Are you passionate about empowering young people? With a Professional Master of Education (PME) from Hibernia College, you can register to work as a post-primary teacher with the Teaching Council of Ireland.
Your enthusiasm and knowledge of your two teaching subjects will enable you to inspire your future students. Our PME programme will teach you how to facilitate academic and personal growth and help each student achieve their full potential. Prior teaching experience is not required to apply.
Our PME programme prepares students to become the best teachers they can be.
The Professional Master of Education (PME) in Post-Primary Education is a 120-credit award at Level 9 delivered over 24 months. It is a blended learning programme, combining online and face-to-face delivery to develop professionals positioned to be leaders in the field of post-primary education.
The programme consists of a sequence of modules that reflect contemporary issues in education and the skills and knowledge required to be post-primary school teachers who enable effective student learning. Our emphasis on research ensures that student teachers understand teaching as a form of self-critical learning. Student teachers are trained to use evidence-based reflection to continually improve their practice.
Hear from former students in our Alumni Profiles. Almuni offer advice to anyone considering the PME programme. They share their own reasons for choosing Hibernia College, prior experience, research during the programme and career plans.
Hibernia College is monitoring the changing situation in relation to COVID-19. All School Placement arrangements, dates and procedures are regularly reviewed in line with the most recent health and safety advice. The College reserves the right to make any changes as it sees fit.
Application Fee
€95
Tuition Fees
▪ On acceptance of place: €1,000 deposit and €50 Garda Vetting fee
▪ 1st instalment (before course begins): €6,500
▪ 2nd instalment (approx. 10 months later): €7,500
How to Pay Tuition Fees
The application fee is paid online and must be paid in full before an application can be processed. Payment of tuition fees are to be made by bank transfer.
Loan Facility
TUI Credit Union has formulated a loan facility that may interest you. Please click here for more information.
Tax Relief
Under current Revenue rules, tax relief is available if you are eligible at the standard rate of income tax (20%) for qualifying tuition fees. From September 2017, subject to compliance with Revenue regulations, students who are eligible will be able to claim approximately €800 per year in tax relief over the 2 years of the course, thereby reducing the actual cost of the course to €15,000 – €1,600 = €13,400. For further information, please click here.
An undergraduate degree at Level 8 or higher on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) which has an ECTS weighting of at least 180 credits.
Please note that an NFQ Level 8 Higher Diploma on its own does not fulfil this requirement.
Applicants are required to have a Level 8 degree which satisfies the curricular subject criteria set and regulated by the Department of Education and Skills in association with the Teaching Council of Ireland. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ascertain whether their specific qualifications are in accord with the Teaching Council requirements, satisfying the general and specific criteria for post-primary registration purposes and including the requisite number of ECTS credits and a completed Subject Declaration Form.
Teaching Council regulations stipulate that, in addition to holding a Level 8 degree (or equivalent) on the NFQ, you must meet the requirements for at least one post-primary curricular subject. Only Subject Declaration Forms with 50 ECTS+ will be forwarded to the Teaching Council, those with less than 50 ECTS will not be sent. Applicants must follow the Teaching Council guidelines. You can access Subject Declaration Forms here.
Subject 1 When making subject choices, it is important to note that you are required to meet all Teaching Council requirements in your Subject 1, including the requisite number of ECTS credits and completed Subject Declaration Form.
Subject 2 If you hold 40 credits or more in a second subject, we recommend you select this as your Subject 2. You will need to upload a Subject Declaration Form for this subject also. If you hold less than 40 credits in a second subject or you do not have a second subject, we offer a ‘Digital Tech T&L’ course in lieu of a second subject. Your subject knowledge and eligibility to teach both of your chosen subjects will be considered at interview.
Garda Vetting
Hibernia College offers programmes of study that require participants to work with children and/or other vulnerable groups. For this reason, successful applicants will be required to complete and sign a Garda Vetting Invitation Form. By completing and signing the Garda Vetting Invitation Form, the applicant is granting permission to Hibernia College to process details of any prosecutions/convictions for the purpose of assessing the candidate’s suitability for the course for which he/she has applied and the completion of work placements associated with the course.
