Secondary school teaching with Business degree

mufc1993

Hi

I'm in my final year of a business degree in UL. By the end of it I will have the ECTS credits built up to teach Business but need a few more modules for Accounting and Economics. I have been looking into the UL Masters of Education.

Anyways, just wondering does anyone who might have been in my position have any experience or advice regarding any other Masters programmes, or going down the path of secondary school business teaching in general?

griffzinho

Hi,

As a business teacher with 10 years plus experience I would say:

* Make sure you can teach Accounting well. Get your qualification and learn the course inside out yourself over the next few years. Being a good Higher Level Accountancy teacher is a huge asset when searching for jobs.

* Gain as much experience of working with young people as you can during your summer holiday from College, PME. Summer camps, etc.

* Get to know who is teaching these subjects in local schools (or schools where you might like to work) and see if they are approaching retirement age, or is the enrolment increasing significantly.

* When on your PME get involve in as much co-curricular activity as you can. Anything you can add to your CV whilst broadening your experience will be of major help.

* Pre interview familiarise yourself with the curriculum, particularly the new Junior Cycle Business. Also be familiar with exam papers, etc.

* Do some courses on special needs if they are available.

Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. Best of luck if you decide to go with it. I really enjoy the work. Hope it works out.

Superdude1234

Also in the same position as mufc1993. I have a business degree majoring in Accounting from dublin. I was thinking about either going into teaching or doing my professional exams. Just wondering is there many jobs for accounting/business teachers ?

griffzinho

@Superdude1234

From my experience there are very few jobs out there. The last voluntary early retirement scheme saw a lot of people leave before schedule. Fewer retirements going forward in the near term. A lot of my Hdip students didn't find work over the last few years and have switched back to other jobs.

Exiled1

Awful shortage of jobs in teaching for bus st/acc graduates. There are very limited openings for teaching accounting because it is very much a minority subject and rarely is there more than one teacher needed in schools of below 500 population. Economics ditto.
As an interviewer in many schools, I find there are huge numbers applying and it is very difficult to short list the best candidates. So many business degrees from so many Colleges (30+). Interestingly there were very few applicants in 2002-08 era. Generally bus students / grads laughed at anybody who suggested teaching to them.....now they all see it as an easy number....
Old story, it comes down to the personality of the applicant and his/her willingness to take on anything for several years.......

spurious

There used to be (still is?) a limit on how many Business graduates were allowed do teacher training, there were so many trying to get into teaching. It would be way down the list of subjects in any sort of demand.