[Claire25]

Hi. I am wondering if someone could help me. I am 26 years old in May and i have just realized that i would love to be a primary school teacher. I have been working in Payroll for the last 5years. I have all the subjects required apart from a C in Honors Irish. I can do a night course to complete my leaving Certificate again in Irish. When i have done that what is my next move? I have a mortgage so i can't give up my full time job while I am training. I did see an online course at Hibernia but it is very expensive.

Can anyone help me? It would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Minitonka]

You would have to apply for the three year full-time BEd in Primary Education as a mature student, meeting the entry requirements for a mature student i.e. 3 Cs at higher level (one of which must be Irish) in your Leaving Cert, plus the C3 in Ordinary English and D3 in Ordinary Maths.These requirements can be met over more than one sitting of the Leaving Cert and, as you said, you are aiming to repeat higher Irish by night which is fine if you achieve the C3. You can see where the courses are run on the CAO website (www.cao.ie). That course you mentioned in Hibernia College is only for people who already have an honours degree (Level and also have the C3 in higher Irish. It is a postgraduate conversion course over 2 years. You could do an honours BA degree part-time with UCD, or maybe a business degree by night in one of the Institutes of Technology and then apply for that conversion course also, if it still exists by the time you would be eligible. It is only put on from year to year at the discretion of the Department of Education and Science, depending on the demand for teachers. As you are probably aware, many teachers have been let go with the cut-backs and they will all be out there waiting to get back in when the economic situation improves so it is difficult to know at this stage, what the job prospects would be in five year's time. See also www.studentfinance.ie.

[xxladyxx]

Hi, I am looking for some advice. At the moment I am doing a Post Grad Cert in Education ( Primary) in the UK. I am due to finish it this july. I am hoping to return home to Ireland once it is finished. At the moment I know that jobs in primary teaching are few and far between but Im still hoping. my question is could i teach in a special needs school in Ireland and complete my higher Diploma? This is the area I would like to tach in as I have 7 years of experience in the area. I would greatly appreciate if you could reply to me.
Thanks

[Minitonka]

You should check that with the Teaching Council at www.teachingcouncil.ie.

[ClaireK]

I was wondering if you can tell me the difference between a Higher Diploma level 8 and an honours degree level 8 ? I am currently studying Human Resources degree in cit by night i am in 2nd year of a 3 year course which will lead me to a level 7 ordinary bachelors degree. I decided that i really would love to become a primary school teacher last year so i decided to repeat my irish leaving cert in order to get the c3 in honours so i will be doing that this june. Initially CIT said that they were going be doing a 4th year in Human Resources which would lead to a honours degree level 8 which would qualify me to do the H dip in Arts in Primary Education in Hibernia college. So i was very disappointed to discover that they are not going to be going ahead with this 4th year now. So i then found a course called a H dip in Arts in Public Relations in Cit by night which takes one year. On their leaflet they say that that this is a hetac level 8 course and level 8 is the equivalent to honours degree level.

I rang Hibernia College yesterday as i found this on their website on entry requirements for the course "Please note an NFQ Level 8 higher diploma on its own does not fulfill this requirement ". They seemed to be unsure and couldnt give me a straight answer if this course would qualify me or not! I am so confused now as to what is the difference between the h dip level and the level 8 degree. I am living 60 miles away from Cork city so it is already very hard travelling up and down to college 2 times a week and studying irish !! I would love if i could find out first if the H Dip level 8 in PR in cit would qualify me for the hibernia course or if there was another course which i could do by night or by distance learning to top my level 7 degree in hr to get me the level 8 degree. I am anxious to qualify for the hibernia course as soon as possible. I am 27 and working full time in administration and really want the career change. I am married with a mortgage so am fairly limited on my options as i cant do any course full time. I am open to do any type of course to top up my level 7 to a level 8 it doesnt necessarily have to be Human resources