HDip: Doing the

More and more people are making the change and deciding to switch careers to teaching. A combination of competitive pay, great holidays and hugely rewarding work environment are luring large numbers from other professions. The career is also becoming more popular with school leavers. Whatever their background, all these would-be teachers have one thing in common. In order to be fully qualified, they all have to take the Higher Diploma in Education. Offered by several educational institutions in Ireland to cater for both primary and secondary school teachers.
But what exactly is involved in an HDip, and how can it possibly prepare you for the daunting task of entering the classroom?

All HDip programmes include several periods of teaching practice, in a real classroom environment where the student teachers experience the daily practicalities of the job. 

Dr. David O’Grady, Acting Director of Teaching Practice at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, outlined their approach towards teaching practice in their postgraduate course.

Starting off, the microteaching method is used, in which students are taped teaching a small group of primary school children for a short period of time. They are shown the tape of their performance, which they review and then write a critique. This is ongoing throughout the first semester, in preparation for teaching practice. ‘They find it quite daunting when they see themselves at first of course, but its good for them. It’s an internationally recognised practice for training teachers,’ he said.

Once the preparation stage is completed, student teachers go in to the classroom to gain real life teaching experience. ‘The realisation of what is involved hits them,’ says O'Grady. ‘The shock of standing in front of a class of 30 kids makes them realise how much preparation it takes to perform for five and a half hours a day. People think that there are very few hours in teaching but preparation is a big thing. You can't just take a break like you could in an office job.’

Jennifer Burke is a graduate of UCC's HDip programme. Having graduated in 2005, she is now starting her third year teaching English and History in a secondary school in Kilkenny.
She remembers her experience of standing in front of a class for the first time during teaching practice. ‘You're told to be harsh on the first day, but they were first years and they were lovely. I'll never forget it because it is very daunting, I was only 23 so I was only 10 years older than them but they saw me still as a teacher so that was great.’

Burke loved the Hdip course and learned a lot from it, but for her, the actual teaching practice was worth more than some theoretical lectures. ‘The reality of teaching is a lot different than what they tell you in lectures, the practicalities are very different. They give outlines of what to do in case there are discipline problems, but it's not always as rosy as they paint it. Some of the advice they give you wouldn’t be worth the paper it's written on, especially if you're in a tough school. You have to decide how to deal with a situation on the spot rather than relying on guidelines you were given in lectures.’

However other modules on the course have been extremely useful to her in her teaching career so far. ‘The psychology of education was really good; it gave advice on dealing with kids who were involved in domestic abuse, dealing with kids who have ADHD, lots of things like that. It was very helpful,’ she says.

Although Burke had done supervision in a secondary school before taking on the HDip, she found her first time actually teaching very different. ‘It's completely different when you're actually put into a situation of teaching in the classroom.

For my first teaching practice I was in a fabulous school and the support of the staff was great. The kids were very well behaved as well, I really loved it.’ Even the inspection didn’t intimidate Burke too much; in fact, she found the inspector's criticism very useful to her. ‘He told me where I was going wrong, but it wasn’t harsh criticism, it was constructive and helped me a lot.’

Burke thoroughly enjoyed the Hdip course and recommends it as the starting point to a great career. With such a high employment rate after graduation as well as the job satisfaction involved, it is little wonder that so many people apply to Hdip programmes annually. According to O'Grady, Mary Immaculate College receive 500 to 600 applications every year for only 100 places, ‘It's a battle to get in and the course is very tough with a lot of pressure on the students, and there is a lot to take in.’ In spite of this, O'Grady has seen applications from a variety of professions including doctors, nurses, lawyers, IT professionals and even one applicant with a PhD.

While the first few weeks of teaching practice are daunting to all of these student teachers, even those with previous experience, it's worth it in the end as graduates are practically guaranteed jobs. ‘There's 100 per cent results at the other end, there’s always a demand for teachers’, says O'Grady.