A place for teachers to share and discuss what's going on in their day. Feel free to vent, ask a question or just share your thoughts.

Please keep all comments respectful, have a great day.

I am starting an HDip in English in the coming weeks to qualify to do English teaching in a PME next year. I have to select my modules for the year now, but I am not fully confident in which ones to choose to ensure I meet the Teaching Council's curricular subject requirements. I understand I need to meet the essential areas of drama, poetry, and film, but is there a certain amount of modules relevant to each I need, or even just 1 relating to them?

If anyone has any experience with this I would greatly appreciate any advice!

Applied under Timebound Provision from England. Hit with a number of shortfalls and 14 days to respond with further documentation for Reconsideration. I feel like I’ve covered those areas - history of education etc but I’ve submitted a poor application. I’ve contacted my university to ask for help. What else do I do??

Hi all,

Sadly it seems that after finishing my PME (post-primary) I will not have a job for the upcoming year and will likely have to start subbing for income/experience. I've seen quite a few threads on subbing and so I have some idea of how it works but often people give very short answers and so I have a couple questions regarding subbing. Also as a disclaimer yes I am aware the answers to these questions could change depending on the school/county, I'm just asking more generally based on people's experiences.

1. What do the WhatsApp groups actually do? Every time I see people ask about how to get subbing, people tell them to join a WhatsApp group for subbing but, how do these groups actually work? Is it all just substitute teachers in there? Are there principals/teachers looking for cover asking for subs in there?

2. Do you do much teaching as a sub? At both of the schools where I did my placement I was told to potentially be asked to teach a class while I'm subbing if the class is for one of my 2 subjects (English and History). However I found that I rarely did that if ever, it was mostly either supervising while they did the work that was left for them or letting them chat quietly/do their homework since there was no work left. I know that on the days I called in sick I never expected a teacher to just teach the class themselves while I was gone however maybe its different for subs who are being called in from outside the school? The main question I suppose is just did you have to teach much as a sub or was it mainly supervising while they did work or whatever.

3. Do the schools put you on their system and or tell you their specific ways of dealing with students? Both schools I taught at for the PME used VSware for taking the roll, as a sub would I have access to the school's VSware to do this or would I just be provided with the class list on paper or something? And would the workings of the school be explained to me over e-mail/phone call before I would go into sub at a school? For example, the first school I taught at would only put up disciplinary infractions on VSware if it was quite serious, otherwise they would be given a note in their journal. However, the 2nd school used it much more liberally as a way to keep track of a student's behaviour for both big and small infractions.

4. Generally what's the least amount of notice you'd get when being asked to sub? For example, there have been a couple cases during my PME where I'd get a text at 20:30, asking if I could come in a little earlier to sub a class at 09:00 the next day. Would this be common for subs everywhere or would I usually be safe at that point in the night to assume I have no subbing the next day if I haven't been asked.

Apologies for the big blocks of text, thank your taking the time to read this and potentially answer my questions!

Hiiii I’m starting a PME in hibernia next week and considering a MacBook!
Budget is €500 Max so wondering if anyone can help with what second hand MacBook would be best please? I am soooo clueless!
Thanks in advance! 😊

Hi everyone! I’ve just finished my PME in Biology and Chemistry teaching and I’m looking into adding Agricultural Science as an additional subject with the Teaching Council.
I have most of my Biology credits in plant biology, so I’m fairly confident I can meet the 60 ECTS requirement through the relevant “other subjects” areas.
The issue is that I don’t have the two specific areas of Animal Production Science and Crop Production Science

Has anyone here successfully added Ag Science onto their teaching registration? If so, I’d really appreciate hearing what modules/credits you used to meet the Animal Production Science and Crop Production Science requirements.

A place for teachers to share and discuss what's going on in their day. Feel free to vent, ask a question or just share your thoughts.

Please keep all comments respectful, have a great day.

Hi all.

