves an awful lot of physics - light, heat sound, magnetism, electricity and forces. You need to have a good knowledge of JC science at least to be able to teach these. They require specific knowledge - light travels in straight lines, circuits, conductors, batteries, heat transfer etc. A lot of which I had to learn (or relearn) for college exams.

GarIT

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Science is taught in primary school now. Not quite so useless.

dambarude wrote: »

And the primary science curriculum involves an awful lot of physics - light, heat sound, magnetism, electricity and forces. You need to have a good knowledge of JC science at least to be able to teach these. They require specific knowledge - light travels in straight lines, circuits, conductors, batteries, heat transfer etc. A lot of which I had to learn (or relearn) for college exams.

Yeah, I have to agree with both of yous there, but disagree too, I feel JC science is enough. Yeah light heat sound and everything are in primary schools now but its not to a leaving cert standard. I'd feel if any science subject do Physics, if you had to you might find some use for biology, but definately not Chem it would be completely useless in primary teaching. I also think that history, geog, music, art or a language would be more benificial than a science.

rainbowtrout

GarIT wrote: »

Yeah, I have to agree with both of yous there, but disagree too, I feel JC science is enough. Yeah light heat sound and everything are in primary schools now but its not to a leaving cert standard. I'd feel if any science subject do Physics, if you had to you might find some use for biology, but definately not Chem it would be completely useless in primary teaching. I also think that history, geog, music, art or a language would be more benificial than a science.

None of the subjects you mention are taught to leaving cert standard either so I don't see how they would be of any greater benefit. From what I remember of primary school geography was largely learning counties, rivers, mountains, countries and capitals. Art was largely painting and make and do type stuff. Arguably you could teach any subject in primary school with junior cert knowledge.

byhookorbycrook

Art and Geography have changed a lot since then!!