Primary Degree Level
If you are unsure of the level of your primary degree, contact the conferring college or university, the awarding body or the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland at www.qqi.ie. In order to gain entry to the programme, candidates are required to possess a Level 8 award as per the NFQ. While Hibernia College will make every effort at the time of application to check the level of the award and notify applicants if the College believes there may be a concern with their qualification, it is each applicant’s responsibility to check the level of their award. Hibernia College will not be held responsible in the unlikely event a graduate of the PME programme is refused admission to the Register of Teachers.
Mature Students
Note that there are no concessions for mature students. All applicants must meet the same minimum entry requirements to be considered for admission to the programme, and all applicants who meet those requirements will be called for interview.
All applicants who are deemed to have met the entry requirements and who have submitted a fully completed application form with supporting documentation and have payed the application fee will be interviewed.
We strongly encourage applicants to submit their completed application form as early as possible.
Once your online application has been reviewed and processed, you will be called for an interview. The interview will be approximately 25 minutes in length.
At the start of the interview, you will present on a junior or senior cycle curriculum topic of interest. The topic chosen should be related to your first subject choice. The presentation should be no longer than 3 minutes. You will then be given the opportunity to show interest and enthusiasm for both of the subject areas and the profession.
The interview will focus on the following key elements:
Please note that this list is given as a guide only.
Acceptance and entry to the course is by interview. The process is as follows:
Once an interview has been scheduled, in the unlikely event that an applicant has no choice but to cancel, the Admissions Team will endeavour to reschedule the interview. However, during busy periods or nearing the start date of the programme, this may not be possible.
Please note that if you are not able to attend the interview on the date offered, it is important to communicate this to the Admissions Team at the earliest opportunity.
The PME in Post-Primary Education is a flexible programme, but requires a full-time commitment.
The following is a guideline of the commitment required:
Online Tutorials
You should expect to have approximately 3-4 tutorials each week (Mon.-Fri.). Tutorials are 1-1.5 hours in length and occur typically between the hours of 6–9 p.m. Please note that these classes are live and you will be expected to attend at the times stated.
Face-to-Face Lectures
You will meet approximately two Saturdays per month at a study centre from 9.30 a.m.-4.30 p.m. There will also be a number of on-site weeks.
School Experience
You will complete 24 weeks school experience in total throughout the programme. Placements are broken down into two 7-week blocks and one 10-week block. Students arrange their own placements, and at least two of the placements must be in different schools.
The College does not provide verification that the programme is defined as full-time or part-time for the purposes of third parties, as those third parties have different definitions of these terms.
No. It is not a requirement to have prior teaching experience to be eligible to apply for this programme.
There are two start dates per year, in the spring and autumn, normally in April and September.
No, and there is no upper age limit for enrolling on the programme. All applicants must meet the same minimum entry requirements to be considered for admission to the programme, and all applicants who meet those requirements will be called for interview.
If you are unsure of the level of your honours degree, contact the conferring college or university, the awarding body or Quality and Qualifications Ireland at www.qqi.ie.
No, not for application to this programme. However, prior learning and significant experience may be taken into account when assessing suitability for the second subject methodology.
Yes, there is a limit. In the interest of fairness to applicants who are unsuccessful, the College will accept a maximum of four applications per programme.
Teaching Council regulations stipulate that, in addition to holding a Level 8 degree (or equivalent) on the Irish NFQ, applicants to a PME programme must meet the requirements for at least one post-primary curricular subject. The requirements for all qualifying subjects are set by the Teaching Council.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to ascertain whether their specific qualifications are in accord with the Teaching Council requirements, satisfying the general and specific criteria for Post-Primary registration purposes.
You are required to have 50 ECTS credits or more in your first subject. To see if you meet the Teaching Council requirements in your Subject 1, complete the Subject Declaration Forms here.
If you hold 40 credits or more in a second subject, we recommend you select this as your Subject 2. You will need to upload a Subject Declaration Form for this subject also. If you hold less than 40 credits in a second subject, or you do not have a second subject, we offer a ‘Digital Tech T&L’ course in lieu of a second subject.
If you have any additional questions, please email us at advisor@hiberniacollege.net.
