Higher Diploma in Arts in Primary Education

Course details

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the programme, students will:

• Demonstrate their commitment to the standards of professional conduct as set out in the Teaching Council’s Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers
• Recognise the role of teachers as active partners with school management and parents in developing a positive environment for teaching and learning
• Communicate effectively with pupils, colleagues and members of the wider school community
• Evaluate the underpinning principles of the primary school curriculum, and apply these principles to ensure that effective assessment, teaching and learning strategies provide a creative and enriching learning experience for all pupils
• Evaluate the factors that promote and hinder effective learning, and apply this knowledge to develop effective and creative assessment, teaching and learning strategies that recognise the individual potential of all pupils and provide for the holistic development of each child
• Plan, implement and evaluate lessons in every subject area of the primary school curriculum, taking account of integration and linkage across and within those subjects as well as using the underpinning active methodologies identified in that curriculum
• Select and employ classroom-management strategies that support differentiated learning in a safe, interactive and challenging environment across a range of classroom situations
• Identify and critically evaluate contemporary debates about the nature and purposes of education and the social and policy contexts in which the aims of education are defined and implemented
• Plan to improve the effectiveness of their practice through continuous reflection on that practice; seeking, accepting and acting on constructive advice
• Demonstrate their linguistic knowledge and skills to teach the curriculum
• Plan, implement and evaluate lessons in Religion that take account of the religious and ethical ethos of particular schools
• Syllabus
• The aim of the programme is to provide degree holders with the educational tools and applied knowledge to become informed, reflective and pedagogically proficient primary school teachers. The syllabus is divided into seven modules as follows:
• Teaching Foundations
• Teaching Pedagogy 1: Physical, Arts and Early Childhood Education
• Teaching Pedagogy 2: Language, Literacy and Numeracy
• Teaching Pedagogy 3: Social, Scientific, Personal and R.E.
• Gaeilge
• Teaching Practice
• Advanced Teaching Practice

Entry Requirements

• For students who sat the Leaving Certificate:
• A primary degree, National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) Level 8. Note that the grade and subject of the degree are not relevant for the purpose of meeting the minimum entry requirements.
• A master’s degree or PhD that is of NFQ Level 9 or higher is accepted in lieu of the primary degree.
• Please note that an NFQ Level 8 higher diploma on its own does not fulfil this requirement.
• Minimum grade C (Higher Level) in Leaving Certificate Irish
• Minimum grade D (Ordinary or Higher Level) in Leaving Certificate Mathematics
• Minimum grade C (Ordinary Level) or grade D (Higher Level) in Leaving Certificate English
• For students who sat the GCSE and GCE A level exams:
• A primary degree, NFQ Level 8. Note that the grade and subject of the degree are not relevant for the purpose of meeting the minimum entry requirements.
• A master’s degree or PhD that is of NFQ Level 9 or higher is accepted in lieu of the primary degree.
• Please note that an NFQ Level 8 higher diploma on its own does not fulfill this requirement.
• Minimum grade C in GCE A level Irish
• Minimum grade C in GCSE English
• Minimum grade C in GCSE English Literature
• Minimum grade D in GCSE Additional Mathematics Or
• Minimum grade C at GCSE level in Mathematics
• The following will also satisfy the minimum Irish language requirement:
• Diploma in Arts (Applied Irish) from University College Cork
• Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge, level B2 from NUI Galway
• Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge Fheidhmeach from University College Dublin
• Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge from NUI Maynooth
• Diploma in Irish from the University of Ulster
• Dioploma sa Ghaeilge (An Ghaeilge sa Saol Comhaimseartha) of Aonad na Gaeilge from the University of Limerick
• A pass in a First Arts exam in Irish, NFQ Level 8
• Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge (TEG) Leibhéal B2 (Meánleibhéal 2)
• Minimum grade C in the NUI matriculation exam (pre-1992)