Since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to go to NUI Galway, Trinity Dublin, or St. Andrews. However I plan on getting my degree in Special Education, but I cant figure out how the education there works. From what I understand these schools don’t offer a BA in Special Education, but I can get my BA and than get my masters in Primary Education? Does anyone know any schools that do in Scotland or Ireland? Any inside information provided would be great!
Thanks!
I don’t have any inside information. However, I have a few question that might prove valuable:
- Are the schools in the UK and Ireland that interest you accredited for Special Education by the states in which you might wish to teach (I don’t doubt that they are good, however, states have quite specific certification criteria (perhaps even institutional listings) that will determine if you can be licensed)?
- Similarly, will BA (and/or an MA) degree(s) from these institutions be recognized for salary purposes by state and local authorities?
- Finally, since many states now required a Master’s for permanent certification, will US graduate level teaching/Special Ed programs admit alumni from these institutions?
Special education in Ireland (and from what I can tell, the UK) is a completely different thing - and much, much smaller. As you have noticed, you get an undergraduate degree in teaching- usually specifically primary or secondary- and then do courses or a masters in special ed. In Ireland, Irish is a required part of your degree course.
I assume that you are just looking to get your degree and go back to the US, in which case Top Tier’s points are very useful. However, if you are thinking that you would stay on and teach in Ireland you will find that getting a work permit is very difficult (if you aren’t a dual citizen). Unless you can pass a brutally difficult written, aural and oral Irish exam you won’t be able to be a full-time teacher (though one of the things you will be able to do is teach special needs children). Also note there is currently quite an oversupply of newly qualified teachers in Ireland.
Yes - where are you planning on teaching once qualified? And are you a citizen of that country?
My goal is to get my teaching degree abroad, so that I will be able to work in third world countries, but also have the oppertunity to work in the US. (Which is where I am from)
Outside of logistics, the cost would be prohibitive for a career with no real financial return. And politics in teaching is likely to be at least as exhausting as it is here, special ed funding and access will have at least as many problems as there would be here, and I am not sure an Irish teaching degree would be in anyway superior to a US education degree for third world teaching opportunities?
There must be another piece to the puzzle: why would getting an Irish teaching degree prepare you better to teach “in third world countries”* than a teaching degree from the US? It is true that in the Middle East (not a ‘third world’ region) and some African countries a UK qualification is specified, but they are in the minority, and I’m not aware of any that would see the Irish teaching qualification as better than a US qualification. And, the time you would invest in learning Irish could be spent learning a “third world” language. The US would also be more developed in special ed training than most, and as TopTier points out, you may have trouble moving your qualifications to the US.
*I’m guessing that by “third world” you mean “developing” countries, ie, poor. Is there a program or group you are thinking of joining? Would you be planning on volunteering or getting a paid job?
You’d probably need to get some additional training to go through the hoops necessary to teach in the US with a UK degree. Requirements vary between states - not necessarily impossible, but a pain. There’s some very summary info, and links, on this page from the Times Educational Supplement (a teachers’ newspaper): https://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storyCode=6206727