Syllabus
The Professional Diploma in Post Primary Education consists of four core modules:
Foundations of education
This module covers the history of education, philosophy of education, sociology of education, psychology of education and psychology of adolescence.
Methodologies of teaching
Each student teacher will study two recognised post-primary subjects that were taken as a major component of their degree programme as per Teaching Council regulations.
The programme offers up to 13 teaching subjects: Gaeilge, English, Modern Languages, History, Geography, CSPE, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Accounting, Business and Economics.
Any student who has only studied one subject at degree level or does not have a second subject recognised by the Teaching Council for the purpose of registration as a post-primary teacher will also be required to undertake a second curriculum methodology. In such cases, suitability to study the second subject methodology as part of the Professional Diploma will be assessed by the Programme Director during the admissions stage
For more information about the teaching subjects offered, click here.
School experience and professional practice
This module is at the heart of the Professional Diploma in Post Primary Education. It includes 1 week of full-time teacher and classroom observation and 14 weeks of full-time teaching practice (in blocks of 4 weeks, 5 weeks and 5 weeks). It is recommended that teaching practice be undertaken in at least two different schools. Note that students will be expected to secure their own school placements
Developing the professional teacher
This module sets out to extend understanding of the school organisation beyond the traditional elements of teaching and learning, to include new school programmes such as the Leaving Cert. Applied (LCA), Leaving Cert. Vocational Programme (LCVP), Junior Cert. Schools Programme (JCSP), Transition Year (TY) and Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE).
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the programme, students will:
• Have developed the skills and competencies to educate the young people in their care in a social-emotional learning environment
• Have the professional knowledge, understanding and pedagogical skills required to be a competent post-primary teacher in a constantly changing, turbulent and complex society
• Be equipped with the theoretical and conceptual tools necessary for developing creative and flexible approaches to teaching and enabling students to address the potentially complex and manifold educational needs of a diverse pupil population
• Develop multifarious skills in collegiality, team-work and whole-school planning and development
• Possess an in-depth understanding of the ethical and legal obligations of the teacher
• Support the ethos of the school
• Exercise a duty of care and a pastoral role in their professional lives
• Predict and plan for curricular delivery in a second-level school
• Analyse how schools plan their work and apply their own subject area to this work
• Evaluate and judge different school-based situations vis a vis the law
• Facilitate new programmes and out-of-classroom activities
• Evaluate and support the learning needs of students with any learning difficulties
• Possess the confidence and competence to teach their subject in a range of different programmes and to a range of different levels
• Have a firm grasp of the concepts and theories of the foundation subjects of psychology, philosophy, sociology and history and the relevance of these to modern-day post-primary teaching
• Have familiarity with, and confidence in using, appropriate teaching strategies to incorporate ICT into their teaching and the skills to support learners in the use of ICT
• Acknowledge the complexity of adolescence and have particular cognisance of the adolescent in the post-primary school, paying special attention to equipping the teacher with a diverse suite of skills
• Have developed a high level of competence in lesson preparation, teaching skills, evaluation capabilities as well as furthering their professional command of curricula and their integrated delivery through the undertaking of a minimum of 15 weeks of mandatory school experience and professional practice
• Have a critical understanding of the importance of assessment and the current issues in this area (in addition, students will study the variety of assessment methods that are available to them and the merits and challenges of these for a diverse pupil population)
• Have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the second-level system incorporating inter alia school structures and planning, legal and ethical imperatives, and education for the marginalised
• Have an appreciation of the importance and the place of educational research and possess an initial set of skills to undertake such research
• Have an in-depth understanding that initial teacher education is but a starting point in professional and personal development and lifelong learning
• Learn in a dynamic technologically driven environment that will equip them to take this forward into the secondary school
• Learn to explore their own self-awareness, self-control and emotional intelligence
• Emerge as modern professionals with an understanding of the potential and ongoing issues in second-level education
