Becoming a teacher is high up on the list of many young people's career agenda. The jobs scene varies from excellent for primary teachers to good for teachers of some second-level subjects to very poor for other second-level teachers.
School-leavers can go directly into bachelor of education programmes at the five teacher training colleges.
Graduates of these programmes are eligible to work as primary teachers. The cut-off points for the B Ed were in the high 400s this year however applicants from the Gaeltacht needed fewer points. It's also possible for graduates to train as national teachers - a special 18-month graduate training programme is in place however this course is only offered when there is a dearth of qualified teachers.
The Minister for Education and Science has increased the number of first-year places dramatically in response to teacher shortages. The INTO is looking for up to 4,000 extra teachers. This year 1,000 first-year places will be available with 730 of these in the B Ed programmes and 270 in the graduate training programmes.
A spokesperson for the INTO says graduates are getting permanent positions quite quickly after graduation. Indeed, there are permanent jobs on offer which are not being filled. "There are more opportunities opening up in a diversity of jobs, which were not available 10 or 15 years ago. For instance, there are more remedial teachers and home-school liaison teachers being appointed," says the spokesperson.
The new primary school curriculum will be presented to the Minister in January 1999 and its introduction will bring subjects such as science to primary schools for the first time.
At second-level, the main entry route is via the higher diploma in education. This is offered by NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, UCC, UCD and TCD. Students must have completed an approved degree to be considered for these programmes. There are always more applicants than there are places so a degree is not an automatic passport to a career in teaching. This year, for the first time, there is a central applications body for the H Dips on offer from the NUI colleges however prospective students must apply directly to TCD. The job scene is not as rosy at second-level. The latest Higher Education Authority figures (a snapshot of 1996 graduates surveyed in 1997) show only 3.8 per cent of H Dip students with permanent teaching jobs. But, 57 per cent did have part-time, temporary or substitute teaching posts while 8.9 per cent were teaching abroad.
About one-eighth of the graduates found work outside the teaching sphere, while 5.1 per cent were actively seeking employment. This compares unfavourably with an overall figure of 3.6 per cent graduate unemployment.
Despite these figures second-level schools have had difficulties in finding trained teachers in a number of key subject. Because of this, the Minister has raised the cap on H Dip places from 800 to 900 with 100 of these places reserved for teachers of Irish, religion, Italian, Spanish, physics and chemistry.
