Your career in teaching

As you start on your teaching career you can expect a varied, busy profession with good potential for advancement and development.

Your career in teaching will begin with going to college to acquire a recognised degree and teaching qualification. Some degrees have a teaching qualification included (for example, St Angela’s of Sligo’s Education courses and Physical Education courses in Limerick).

Working life as a teacher

Once you secure your first job as a teacher, you can expect working life to include a variety of tasks. In order to teach classes effectively, you’ll need to do a lot of preparation work prior to the class. Teachers spend significant periods of time correcting scripts, correcting homework, keeping accurate records of students’ progress, attending staff and subject meetings and supervising various classes and break periods. Teachers interact regularly with parents and colleagues.

Career progression

As you progress through your career you may also act as co-ordinator for various programmes such as transition year or LCA (Leaving Certificate Applied). These tasks bring extra responsibility and some extra salary. After working as a teacher for a number of years, you may decide to progress to a vice-principal or principal position: management roles involved in running the schools. People in these positions interact with the educational institution’s governing body, parents, staff and the community.

Other tasks you might choose to do include correcting or supervising state examinations, and other posts of responsibility within the school, such as library management, health and safety or public relations. You can expect extra salary for these roles.

Training and development

As a teacher, you’ll find there are various opportunities for training and development within the profession. You could choose to specialise in policy formation, curriculum development, social inclusion, technological advancements for education or the development of new teaching methodologies.