What are the chances of primary school teaching points going down by 2012?

Question

I heard it's now gone up to 475, I want to do it but it's loads of points, What are the chances? Will it most likely go up? What's the lowest and highest it could possibly be? I'm not from the gaeltacht either..

Thanks.

Answer 1

There's a lot of competition for primary school teaching at the moment so I don't think it's very likely that the points will go down much.  I heard as well that the number of applicants for third level colleges and universities in Ireland has risen quite dramatically so that might push the points up as well.

But 2012 is a long way off yet, so don't worry about it too much.  I did a BA first because I wasn't sure if I wanted to teach and now I'm just about to start a PGCE in England.  If you want to study and teach at primary level in Ireland though, one of the biggest things you have concentrate on is your Irish language.  The standard of Irish required is pretty high and this is where I had a problem and which is why I'm going to England to do the PGCE.

Answer 2

Do an arts degree in any uni in ireland with irish (three years)

Once you graduate you can do your Postgraduate primary Educationma in primary Education, this is another way to do primary teaching and is the most common route.

You dont have to go directly to mary I or st pats.

Unless you havee perfect irish i would advise against going to the UK as you will not get recognition to teach in a permanant role unless you do a special irish exam

Answer 3

Hard ot say. Courses seem to go up more than they go down but the requirements are determined by the number of applicants. If third level fees are reintroduced they might go down by 30 or so. If not then they most likely won't.

Answer 4

Wow.

It was only 440 when I was doing the leaving.

I don't see it going down "Doctor" "Teacher" are the two big jobs.

But trust me there are thousands of jobs you have never even heard of that you might be better suited to. There are loads of ways to work with and help children.

Go for primary school teaching! Get the highest points you can! But don't feel disheartened or like you're missing out on your dream, because there's really no way to know yet what you really want.

I knew a friend of mine since we were 5, all she ever wanted to be was a primary school teacher, but she didn't get it, and she's training to be a social worker now, and she thinks it's the luckiest thing ever, that this is what she was meant to do.

Also there are back doors, if you did an Arts Degree in UCC or NUIG or somewhere you could do a post doctorate in primary school teaching PROVIDED you get a really high grade, talk to your school guidance counsellor about the details of this because I'm not certain.

Also  ask her about other jobs working with and helping children.  

Answer 5

It probably won't change very much, but like someone else said you could do another degree in anything that interests you and then do a postgraduate diploma in primary teaching afterwards.