I want to retrain as a Primary School Teacher

I've decided to retrain as a primary school teacher but I don't have an honour in leaving cert Irish. How do I go about taking the subject again?

Well done on taking the career decision that you’d like to do primary teaching. It’s a very rewarding career and one in which those with a passion for it can be very happy. You won’t need to repeat the actual Leaving Cert, but if you haven’t got at least a C1, which is the entry requirement for the HDip in Primary Education, you’ll need to complete the Dioploma sa Ghaeilige (Diploma in Irish) which you can do at NUI Maynooth, NUI Galway, UCD or UL.

To do this you have to have a min Grade D in the Leaving Cert Irish. (If you don’t have this, an alternative is to complete the TEG exams – see www.teg.ie, or sit an entrance exam).

The Diploma in Irish is usually part time over 2 years and at Maynooth, runs once per week on a Tues, or on a Thursday in Kilkenny, plus 4 Saturday workshops per year. If you can get time off to complete it, then you could continue to work until you go to do your HDip, which is run in a number of college, such as Hibernia (distance learning), Froebel College, Mary Immaculate College, St Patricks College or Trinity College.

Good luck with progressing your desire to teach, it’s well worth it.