Year 1
Placement for PME Year 1 students is negotiated and arranged by the UCC School of Education for successful applicants, taking into account the various circumstances of the programme and of the successful students and the available placement opportunities in our partner schools. Students must sign a placement form and are contracted until the end of the school year to carry out their teaching placement in the school in question. Students must ensure that there is a minimum of twelve students in their placement class group for supervision purposes.
Year 2
Each student is expected to have a contrasting placement experience in a different school context for Year 2. Placement for PME Year 2 students is again negotiated and arranged by the UCC School of Education PME Placement Committee, taking into account the various circumstances of the programme, student preference, and the available placement opportunities in our partner schools.
As part of their University programme, some students are required to undertake placement and training that involves dealing directly with patients, clients, or service users. This programme is subject to the University's Fitness to Practise Policy.
Students will be required to start on their school placement anytime from mid to late August aligned to the re-opening of partner schools.
Note: To be eligible for appointment to an incremental salaried teaching position in a secondary school, a teacher must be registered. It is the Teaching Council of Ireland alone that has the authority to determine what constitutes adequate qualifications for registration purposes. See www.teachingcouncil.ie for registration details.
Irish Language Requirement: While the Irish requirement has been removed for the generality of second-level teachers who do not use Irish in their everyday work, teachers of Irish and teachers employed in Gaeltacht schools and in other schools where Irish is the medium of instruction will be required to be fully proficient in Irish. A special course in spoken Irish, run by An Gaeilge Labhartha, UCC, will be available to students during their PME studies.
Course Content
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.
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