Much as she recognises it is a cliche, Kate O'Connor believes a teaching career is still something of a vocation rather than a normal job. Long holidays don't make up for the energy-draining hours in the classroom with 25 boisterous teenagers, and the behind-the-scenes preparation that goes into every day's teaching. That said, she has no complaints with her choice and finds it an interesting and rewarding career.
Her calling came later than most, and after finishing an English degree at UCD, aged 21, she had little idea of where it would take her. A few years of meandering through a variety of jobs including waitressing and teaching English in Portugal and Italy followed before she decided, aged 28, to do the HDip, again at UCD.
It is a tough year financially as the busy course does not leave much time for earning any money. More exacting is perhaps the fact that you start your teaching practice in September, a month before the classroom part of the course.
Unsurprisingly, O'Connor says she was terrified before entering to teach her first lesson. "Just to open the door and go in and call myself Miss O'Connor for the first time in my life was very frightening."
Being thrown in at the deep end means you develop your teaching skills very quickly, she says, and all the lectures in the world can't prepare you for the real thing. Looking back seven years on from finishing the HDip, she says that most of the way you work in the classroom you have to develop for yourself.
She also believes that her slightly later entry into teaching has helped her to do a better job. "You have more patience with people when you are a little bit older than them. If you are a 21-or 22-year-old with a class of 18-year-olds it is a lot more difficult."
On finishing the HDip O'Connor taught for a year in a private school. After having a baby she decided to study for an Irish degree by night, which took her on to a job at Colaiste de hIde in Tallaght, Dublin.
She now teaches Irish in St Kevin's Community College in Clondalkin. This has brought a whole new set of challenges as the school is in an area of serious social and economic disadvantage. It helps to remind her of one of the reasons why she finds teaching so rewarding.
"What is appealing about it is that you know that what you are doing matters, and that if you do it badly it will have an effect in the months and years to come."
With some of the children facing serious problems at home, there is always the danger that this will manifest itself in problems at school. Added to this is the unrealistic pressures the points system can place on children for whom just getting themselves to school every day can be a battle.
"It can be very depressing if you're teaching in an area where there hasn't been such a strong history of going on to further education. The points levels are set with children from highly literate backrounds in mind."
Her advice to those considering a teaching career is to rid themselves of any illusions that it might be a "handy number" with short working hours and long holidays. It's a tiring and challenging sort of job, she says, for which you need to genuinely like children and teenagers. You also need to be able to accept you will make mistakes and be prepared to pick up the pieces afterwards.
"Everyone has had a nightmare in the classroom at some time or other, even if they don't admit it."
Now aged 35, O'Connor is not sure that the bustle and energy of a school like St Kevin's is something you could do for the rest of your life. But a teaching career can follow so many different paths, with every school offering a new challenge. There is also the opportunity to move into related areas like adult education, counselling, or educational psychology, should you want a change of direction.
