Primary teaching and Gaeilge

femur61

My son who is exempt from Irish has expressed an interest in primary teaching is exempt from Irish. Is there anyway around this or is it set in stone that Irish is a prerequisite?

Cailin CoisFarraige

Irish is taught for at least 3 and a half hours per week in primary classrooms, so unfortunately for your son, yes it is a requirement in order to be fully qualified.

The Teaching Council has proposed that the Irish requirement for teacher training be raised to a B1 in Higher Level Irish within the next few years.

If taking up Irish in school is not an option for your son, he could complete teacher training in the UK, but would then have to sit an Irish exam after graduation in order to be fully qualified to teach in Ireland.

ShamoBuc

Cailin CoisFarraige wrote: »

Irish is taught for at least 3 and a half hours per week in primary classrooms, so unfortunately for your son, yes it is a requirement in order to be fully qualified.

The Teaching Council has proposed that the Irish requirement for teacher training be raised to a B1 in Higher Level Irish within the next few years.

If taking up Irish in school is not an option for your son, he could complete teacher training in the UK, but would then have to sit an Irish exam after graduation in order to be fully qualified to teach in Ireland.

That would be the SCG - not an easy exam. Probably comparable to the Leaving - honours level.

E.T.

Irish isn't just taught as a specific subject in primary school. We use Irish throughout the day informally as it's a more natural way of instruction.

femur61

Thanks. He will probably have to look at secondary if he wants to do teaching.

byhookorbycrook

If you don't mind sharing, how did he get the exemption?

femur61

He has mild dyslexia and when he was was in second class he went to a language unit because he had been attending speech therapy. The language school was a small class in his main school and they concentrate more on the core subjects which wasn't Irish. So he was automatically given an Irish exemption.

byhookorbycrook

Could he take it up again?I think he would have great insight into children with dyslexia which would be really fantastic for primary.
(Spot the learning support teacher!!)

echo beach

femur61 wrote: »

He has mild dyslexia and when he was was in second class he went to a language unit because he had been attending speech therapy. The language school was a small class in his main school and they concentrate more on the core subjects which wasn't Irish. So he was automatically given an Irish exemption.

This show the dangers of the 'automatic' exemption given away back in second class with no thought of the impact it could have later. Anything that marks a child out as 'different' can stigmatise them, especially if other children feel the dyslexics are 'getting off easier.' The high marks for oral and aural tests now in Irish should make it the easiest of all subjects for those whose problem is reading and writing.
I accept that some dyslexics will have real problems with Irish and need the exemption but I do wonder about the large numbers availing of it.

The absence of Irish at Leaving Cert when the CV shows a child educated here is also as good as shouting at an employer 'I'm dyslexic' even if you have sucessfully overcome it.

femur61

echo beach wrote: »

The absence of Irish at Leaving Cert when the CV shows a child educated here is also as good as shouting at an employer 'I'm dyslexic' even if you have sucessfully overcome it.

If the present economic environment continues he will have to leave. And no harm but even if he had to go to the UK and study (I did) so be it. You can train to be a physio/pharmacist/nurse with only half the points that are required here, a lot of my friends children are doing this.

Dyslexia may work to his advantage a lot of business people are dyslexic, they think out side the box.

aisher

Would you consider having your son resume Irish despite his exemption? I have seen a lot of kids go into Secondary school with exemptions from Irish taking up French/Spanish etc. I cant understand why this is the case - surely if Irish is too hard then any foreign language is the same problem or am I missing something?

femur61

aisher wrote: »

Would you consider having your son resume Irish despite his exemption? I have seen a lot of kids go into Secondary school with exemptions from Irish taking up French/Spanish etc. I cant understand why this is the case - surely if Irish is too hard then any foreign language is the same problem or am I missing something?

Your not missing anything. He got a D in pass German in the mocks - a bare D. He finds languages in general extremely hard. The UK A level would suit him so much more, he could concentrate on scince and maths subjects.