Primary school teaching in England

KABLOOEY

Hey,

I'm hoping to come across someone who is currently undergoing a primary school teaching postgrad in England or would have researched it lately. I just have obvious questions that I'm struggling to find answers to and time seems to be against me. If anyone could help with the following it would be greatly appreciated!

• Is it possible to teach in Ireland with a degree from the UK? Is there an Irish exam that can be taken with a foreign degree or is the LC that must be repeated?
• Is UCAS the way you are supposed to apply to the colleges?
• Are any of the Universities rated higher than others in terms of applying for jobs back in Ireland?

brónaim cád??

Hi,

It's too expensive in England. Do it in Wales or Scotland. University of South Wales is a good one

When we return to Ireland you have 5 years to complete the SCG or OCG, both Irish examinations. These can be complete during employment but you probably won't get a job if you can't speak Irish.
3) Probably not. Generally the standards here are better. You will also have to complete your NQT year here too.

Cakewheels

Hi, I'm trying to find out more about this at the moment too but unfortunately there's a bit of an information vacuum!

The issue to be aware of is that with the Irish primary postgrads changing to 2 years from (Sept 2014?) the UK one won't be considered comparable, as courses will be required to have a minimum of 120ECTS and the UK ones are all 60ECTS. I emailed the teaching council a few months ago to ask whether there will be a mechanism in place to make up the shortfall (eg. through part time online courses or summer courses while teaching in Ireland) and they just said that nothing had been decided yet. The statement on their website says:
These requirements stipulate among other requirements that:

a postgraduate diploma in education (e.g. P.G.C.E.) must have a credit weighting which is not less than equivalent to 120 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) Credits (or 240 CATS).
..

The above requirements will apply to all persons commencing teacher education qualifications outside the State from 1 January 2014.

-
However, another thing to think about is that part of the extension to the Irish course will involve more teaching practice, and people who qualify in UK have to complete an NQT year in UK anyway, so maybe this would count for at least the extra teaching practice element.

I'd suggest contacting the teaching council, they may give you the same non answer they gave me before, but the more people that ask they more likely they are to start thinking about what to do about it. And if you get an answer I'm sure lots of people would be very grateful if you put it up here! Irish people have been training in the UK for years so if they are going to completely block off that option 100% then they should be clear about that. I personally have two reasons - one is that my other half is likely to be in UK for next few years (we'd both like to return to Ireland if could get jobs) and secondly that there's no way I could ever afford the fees and living costs for the new 2 year course in Ireland. I suspect a lot of people are in the same situation.

nic94

Hi im goin to study in scotland in september and do primary teaching im also aware of the 60 credits shortfall and personally its ridiculous the teaching council are useless ive made so many phone calls and not one straight answer about how i will qualify here when i get back! i also have applied for hibernia but i havent got my interview date yet and ill be moving to scotland in less than a month so if it doesnt happen soon ill be gone anyway! any reccomendations on whether it would be better to do hibernia here or go to scotland and do it there?