PME 1/BSc
School Placement Hub
Student Placement Information
Welcome to year one of the UCD School of Education Professional Master of Education (PME) programme. We wish you well on the programme and hope that you find the coming two years both fruitful and enriching.The PME programme is a full-time rigorous programme that will equip you with the varied and complex skills required to teach in second-level schools in Ireland and internationally. You will find links to a range of documents to assist you as you begin to apply for your school placement, as well as some general information about the course.
The documentation includes:
1. Sample cover letters for applying for a school placement
2. Sample CV for the purposes of placement
3. PME 1 Checklist which you must sign by completing the form linked here by Monday the 9th of September.
4. School Placement Handbook 24/25
5. Fitness to Practice Statement 2024 indicate that you have read and understood this statement by completing this form by Monday the 9th of September
6. UCD School Placement Timetable template
Submitting your school timetable
- Please ensure you have submitted your school timetable by Wednesday the 4th of September.
- Include the school’s Eircode.
- Use the UCD school placement timetable template linked here. Timetables not submitted on the UCD template will not be accepted.
- Date the timetable and if any changes are made, submit a new one with the date of any revisions.
- Email your timetable to your tutor and submit it to the School of Education via the following form here.
From time to time, schools also contact us directly with specific requirements. We will record these requests on this live document which will be updated regularly.
School Placement
It is important to send your CV and cover letter to the relevant schools via email as soon as possible. Please note that you can undertake your first-year school placement in any post-primary school within a 100km radius of the UCD campus. The most up-to-date details of all post-primary schools are available on the DES website.
From time to time, schools also contact us directly with specific requirements. We will record these requests on this live document which will be updated regularly.
School Placement Forms
In terms of documentation required by us to confirm placement, there are two online forms which should be completed as soon as possible, which are available below:
1. You must complete and submit this form when you secure your placement.
2. You must then send this link to your principal or deputy principal and request that they complete it as soon as possible.
It is important that both forms are completed as soon as you have secured your placement so that we have a complete record of your placement for year 1 of the PME. This is essential for our planning and for Teaching Council registration information.
Availability for School Placement
Regarding your availability to schools and your placement timetable for next year, while the academic timetable for your academic work in UCD is still to be finalised for 2023/24 (and will not be finalised until August), PME 1 students typically are available to schools as follows:
Monday – available to school in the morning and must be in UCD by 2pm for mandatory tutorials and lectures;
Tuesday – available to school in the morning and may need to be in UCD in the afternoon/evening for methods lectures – depending on subject specialisms;
Wednesday – available to school in the morning and may need to be in UCD in the afternoon/evening for methods lectures – depending on subject specialisms;
Thursday – not available to school as there are mandatory lectures in UCD from 9 am;
Friday – available to school all day
If you have any additional questions around placement or any other aspect of the course, please feel free to contact the PME team at education@ucd.ie.
Child Protection Online Course
We strongly recommend that you complete the TUSLA Universal ELearning Programme at your earliest convenience as it will be very useful for the PME programme and is a requirement for anyone who is working with children. It will be important to note that you have this completed on your CV.
The link to the TUSLA Universal ELearning Programme is here: https://www.tusla.ie/children-first/children-first-e-learning-programme/
University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
T: +353 1 716 7777