‘This programme has great flexibility for students - and brilliant facilities on campus’

“I had considered doing primary school teaching as my undergraduate degree, but I entered university at the end of 2020, while the pandemic was ongoing, and I needed more time to get used to college life. 

“So I did a four year degree elsewhere - but primary school teaching was on the back burner and I realised I wanted to go back to it. 

“My grandfather was a teacher and went to St Patrick’s (now home to the DCU Institute of Education) where he studied Primary School teaching and later taught Psychology there. So I was very familiar with St Patrick’s Campus.

“I think teaching is a rewarding profession - it’s so important to have people who care about you when you are a child, and want to help children reach their potential. You will also keep learning about your profession, and there are plenty of opportunities to progress your career.

“The PMEP (Professional Master of Education [Primary Teaching]) in the DCU Institute of Education is quite full-on the first year - but the programme has flexibility which really helps us. 

“Mondays are online - and we can study asynchronously online. Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays, we are on campus from 9am to 6pm. And there is a half day on Friday, where we finish at 1pm. This flexibility is very helpful - particularly if you have a family or are working part-time. 

“While it’s wonderful to have this flexibility, it is equally wonderful to have steady access to academic staff during our time on campus on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We also have access to some wonderful facilities such as the music room and drama room, the Minecraft room, sports facilities and the Library. I also avail of the gym on campus, which has cheaper rates than local gyms.

“In terms of the lecturers, their class presence is so amazing. You really do learn from them and their approach to certain areas, and how they model how you can talk to children. They are knowledgeable, and they provide really good practical information. Having access to this experience and being able to talk to them is so much better in-person on campus than online. 

“With Irish, we do two different modules. One focuses on Irish literacy, and it’s designed to teach you how to teach children, particularly in the areas of early childhood skills and strategies to deal with little children and introducing them to Irish. This is quite a fun and practical course.   

“The second module is more about improving our own Irish, grammar, writing and oral skills. As well as this, I listen to Irish podcasts and I find this helps me. Our lecturers are always telling us to contact them if we need extra support. I also go along to Seomra Caidrimh on campus, where we can have the chats as Gaeilge. This is a great facility and so many of us go there regardless of our fluency - it really helps too. We also go to the Gaeltacht for several weeks in our first year.  

“Regarding school placement, we organise that ourselves. This means if you are based outside of Dublin, you can see if you can arrange a placement with a school that is closer to your home. People aren’t having too much trouble organising a placement - schools are busy but very keen to help young teachers. Another way to gain a school placement or even get a first introduction to a school environment is through the DCU Changemaker Schools network. 

“There are two placements - observation starts in first year, with a placement lasting several weeks at end of March. In the second year, you are only on campus for five weeks, before going on a more extended placement.”

DCU Prospectus - Go back to Professional Master of Education (Primary Teaching)