Applying for teaching courses

Q. My daughter is applying to CAO for a course in primary teaching this autumn. I believe there is some change in the course starting in Froebel College of Education, which is her first preference. How will the change affect students starting the course?

A. Students entering the course in Froebel College next September will not be aware of any difference to start with. The Froebel College, which is located in Sion Hill, Blackrock, Co Dublin, is one of the five full-time primary teacher education colleges in the State. Currently, its degrees are awarded by Trinity College, Dublin.

However, NUI Maynooth and the Froebel College of Education plan to establish a Froebel Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education at the university, with the teacher education college transferring to NUI Maynooth from September 2013.

This will be the first occasion in which primary teacher education will be carried out from start to finish on a university campus.

All of the student teachers from Froebel College will move to the university campus in 2013. There will be no change to the admission requirements as set out in the Froebel College prospectus for students entering at least up to and including 2013.

The current CAO applicants to Froebel College of Education for September 2010 will be the first students who will be NUI Maynooth graduates when they complete their degree.

Q. What is the difference between primary school teacher-training, and training as a teacher for a secondary school?

A. People interested in teaching at secondary school-level, from first year through to Leaving Certificate, will generally follow an honours degree programme, whether it be in Arts, Science, Business, or a wide range of approved courses in universities and other higher education institutes. Ideally such graduates will take a teaching subject in their degree, choosing any of the subjects taught in second-level school and examined in the Junior and Leaving Certificate. On completion of their degree, graduates should take the one-year post graduate higher diploma in education offered in five universities, after which they will be entitled to teach in second-level schools.

Graduates of approved honours degrees like a BA, a BSc, or other approved degrees, also have the option of teaching in primary schools, if they take an eighteen-month higher diploma in primary education.

Irish Independent