University Plans to Down-Grade the Post-Graduate Diploma in Education

Below is a short post from a student teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, on a decision made by our country's universities to down-grade the Post Graduation Diploma in Education (PGDE) from a National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) Level 9 qualification to a Level 8 (at the same level as a Higher Degree) - without any consultation with the students who have registered and paid for their course. The course is also being renamed a Professional Diploma in Education. This is the final year that the "H-Dip" will be a one year course, being replaced by a two year long course from 2012. It is unclear if the new course will be a NFQ Level 8 or 9.

There has no coverage of this story by any newspaper or online news site, principally because only one university has informed the students on the changes. The student teacher, who has a legal background, outlines the many problems associated with the changes - which appear to me to constitute a breach of contract in the very least with everyone having registered and paid for the course advertised as a NFQ Level 9 qualification. The changes - which have been implemented and not merely suggested - seem outrageous to me, especially considering media outcry on the use of under-qualified individuals in teaching positions. Interestingly, when contacted, the ASTI and the Teaching Council were unaware of the changes and were unable to provide any advice to the student teacher. Anyway, this is what our student teacher has to say, describing the situation as "a real case of more stress and officially less success".

As I sat in my PGDE lecture the other day I was treated at the start to the usual drudgery of announcements, one flippant remark was made as the announcer was about to exit the theatre. It was something along these lines:

Just to let you all know the course has been renamed the Professional Diploma in Education, it has also been downgraded to level 8 from level 9 on the NFQ framework. 

Interesting, I thought, we were told if we had any questions please send an email. Out the announcer waltzed and the lecture started! 

So what does this mean for this year’s PGDE / (PDE!!) students? Well, there are some serious questions which need answering!

1. Is the qualification still internationally recognised? 
2. Are we going to be the only level 8 year? If the course becomes 2 years will the new course be level 8 or 9? 
3. When we are qualified will we be on the same pay scale as teachers with the level 9 qualification? 
4. Has the cost of the course been reduced in line with its downgrade? Will we be getting a refund? 
5. Will students be able to get a grant for the course considering they already have a level 8 qualifications to get on the course? 
6. Will this year’s students be disadvantaged when interviewing for a position against a candidate with a level 9 qualification? 

As it can be seen this change has brought up numerous issues which affect all of this year’s PGDE students, all of whom applied, were accepted, registered and paid for the PGDE not the PDE. On a very simple level this looks to be a cheap shot, a badly disguised austerity measure. What is more frustrating is there has been no communication on the issue, nobody in the School of Education can answer any of these questions as they plainly don’t seem to know. The Teaching Council also didn’t know of this change when contacted. 

Please leave your comments below as I feel this issue of a grave importance. We already have a situation where new entrants into the teaching profession will be paid 10% less than their colleagues, and on a lower pay scale. Another blow such as this is going to detract talented young minds from the teaching profession, causing further problems down the road. Please, pass on this post also.

Guest Post - Teaching Shoos

Ronan Swift is a teacher and a musician. He is also well known for his unusual choice of shoes! In this More Stress Less Success guest post Ronan recalls a particular question posed to him some years ago at the end of a lesson and uses his shoes as a platform for a provocative discussion on imagination, inspiration and creativity in the teaching profession.

“Sir, we were just wondering (giggles); why do your shoes (more giggles)…look like Cornish pasties?” Much giggling.

This little enquiry was a genuine end of class interaction some years ago now and the reason I’ve included it in my post is because it started me on a train of thought that has led me to writing this post.  Today, I’d like to talk to you about shoes.

Well, no what I really want to talk about is not strictly speaking shoes but has more to do with imagination, inspiration and creativity.

When a country decides what to include in the courses it makes for its children’s education it has to include all the building blocks of knowledge that are the basics upon which further learning can blossom. Every school system needs to both provide its young people with fundamental knowledge and equip them with certain skills so they can perform various tasks and so they can do their own learning. On this we all agree. It’s too easy to give out and say that our education system places far too much emphasis on learning facts and stats and not enough on cultivating imagination and creativity. That’s not really what I want to do.

I just would like you to be a bit more aware of the importance of creativity and imagination in making the world a better place and for you to be aware of the potential to be creative that you, that we all have. For me creativity begins with a sort of openness, with allowing thoughts, words or phrases, ideas to enter your mind, to wash over you and to allow your thoughts to roam, to make connections and links that may lead to a spark of something new and different. Certainly you can’t shut yourself off and be ‘closed’.

Guest Post - Phil Beadle's "How to Teach" Reviewed

To celebrate World Teachers' Day 2010 Julian Girdham, from the award winning SCC English blog, has prepared a guest post for More Stress Less Success reviewing Phil Beadle's wonderful book "How to Teach". Julian's blog won the International Edublogger Award for Best Group Blog in 2008 (coming third in the same category in 2009), picked up nominations for the prestigious Golden Spider Awards in 2008 and 2009 and has been nominated for an Irish Blog Award in 2009 and 2010. It's an essential tool for the modern English teacher. Visit www.sccenglish.ie or www.twitter.com/sccenglish  and explore!

It feels appropriate to be writing a quick review of Phil Beadle's How to Teach on World Teachers' Day. One month into the school year, the new teachers to whom it is directed may already be feeling besieged and panicky, and old lags like this reviewer may have found that that giddy post-summer-holidays-everything-is-going-to-be-different-this-year feeling has dismally trickled away. The very title of Humphrey's blog suggests that one of the key things that teachers have to combat is stress of different kinds: well, no better way to do this at the start of October than to treat yourself to Beadle's book.

First of all, behind the bland dull title (surely not the author's own), this is a several-laughs-a-page read. It's also hilariously cynical, brutally honest and helpfully practical about the profession. The chapter headings are also dull - 'Management of Students', 'Methods and Organisation' and the like. But then you start reading. If you're a new teacher, you're delighted to hear a voice that isn't ridden with educational jargon or management-speak. If you've been in the classroom for some years, you chuckle and nod, knowing that he's so often simply right. In fact, you'll nod so much your head might fall off. The book has been written for the British market, and bears the scars of his deep frustration with a system which has messed those teachers around for decades, but Irish teachers shouldn't be complacent. Our inspection system might still be relatively benign, but things can change, and current economic and public pressures see Irish teachers under increasing externally-imposed pressure.