Bachelor of Education in Languages

Course Pathways - what are they?

A course pathway, or elective stream, is where you choose a particular area to specialise in within the broader course.

The pathway you choose will influence the modules you can study each semester and will be recognised in your final degree as an area of expertise.

For example, Students on the Bachelor of Education in Languages are required to specalise in 2 languages from a selection of French, German, Irish, Japanese and Spanish.

Pathways in Bachelor of Education in Languages

Students on this course will be required to choose 2 languages from the below to study for their 4 years. Please click on the links below to learn more about studying that language in UL:

• Gaeilge
• French
• German
• Spanish
• Japanese

You will need to hold a Leaving Certificate H3 in one of the two languages you are choosing to study. German, Spanish and Japanese will be available to study at beginner or advanced level, so can be one of your choices even if you didn't study it up to Leaving Certificate level. Irish and French are offered at advanced level.

What you will study       

This programme will provide opportunities for school-leavers with proven ability and interest in languages to acquire a high level of cultural and communicative competence in two languages. The languages students can choose from are French, German, Irish, Japanese and Spanish. You will choose two of these.

The programme is four years in duration and includes a number of school-based teaching practice placements. These include a six-week placement in the spring semester of year two and a further ten week placement in autumn semester of year four. These placements are designed to provide you, the student teacher, with practice-based opportunities for professional development supported via the supervision of faculty members of the University. 

Prior to the completion of your teacher education studies you will need to provide verifiable evidence of an immersive educational experience in the curricular language of a minimum of four weeks duration. This may be accessed in two blocks, each of which must be at least two weeks. At least one of these blocks must be in a setting where the language is the vernacular language of the region/country. Students are responsible for securing and completing these immersive educational experiences themselves; students may apply for internal or external funding to support these immersion experiences. Please note that immersive educational experiences must be completed outside of the UL academic term time.

The immersive educational experience(s) must be one of the following:

• attending a language course
• working as a staff member in an educational setting
• conducting an action research project which is of relevance to your teaching studies
• engaging in School Placement.

By the end of this course, graduates will:        

• Demonstrate the required skills to competently and confidently teach through the target languages
• Apply their professional knowledge base to planning and implementing appropriate teaching, learning and assessment strategies and integrate this knowledge with qualities of inquiry and reflective practice
• Observe, reflect and critique practice in a variety of educational settings as well as engaging in non-teaching activities.
• Demonstrate the professional competencies identified in the Teaching Council’s Codes of Professional Conduct for Teachers
• Exercise sound judgement, based on well-considered educational principles, in their planning, design and delivery of relevant disciplinary based teaching and learning experiences in second-level schools
• Develop the personal and interpersonal skills necessary to promote the academic, social and personal development of students in their care

Career Opportunities

Graduates of this programme are qualified for appointment to all second-level schools (vocational, secondary, community and comprehensive schools).  Graduates achieving an adequate standard may also proceed to obtain a higher degree by research.

Follow-on Study

Graduates have the opportunity to pursue further study in the disciplines of Languages or Education. In addition, graduates can register for higher degrees by research in either Languages or Education that lead to Masters or PhD qualifications.