Post primary teaching

Idle Passerby

I have an arts undergrad and have been working in the tourism industry for the past decade or so. Due to the seasonal nature of the work, contracts have often been short term and unpredictable. I am nearly 40 now and with the tourism sector in uncertainty these days I'm considering a career change to something with more reliability.

I'm passionate about history but would need to do a conversion course in order to teach it, as it wasn't part of my undergrad. I heard that few teachers are hired with History as their main subject so I'm wondering if it would be advisable to pursue this subject, or would another base subject such as Geography or English be preferable? (I'm not strong on any STEM subjects or languages unfortunately.)

None of my undergrad subjects are on the secondary curriculum so I presume I'd need to do a conversion course of some sort before doing a PME. Could someone advise please?

solerina

You cannot teach history without a degree in History so a conversion course alone wouldn’t suffice. Then the PME which is now a 2 year course.

RealJohn

Religion might be a good one to have, if you can’t manage STEM or languages, but without those, you’re limiting yourself a lot. There are lots of history and geography teachers, and relatively few posts to fill these days, as I understand it.

Idle Passerby

solerina wrote: »

You cannot teach history without a degree in History so a conversion course alone wouldn’t suffice. Then the PME which is now a 2 year course.

That's a shame. Was it possible previously? When I last looked into conversion courses they were essentially one module of an undergrad degree done in a year.

Idle Passerby

RealJohn wrote: »

Religion might be a good one to have, if you can’t manage STEM or languages, but without those, you’re limiting yourself a lot. There are lots of history and geography teachers, and relatively few posts to fill these days, as I understand it.

Having to teach religion is one reason I'm leaning away from primary.

afkasurfjunkie

Idle Passerby wrote: »

Having to teach religion is one reason I'm leaning away from primary.

Don’t let religion dissuade you from primary if it’s the only reason. Many of the newer schools are educate together or multi denominational. Unless you have a communion/confirmation class very little time in reality is spent on religion these days in most schools.

spurious

Why not try get into the QQI end of things to start off and see if you like teaching? There are a number of courses for National and Local Tour Guiding. They are still enrolling people. Maybe contact one of the colleges that run them and ask. Even a stint as a guest lecturer would get your foot in the door.

Random sample

What’s subjects do you have in your degree?

You need degree level in a subject to teach it, and you need 60 credits in the subject.

I don’t understand what a conversion course would be in this instance, I’ve heard of people taking modules to make up a shortfall, or to add a subject, but if you currently have no teaching subject I don’t see how that would work.

Idle Passerby

My undergrad's in Art and I've a Master's in Archaeology. I know I could do the art teacher training but I know too many unemployed people with that qualification. I've run courses for adult learners before so I'm somewhat familiar with teaching, just not kids obviously. Maybe I shouldn't rule out primary teaching. I just think I'd find teaching older kids a specific subject more fulfilling.

noplacehere

Have you done any subbing? I would try it to be absolutely sure you want second level teaching. Because I think you would have a long road to qualification and full time position

dory

I've been through the palava of going back to teaching relatively late. Honestly, if I had my time again I'd do primary. Took me 5 years to get a full time job and I have one of those in demand subjects. That was in the recession, I'd probably walk into a job today. But still, I see people with the less in demand subjects and this time of year is a constant worry - have they saved enough during the year to live through the summer, will they get a job next year, will the next school be nice etc. You'd have to do a one year full time conversion course (if those H.Dip in arts still exist), and the a two year PME. That's the bones of €20k, and you may not get a full time contract out of it. Hopefully, if you did go and do History, you could then teach Art and History? I'm not sure if you have to do the methodology in a specifically art teacher trainer course. I did history after my HDip and was able to teach it, without ever having learned how to be a history teacher. Haven't taught it once since I qualified in history! It's just not in demand. €5k that was pretty much wasted.

Idle Passerby

Thank you dory, that's a good insight. The work I've been doing this far is incredibly precarious as it is so I'm no stranger to job uncertainty. That's what I'm trying to escape though so your advice is useful.

solerina

Idle Passerby wrote: »

That's a shame. Was it possible previously? When I last looked into conversion courses they were essentially one module of an undergrad degree done in a year.

No, I don’t think so anyway, you need a degree in the subject you hope to teach, so maybe you can teach Art, although you would need to check the modules you completed against the requirements set for teaching Art from the Teaching Council.

jrmb

spurious wrote: »

Why not try get into the QQI end of things to start off and see if you like teaching? There are a number of courses for National and Local Tour Guiding. They are still enrolling people. Maybe contact one of the colleges that run them and ask. Even a stint as a guest lecturer would get your foot in the door.

You could do an intensive CELTA or TrinityTESOL course and get a job giving English communication lessons. That would allow you to try teaching without making any major commitments.

marialouise

I started with a CELTA to test the waters before starting a PGCE (1 year course as I'm abroad). It was a great way for me to test the water, and isn't a huge commitment relative to another degree/PME.