About Higher Diploma In Education (Secondary Teaching), PG:DipHE - at Trinity College Dublin
The Higher Diploma in Education (Secondary Teaching) is a one year, full time, postgraduate course. Students attend College for all or some of the days in the week and are otherwise in schools undertaking teaching practice (TP). This combination allows an integration of theory and practice. Applicants must be university graduates and graduates from outside Ireland may have to confirm that their qualifications will be recognised (see note under Admission below). The course is best suited to those seeking to work as secondary teachers in the Republic of Ireland but former students have gone on to work in the UK and elsewhere. Unlike other Higher Diploma in Education (Secondary) courses the Trinity course does not recruit through the CAO and applications should be made directly (details below) to the School of Education in Trinity College.
This procedure allows staff in the Department to assess applications individually and selected applicants will be called to interview as part of the process. The interview allows a more rounded view to be taken. TP is a major element of the year and it is required that those accepted for the course organise their own TP, usually in the greater Dublin area. In certain circumstances staff in the School of Education can offer help and advice in organising TP but this is not normally the case. The course is staffed by a combination of full-time and part-time lecturers and tutors, the former being Trinity lecturers who have wide research interests and experience in teaching in schools and higher education, the latter typically being current or recently retired teachers who bring extensive classroom experience.
Course OverviewWe seek to develop in our students – [a] knowledge and appreciation of the discipline of education; [b] a sense of the broad context of Irish education as part of society as a whole; [c] an appreciation of the complicated nature of the teacher’s role and of the function[s] of schools in society; [d] knowledge of a range of models of instruction, with the ability to chose between them and to apply them in classrooms, laboratories and elsewhere; [e] the ability and willingness to act as reflective practitioners, adopting critical insights into practice as appropriate.
Course Structure and ContentInduction course – held over two weeks in September. The induction course lasts for two weeks and operates on the same pattern as the main course – i.e. on Monday afternoon, all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday. Its aim is to provide a general overview of the programme and to equip students for their introduction to teaching in the classroom. There is an emphasis on classroom teaching methods and ‘survival skills’. Specific pedagogy courses begin during the induction course when students will be able to meet their pedagogy coordinators and some of the TP supervisors.
College-based course – consisting of: [a] lecture courses on the disciplines of education; [b] courses in specific methods/pedagogies.
Lecture courses are given in all the disciplines relevant to the study of education. The Department currently offers courses in the following areas:
