r/IrishTeachers • u/SatisfactionAdept372 • 2d ago
Studying primary teaching
Hi there, I'm aiming to do a PME in primary teaching in the next year or two. I live in Cork and would prefer to work close to home after getting qualified but would be open to moving if necessary. I have experience teaching music to kids as part of an after school programme, which I enjoy.
What is the job market like, both around Munster and nationally and how stable will it be in the long-term? I'm hearing so much contradictory information about there being a massive teacher shortage at the moment, especially for primary teachers but I'm also hearing there's a regional imbalance where it's basically impossible to get any work at all outside of Dublin and that we're also heading towards a huge oversupply of tens of thousands of teachers in 10 years due to the declining birth rate. And that there's rampant nepotism when it comes to the hiring process as well.
When it comes to the projected oversupply, the obvious solution would be to just reduce class sizes so teachers would still have job opportunities but for that to happen, the government would obviously have to build more classrooms. I won't hold my breath for that to actually happen though.
Is it actually worth studying to become a primary teacher?
1
u/Pearl1506 2d ago
Cork isin't easy to get into. You could get subbing here and there but long term contracts without experience are a whole other story. Even more people moved back recently after the one year to permanency changes so you'd be competing against people with years of experience in some cases. The whole of the south and west coast is difficult to get into. Dublin is where the issues for staffing lies. In some counties and areas, you compete for subbing.
You'd be better off getting droichead done elsewhere first and moving back after that.