I'm heading into my final year of undergraduate studies and twenty-five of my sixty credits will be from modules specifically on Irish history (If I go ahead with my current module selection for 3rd year). There are two more modules that I have done that could probably be argued to be Irish history as there was a fair amount of significance on events in Ireland but they covered global topics too. Would that be enough or should I swap a module this final year to get the credit count up to thirty?

Apart from sub seeker, and WhatsApp groups how else can one look for primary subbing work?

Do schools find it annoying when you call in and try to give a CV? is it better to email and ask to be added to subbing list? or is that more likely to be ignored?

I'm in Cork and am fluent in Irish I'm thinking of emailing every gaelscoil. I know it's a bit early in the year to panic but still.

Im looking for games to get them talking I'm SET and taking small groups. Finding it hard to find a programme/ resources. Up and Away is no good to me except for a guide thematically.

Have my first ever interview later this week and wondering what I need to bring with me? And what to look out for ? Thanks in advance.

After a few years steady work in fixed term positions, I'm back to looking for sub work going into this school year after not being able to secure anything over the summer.

This year was very tough in my school as it was, and being in this position is definitely a knock to my my confidence.

My evenings are pretty full of CPD courses, I'm getting back into the term-time sleep-schedule, and I'm sending out CVs to schools; so I'm fairly on top of things.

I'm mainly wondering has anyone else who's been in a similar spot got any tips or tricks to help ride it out and not go too crazy when back into all the uncertainty?

Hi all,

I’m just looking for some advice regarding beginning teaching as a secondary science teacher in Ireland. We are open to both ROI and NI.

My fiancée is from drogheda so we are hoping to move back closer to family, however I am a tad confused at if my qualifications transfer to the Irish teaching system.

My qualifications are below:

* BSc + MSc in Psychology & neuroscience
* PhD (doctor of philosophy) in medicine and health behaviour
* PGCE
* QTS

I have seen on the Irish teaching councils website that your degree has to cover four areas to teach Biology for example, and I was a tad confused how this works / if this is flexible for degrees outside of mainstream sciences.

If anyone has any tips, tricks, advice on if this is possible- is be thoroughly thankful!!

I was offered CID in my last school but left as I really wasn’t happy there. Is this something I should disclose on my CV or in general when applying for jobs?

The job market seems impossibly difficult this year - hard to even get interviews. I’m now worried that my 2-year, fixed term stint in my last school appears that I wasn’t offered CID and they wanted rid of me.

Hi all.

Is anyone aware of any schools on the south side of the Cork City with SNA openings? A friend has just moved to Cork with 15 years overseas experience in primary PE teaching so looking for a change.

Thanks in advance.

Hi guys. Has anyone any idea how long the Hibernia graduations go on for? I’m PME Post Primary Cohort Autumn 24 and it says our ceremony isn’t until 4.25pm. This is so late and with our ceremony we also have PME in Post-Primary Education, Spring 2024 ,
PG Dip in Inclusive and Special Education,  
MA in Inclusive and Special Education  and BSc in Nursing in General Nursing . How many students would this be? Considering not going as I’m travelling up and down, seems excessive. And also getting only 2 tickets per graduate, very unfair imo. What time do you even going about booking a celebratory dinner

Does anyone know of any WhatsApp chats or Facebook groups where I can get some subbing in the Wexford/ Wicklow area? All advice or help is welcome

A place for teachers to share and discuss what's going on in their day. Feel free to vent, ask a question or just share your thoughts.

Please keep all comments respectful, have a great day.

I have been blessed with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, TY and LCA Maths classes, as well as 5th Year Physics and one of the school's Autism Classes. I'm hoping I get the 2nd and 3rd years I had last year in 1st and 2nd year but that hasn't been finalised yet.

What about all of you?

Hi,

I have just started the Professional Diploma in Maths Teaching in UL. No joy on the jobs front in Galway this summer. I am TC qualified Biology and Chemistry teacher with 12 years experience. Resigned when I relocated. Didn't manage to secure any job for this academic year. Will having Maths on my TC registration increase my chances of a job when I qualify in 2 years, or even next year when I'm half way through the course? Disillusioned with the compete lack of jobs. Only got 2 interviews over the summer.

Thanks