Tim Moran is doing an MA in leadership in early childhood care and education at IT Sligo. He is in his second of four semesters in the part-time, distance-learning course. Moran, who lives in Cork city, returned to education after a long absence. Originally from the US, he graduated from Columbia University with a degree in literature and history in 1981.
He worked in various jobs in his 20s, “trying different things”. One of those was childcare. “It resonated with me and continues to do so.”
He now has 25 years of pre-school education experience.
He has various qualifications in early childhood education, but none of them were the equivalent of a Fetac Level 7 or 8, now required for certain government funding.
“I was faced with upgrading my qualification,” he said. Because he has a university degree, he decided to do a master’s.
“Graduate-level study is challenging, and it’s challenging to juggle it with family life and with my working life,” Moran said. He continues to work in childcare almost full time.
“Another thing I have to say is the expense is big. Childcare is not a lucrative field. It’s a risk in the sense that it has required us to dig into savings deeper than we’d like to. As a part-time student, I get no assistance.” Course fees are €7,500.
Moran and his classmates and tutors meet in person for one week every semester. The rest of the time, they communicate online via email and Moodle. He is happy with the course but wishes there was a little more face-to-face time.
“Discussion and learning from your peers is really important and very valuable for educators,” he said. “All of us would probably like for there to be more of that. I certainly would. But the course is in Sligo. I live in Cork. It’s impossible.”
He hopes to diversify what he does professionally after he graduates. “I don’t know yet what form that work will take, whether that will be working with adults or teaching people training to be childcare workers themselves,” he said.
