How to become a Secondary School Irish teacher

lauragraigue

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on how to become a secondary school Irish teacher.. I have done me leaving Cert and got an A in Ordinary level.. I went to Irish primary school until 4th class and loved the language but never kept it up

Iv been thinking about getting back to the language lately and wondering which way would be best to start studying (Part Time) To become a secondary teacher.. Which would be the best route to take? Or what qualifications would I need?

vamos!

You need to do a degree in Irish, followed by a PGDE/Hdip in Education. I have no idea if OL Irish is sufficient to get a place on a degree course. Contact the nearest University and ask about their entry requirements. You will also have to spend at least 3 months in a Gaeltacht.

pm123

Please don't be doing this just because you need a job or it's 'more secure' or whatever. This lacklustre teaching of Irish by people who are 'half good' or who can 'get away with it' ('sure the kids'll never know the difference') is what is wrong with education (particularly Irish language education) in this country. Please, leave it to the people who know what they're doing and who are fluent in the language and who have a passion to teach it. Please, for the students' sake!!

RealJohn

In fairness, the above attitude is more the case with regards primary teachers than secondary since most secondary Irish teachers have degrees or at least a year or two of university level Irish, though anecdotally and from my relatively limited experience, university level Irish isn't what it used to be.

Simply put OP, you need a degree in Irish for a start so start with that. Assuming you'd be a mature student, the ordinary level Irish shouldn't be a problem with regards getting into the course but that being said, if you didn't do higher level leaving cert Irish, I imagine you'll find a degree hard going for the first year at least.

gaeilgebeo

lauragraigue wrote: »

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice on how to become a secondary school Irish teacher.. I have done me leaving Cert and got an A in Ordinary level.. I went to Irish primary school until 4th class and loved the language but never kept it up

Iv been thinking about getting back to the language lately and wondering which way would be best to start studying (Part Time) To become a secondary teacher.. Which would be the best route to take? Or what qualifications would I need?

You would have years and years of work and study ahead of you to bring yourself up to the standard required to teach Irish and have an acceptable competency in written and spoken Irish.
Bear in mind that when you go for an interview for a teaching position in Irish, part of your interview will be through Irish, usually half of it.
This is were candidates stumble and don't get positions.

Toto Wolfcastle

I have deleted all the posts about whether Irish should be taught or not. The OP wants to know how to become an Irish teacher. Stick to that topic please or don't post at all. As always, please do not respond to this warning on thread. Thanks.

vamos!

The OP asked for advice on how to get into Irish teaching. Few language teachers are native speakers and most of us learned our languages at college and by spending time in areas where the languages are spoken. Having OL Irish may not make a difference to a mature student entry. There is no reason that a lot of hard work at college would not bring a language student up to scratch. You can study German and Spanish ab initio at University and you leave with the same standard as those who did HL Leaving Cert at the end.

mrsherself

I'm an Irish teacher. The only route I'm aware of is, you have to do a B.A. in Irish, so let's say a degree through arts. After that, you spend a year doing the hDip and then you will be qualified. There's no reason why you couldn't do it, but I think, with Irish, you need to be passionate about it. It will take some time but I can't see why, in 4 years time, you couldn't be an Irish teacher.

Seanchai

1) To be absolutely precise, OP, in order to register as a fully qualified teacher of Irish with the Teaching Council you need to attain 54 degree credits in Modern Irish. In a 3-year BA degree, those credits must be from Stage 2 (2nd year) and Stage 3 (3rd year).

2) You can, of course, do a BA in Modern Irish if you have only Ordinary Irish. Contact the Scoil na Gaeilge in the university that you want to attend.

3) Doing a BA in Modern Irish is the conventional, straight-forward way to get that qualification. However, due to work and other study, I had to do all my Irish qualifications at night. I did a 2-year evening diploma called the Díoplóma sa Ghaeilge Fheidhmeach. It is an NFQ Level 7 qualification and was on every Tuesday and Thursday of the academic year from 7pm until 9pm. It is available in most Irish universities. The qualification from this course allowed me to enter the BA in Modern Irish in Stage Two ("Year" 2). As mentioned, I only needed 54 degree credits out of the 180 credits which constitute a BA. Therefore, while I sat those 54 degree credits, technically I came out with a qualification called the Higher Diploma in Arts. It was a NFQ Level 8 qualification and is worth 60 degree credits. This qualification is also available in most if not all Irish universities.

4) While the above qualifications will allow you to become a qualified teacher of Irish through doing degree credits in the evening, you will have to be acutely aware that they all run on a rotational basis. That means that they begin only every second year. Admission is also governed by deadlines, which are not really advertised in advance. In other words, start making your inquiries now. I ended up waiting a year because I hadn't been clued into the various qualifications and deadlines, and it was only via communicating with the School of Irish directly that I kept informed on when I could start.

5) While these 54 BA credits are essential academic requirements, I found teaching in-service days for new teachers of Irish run by An tSéirbhís Tacaíochta Dara Leibhéal don Ghaeilge to be very helpful, although far too infrequent. I would much prefer a more extensive teaching program, which I'd be willing to do in the summer as well. The entire teaching of Irish is let down here, I feel.

vamos! wrote: »

Few language teachers are native speakers and most of us learned our languages at college and by spending time in areas where the languages are spoken. Having OL Irish may not make a difference to a mature student entry. There is no reason that a lot of hard work at college would not bring a language student up to scratch.

This. Completely. When I did these evening courses the classes were small, but brilliantly taught and you learned a lot. Forget every secondary school Irish class you've ever attended. There was no comparison. Your secondary school results are irrelevant. For me, studying the subject at third level was like starting from scratch. It was liberating learning so much in such a short period. As most people were mature students they were highly motivated and after the first month or so I was much more comfortable embarrassing myself talking in bad Irish because it was definitely getting better. And that momentum, that sense of continuous improvement, kept me going throughout. We spoke in Irish all the time, and we attended social events in Irish together. Being motivated to improve in the subject made all the difference so from my experience I'd advise against going down the Irish route unless you're motivated to conquer it.