Teaching in Southern Ireland?

Question

I am currently a teacher in England (been teaching for 3 years). Next year, we are thinking of moving to southern Ireland. Does anyone know whether it is easy to get a teaching job over there or if there are extra Irish qualifications i need to be able to teach (as i assume the curriculum is slightly different). Any help greatly appreciated Thanks

Answer 1

It is possible to get a teaching job here in Ireland, but is highly dependent on what level you are teaching. If you are teaching primary level you will need to get a qualification in the Irish language as it is taught at that level, however, if you are male you will get a teaching job very easily, but the Irish is a big issue.

For teaching secondary level it is alot easier however most new jobs in this sector are in the cities, mainly Dublin.

If you are a second level teacher, if you familiarise yourself with the curriculum of your subject(s) you could offer grinds, which is fairly big business over here, to tide you over.

Answer 2

In the Republic, you will probably need GCSE Irish to teach in most places. I know you need the qualification to study to be a teacher, and im assuming its the same if you want to teach. There are probably night classes at colleges that offer it though.

Other than that, im not sure that many other qualifications are needed...i dont know exactly as im from Northern Ireland rather than the Republic, but maybe you could check out some of the irish universities websites for their PGCE courses (eg TCD - Trinity College Dublin) and that might give you an idea.

Answer 3

i moved to southern Ireland from England last march, 2 of my sons are at school here. the education system is very different. for example they don't start secondary school till 12 or 13yrs old.
they are much better at handing out discipline if a child is caught smoking at my sons school they have 100euro fine. if i were you i would choose a really nice place to live so you get better class of people. unless you prefer a challenge! I would contact the schools directly and ask their advice on qualifications etc!
You get much longer holidays over here too! And I'm sure that teaching is still a respected job here, unlike England!
Hope you find this helpful, We looked up www.daft.ie for help on houses to let or buy it's a very good site. Also one thing to consider is there are a lot of catholic schools here, we opted for a national and a community school that are any religion! most areas in Ireland have a website for the particular area, we live in malahide so look up www.malahide.ie it will show you almost anything you would want to know, it has schools on websites too!
Good luck, it's lovely over here, we have been busy as we have 4 kids but we love it here!

Answer 4

ROI has a very different system from here. Exams are completely different set up and at different ages. The inter cert and leaving cert are different from our exams.

Predominantly Catholic schools, but some are not. Still an empahises on technical schools or academic schools.

Local web sites are the best source for the areas you are looking at. If you are successful, one of the big bonuses of the longer holidays, is that many teachers take advantage of them by doing private tuition for kids approaching exams - known over there are "The Grinds". They charge an absolue fortune for the most wanted subjects, so you can make a good extra income.

Answer 5

You need to do a course in the Irish language before being allowed to teach in the republic. As far as i know pernament teaching jobs aren't that easy to come by but then it depends on where you are living etc! Good luck with it though:)

Answer 6

A little pointer before moving, start referring to it as The Republic of Ireland or just Ireland. In their eye's they're not 'south' of anything. They're a country in their own right.