Education - Post Primary Teaching

Course Outline
The Professional Master of Education (PME) at UCC is a two-year, level 9, full-time teacher education course. This 120-credit programme is designed to qualify graduates as post-primary secondary school teachers.

Our PME is fully recognised and accredited by the Teaching Council of Ireland for the purpose of registration as a professional post-primary teacher in Ireland and the EU.

Note: Application for this programme is online through the PME PAC site.

The PME combines two school placements with university lectures and tutorials, which develop student teachers’ requisite professional knowledge, skills, understanding and competence. You are introduced to best practices in teaching, learning, and educational research with special emphasis on meeting the diverse needs of learners, on the curriculum and on current issues in education. You will be encouraged to integrate educational theory and practice through extensive reflection on your own professional classroom practice.

Students are supported in their development by experienced teachers in schools and tutored by specialist School of Education staff in nurturing their professional identity as teachers.

At the end of this course, you will have acquired the professional knowledge, understanding, and skills that you need to teach your subject or subjects in a second-level school. You will have gained practical experience in two contrasting school settings, and developed your ability to respond flexibly to the diverse and changing educational needs of school students aged 12 to 18 years. You will have been challenged, encouraged, and invited to question and deepen your beliefs and assumptions about the purpose of education, the nature of teaching and learning, and the role of the teacher in the 21st century.

Year 1 (60 credits)

Core Modules (50 credits)

ED6301 Philosophy and History of Education (5 credits)
ED6302 Introduction to Psychology and Sociology of Education (5 credits)
ED6303 Curriculum and Assessment (5 credits)
ED6306 Inclusion – Special Educational Needs and Multicultural Education (5 credits)
ED6330 School Placement 1 (20 credits)
ED6331 School Placement: Research and Professional Experiences Portfolio A (5 credits)
ED6332 School Placement: Research and Professional Experiences Portfolio B (5 credits)

Plus 10 credits from the following:*

ED6308 The Teaching of Business Studies 1A (5 credits)
ED6309 The Teaching of Civic, Social and Political Education (5 credits)
ED6312 The Teaching of English (5 credits)
ED6313 The Teaching of a Second Language 1A (5 credits)
ED6314 The Teaching of a Second Language 1B (5 credits)
ED6315 The Teaching of Geography (5 credits)
ED6316 The Teaching of History (5 credits)
ED6317 The Teaching of Mathematics (5 credits)
ED6318 The Teaching of Music (5 credits)
ED6319 The Teaching of Religious Education (5 credits)
ED6325 The Teaching of Physical Sciences (5 credits)
ED6326 The Teaching of Biological Sciences (5 credits)
ED6327 The Teaching of Irish (5 credits)
ED6328 The Teaching of Business Studies 1B (5 credits)
ED6329 The Teaching of Home Economics (5 credits) [only available from 2024]
ED6333 The Teaching of Computer Science (5 Credits)

Year 2 (60 credits)

ED6341 Collaborative Seminar: Contemporary Issues in Irish Schools (5 credits)
ED6354 Literacy and Numeracy Development in the Post-Primary Classroom (5 credits)
ED6359 PME Professional Research Paper (10 credits)
ED6360 PME School Placement 2 (30 credits)
ED6361 Specialist Subject Pedagogies 2 (5 credits)
ED6362 Designing Curriculum and Assessment for the Contemporary Classroom (5 credits)

*See the University Calendar (PME) for full course content and learning outcomes.

Additional Teaching Mode Information
Students are required to spend a minimum of 100 hours of personal experience directly teaching a class or classes in one or more approved subjects (normally 6 periods per week) in Year 1 and 150 hours (normally 9 periods per week) in Year 2. In both years, placement must be undertaken on specific days and during specific times for the entire school year from mid to late August until the following June.

School Placement Teaching Portfolio

In both Years 1 and 2, students are required to prepare and maintain a School Placement Teaching Portfolio with evidence of long and short-term planning, daily and weekly reflections, resources and other relevant data for all their class groups for the duration of their placements. During both placements, students are also required to engage in non-teaching school activities for an equivalent number of hours. This experience will normally include lesson planning, preparation, and reflection, opportunities for some classroom observation of experienced teachers, team teaching, participation in school meetings, and other collaborative work with school staff and the extended school community. During these non-teaching activities, students in Year 1 will also be required to complete a variety of reflective research tasks pertaining to their placement (e.g. pertaining to classroom management, teacher questioning, ICT, literacy learning theories, school supports, and school communication, which form part of a School Placement Research and Professional Experiences Portfolio.

Year 2 students will engage in more school activities commensurate with their evolving school experience and increased time in school and will also conduct research related to their classroom or school context, which will form part of their required Professional Research Paper in Education.

Requirements
Candidates must have a primary degree at a minimum level of 2H2 or equivalent (e.g. primary degree and Masters) that is recognised by the Teaching Council of Ireland for the teaching of at least one subject in a post-primary school.

Candidates must also complete and submit a Subject Declaration Form from the Teaching Council in respect of their eligibility to meet the requirements to teach their specific subjects.

Entry to the PME programme is competitive and selection is according to a subject-based application system with points awarded based on the marks obtained in the undergraduate degree, any subsequent academic qualifications, and certain categories of relevant professional work experience. See the PAC website for details.

The current PAC PME subject-based entry system does not have set quotas for each subject but offers in subject areas are made based on Department of Education and Skills priority subjects (e.g. languages, maths, physics, chemistry) and each institution's own local circumstances, demands and ability to cater for subjects on the programme. It is necessary to limit the number of students admitted to the PME and our current quota is circa 120 students per year. (Deferrals are not permitted on this programme due to its competitive nature.)

Subject Teaching Choice
Students are normally allowed to teach only those subjects, which they have pursued to an advanced level in their degree (normally a minimum of 60 credits) and for which they have completed, signed, and submitted a Teaching Council Subject Declaration Form on application. At least one of these subjects must be approved by the Teaching Council for teacher registration.

Students normally also teach a second subject in which they have some recognised academic attainment and for which they are recognised to teach by the Teaching Council. All students are required to attend pedagogy courses to support the teaching of both their teaching subjects.

Students who do not have a second teaching subject will be required to attend ED6309 The Teaching of Civic, Social and Political Education to support them to be possibly able to teach CSPE as a second subject in post-primary schools.

Closing Date 31 January 2024

Assessment for the PME is primarily by continuous assessment with a small number of written exams. Continuous assessment includes project work related to the various modules culminating with the writing up of a larger piece of professional classroom/school research at the end of Year 2. There is a strong emphasis on the integration and application of theory and practice throughout all assignments. School placement is assessed over a series of visits to the placement school by the allocated university tutors. Students must pass both the school placement and course-work modules in both years in order to be awarded the PME.

Examinations
Full details and regulations governing Examinations for each programme will be contained in the Marks and Standards 2017 Book and for each module in the Book of Modules 2016/2017.

2 year full-time.

Start Date 2 September 2024

Skills and Careers Information
Graduates of the PME will be well equipped to begin a teaching career in Ireland or abroad. Our graduates are highly sought after in the UK and elsewhere. Furthermore, the skills gained in teaching are easily transferrable to other careers. Teachers learn to communicate with groups and to present material in an organised manner, which is an enduring skill that is much sought after in many fields. Our PME graduates are working in many other non-school settings.