Online teacher training goes the distance

EDUCATION PROFILE:Paudie O'Neill gave up a high-flying career as an engineer to train to be a primary teacher and online training allowed him to manage the change, writes LOUISE HOLDEN

‘THOSE WHO can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” Now there’s a red rag to a teacher. Growing numbers of teacher trainees are upending the adage, however. People like Paudie O’Neill, for example, who worked as a civil engineer for six years but realised well along the path of a successful career that he really wanted to be in the classroom.

“I wasn’t pushed out by the recession; it was at the height of the boom that I decided my heart wasn’t in it,” says Paudie, a 30-year-old homeowner from Carrigaline in Cork. The home-owning part is significant: Paudie could not afford to give up his day job and go to Mary Immaculate, the closest college of education to his home.

That’s when he decided to sign up for an online teacher training course with Hibernia College. Back in 2006, the Hibernia method was still the subject of much suspicion on planet education. Some staff and students of the traditional colleges of education were quite vocal in their opposition to the notion of distance teacher training. The students of St Patrick’s College pounded the streets with “yellow pack teacher” banners. Academics rued the passing of teacher training into the grubby hands of commerce.

Nonetheless, Hibernia now trains more primary school teachers than any other programme in the State. Paudie is one of them, and without the Hibernia model, he couldn’t have made it happen.

“Ever since I was in school I always thought that I would like to be a primary teacher but, because I was strong at maths and engineering, it seemed more logical to take a college course that reflected that,” says Paudie. “I ended up working in fire safety in an engineering firm, working with architects on life safety and property protection. My career was taking flight. I had a secure job with a successful firm and had bought my own house. On the face of it, there was no reason to change.”

However, Paudie got engaged in 2006 and started to look ahead. “It dawned on me that I had one last chance to take a risk. My responsibilities were mounting up and soon I wouldn’t have the option to make a move.”

Paudie’s parents are both teachers and he continued to feel like a teacher, he says, even when he worked as an engineer. “All the talk in the house was about education – I was part of that world.” He made the decision to begin the 18-month online teacher training course. It wasn’t an easy option but he was “very determined”. On top of a full-time job, Paudie spent an average of 25 hours a week in online tutorials, face-to-face sessions and seminars.

“It was a strange existence,” he admits. “I was moving between two very different, very intense worlds. The day job was full-on – it was the height of the construction boom. I was busy all day working with architects and clients and various projects. When I got home in the evening I immediately had to switch on to Irish and maths, lesson plans and discipline. It was hard to get up the next day and put my engineer’s hat back on, but the job paid the bills and I had to detach myself.”

Despite Paudie’s lifelong immersion in teaching, the training had a few surprises in store. “Things have changed a lot since I was in school. The blackboards are gone. The whiteboards are gone too. It’s interactive boards now.”

For obvious reasons, IT is a big part of the Hibernia programme. “I spend eight hours a week watching pre-recorded lectures on the computer, and then two or three times a week I get the opportunity to discuss them with my tutor,” he explains. “Once a fortnight I spend an entire day with a subject expert, learning about geography, science or another component of the primary curriculum.”

Most of Paudie’s contact hours are held in his alma mater, UCC, so it’s not such a far cry from his undergraduate experience. However, he is currently in the midst of teaching practice and that, he says, is a white-knuckle ride.

“It’s not the teaching itself that’s so pressured, it’s the preparation. We have to submit a detailed lesson plan to Hibernia before every class, so sometimes I’m up half the night trying to get it right.”

Once he gets into school, however, Paudie’s in his element. “I’m teaching children of all ages and I’m learning as much from them as they are from me. The little ones are a challenge – you have to work very hard to teach them the smallest thing. The older ones are different. They’re easier to work with on some levels, but they’re practically teenagers, and that presents its own challenges. Primary school is a very important period in a person’s life. It shapes much that comes after. I’m very aware of that.”

Paudie will graduate in May and while it’s been a meandering route to teaching, he believes it was all for the best. “I definitely think that 29 was a good age to start this process. I have worked for a number of years, I’ve built up maturity and experience. In my job I interact with all sorts of people. I have an ability to deal with other adults. I think that’s a very important part of teaching – being able to communicate with parents and other teachers. My IT skills are very well-developed too. I think I will be able to pass that on in the classroom.”

The classroom can be a pressured environment, a “one-man-show” as Paudie puts it. “I worked long, hard hours in the construction business. I built up determination and a serious work ethic. That will stand to me.”

Unsurprisingly, Paudie is a fan of Hibernia College and doesn’t feel like a “yellow pack teacher”. “Hibernia, for the first time, is bringing different kinds of people into teaching. A 21-year-old from a college of education has a lot to offer.

“But a 31-year-old with an engineering degree and six years of hard work in the private sector has something to bring to the table too.”

Hibernia College: The rise and rise

Since HETAC authorised it in 2003, Hibernia College has nearly doubled its intake and brought a new constituency of teachers to Irish classrooms. The online teacher training course produces more primary teachers than any other programme in Ireland.

Number of Hibernia primary teaching graduates:3,500

Number of students in the first programme in 2003:180

Number of students on the current programme:300

Application rates:One graduate is enrolled for every four applications

Student profiles:Almost 25 per cent of students are male – higher than in the colleges of education. Students tend to be older, but the age profile has come down and the average age is 25. Students must have a primary degree and many have already worked in other areas

Programme cost:€8,950

Programme duration:18 months

Programme delivery methods:online tutorials, on-site sessions and teaching practice in schools