Can I work in Republic of Ireland with an American Education degree?

Question

I am working on my early childhood education in the US and was considering moving to Ireland. Would i be able to teach there with my degree. What would i have to do to get approved?

Thanks

Answer 1

Yup the first answer is correct. I'm a qualified primary school teacher and you need to be able to speak Irish to work in Ireland as a primary school teacher. You will probably be able to use your degree to work with pre-school children as there is no irish language requirement at pre-school.

Answer 2

My understanding on this is imperfect, so you'll want to do further research. From my understanding, though, it's not the American education degree that's the problem - it's that you don't speak Irish. I understand that all primary school teachers in Ireland, in order to qualify to teach, must speak Irish. I've heard from several British teachers who wanted to move to Ireland that this is a major stumbling block for foreign teachers.

I believe that you also may need to take a post-graduate teacher training course in Ireland, but that, I'm less sure of. I'm not sure if your American training would be enough, so perhaps contact the following teacher training college to find out more about the requirements to teach in Ireland:  St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra. You can also ask them if you must speak Irish (I'm pretty sure you do), but more importantly, if you can take it as part of your post-grad course, and have enough Irish to qualify, or if that's impossible.