Q My daughter wants to do primary teaching, but we are worried that there will be few jobs by the time she graduates due to falling enrolments. What do you think of the long term prospects for permanent jobs? Listowel, Co Kerry, mother

A The statistics show a drop of some 70,000 pupils by the year 2000, and births have certainly been falling pretty dramatically since the early 1980s. However, I would still encourage a Leaving Cert student in 1996 to go ahead and accept a teachers training place in a college of education.

There is a shortage of substitute teachers at the moment a number of pilot substitute panels have been set ups and I feel that these are likely to be extended. Certainly the INTO will press for permanent status for teachers on panels eventually.

Very few graduates get permanent teaching jobs straight away but that applies to almost all careers. A few years doing substitute and temporary work is the norm for many graduates, and there is nothing wrong with this as it can give a wide range of experience. Where a problem would arise is if permanent employment did not follow after a reasonable interval.

The numbers in teacher training colleges are controlled by the Department of Education, so the likelihood of a flood of unemployed teachers on the market seems remote. The various early retirement provisions, which will probably be gradually extended over the years, should also make for more vacancies.

National teaching is still a good jobs bet the problem is that it will probably get more difficult to get into teacher training college.

Q I am 32 years old and have worked as a toolmaker since graduating from the

RTC in Sligo in 1985 with a qualification in this area. I have always longed to teach and wonder if it would be possible for me, even though I do not have the Leaving Cert points or a foreign language? Killarney, Co Kerry, reader

A It may indeed be possible for you to qualify as a teacher and the area of your specialisation is one where the job opportunities for teachers are very good indeed. Schools generally find it difficult to get enough engineering and technical drawing teachers, and those who qualify in this area are virtually guaranteed jobs.

What used to be Thomond College of Education has been incorporated into the University of Limerick, and four year teacher training degree courses are run there in physical education, construction technology and engineering technology. The engineering technology graduates are trained to teach material technology (metal) at Junior Cert and engineering studies at Leaving Cert they also teach technical graphics.

There has long been a strong and positive tradition of people coming from the world of work into teacher training for these practical subjects indeed, initially all such teachers came via this route that is before the full time four year degree was set up in Thomond.

UL welcomes applications from mature applicants, and your work experience in tool making would weigh heavily in your favour. As a mature applicant you would not need to meet the points or matriculation requirements which apply to school leavers. Your Sligo RTC qualification would be taken into account and they would probably ask you to come for interview they would also want to see all your educational certification and statements about your work.

You apply directly to UL, not through the CAO, and it would appear your chances could be quite good.

Q My daughter is going into Transition Year and some of the choices she has to make will affect her Leaving Cert subject choices. She would hope to apply for medicine you reported recently about the requirement going up to two higher science subjects. Should she be planning for two science subjects? Cork parent

A UCC intends to raise the entry requirements for medicine to two higher science subjects from 1998. As you live in Cork, I'm assuming she will have an interest in UCC, so two higher science subjects would certainly be essential for her. Trinity at ready requires this (indeed a 13 in one of them) and UCC also already requires it for dentistry.

The Medical Council recently recommended, in discussion document on medical training, that all colleges abolish the premed year as UCC is doing and change the entry requirement to two higher science subjects. I would imagine, therefore, that it is likely that the other medical schools will follow this guideline.

Indeed, even in the case of students applying for medical places in 1996 and 1997, two higher science subjects would be an advantage. In UCC, for example, they are starting to phase out the pre-med year and students with the requisite science grades are in some cases going to be allowed to bypass it already. In UCG, also, cart of the science course which formed the main part of the pre-med year has been replaced with medical studies for students with the relevant Leaving Cert science subjects.

Q My first child is sitting the Leaving Cert this year and I am being driven demented I used to think other parents were exaggerating the stress of it all. I find it impossible to get him to sit down and study, we have terrible rows and the younger children make such a racket all the time. How do other people cope? Galway mother

A I think you are going to have to put the whole household into exam mode for the next two months. There is no easy solution as to how you do this, but it is very difficult for a child to concentrate on study if other people in the house are watching television, making noise and going about enjoying themselves as normal.

Try getting everybody mother and father included to sit down and work out a timetable for their activities which will fit in as well as possible with the exam candidate the young ones could do their homework and quieter activities during the study periods. Or you could plan some outings while he studies.

Agreement in advance on the number of hours he will study and when could help avoid rows if you've agreed a timetable, then the opportunities for clashes and protests of about to want to watch Friends" are reduced. I think the biggest mistake parents make and it's not an easy one to avoid is to be arbitrary, to get a sudden spasm of guilt, start berating the child for not studying and try to rush him to his desk immediately with a lot of scolding this drives teenagers mad and rows inevitably result.

An agreed timetable for each week is vital then you both know where you stand. Build in a few incentives, too, such as some extra pocket money or new clothes or a special outing with friends or cook him a favourite dish.

It's vital to have a set spot for study that is comfortable with all his books stacked there.

Examine your own lifestyles t. Are you going out socialising and having a good time while at the same time you try to pin him down at home? A bit of sacrifice on your part car pay off handsomely, with him seeing that you are knuckling down and showing real practical support.

Q I would like to study medicine and need to sit either the Leaving Cert again or A levels. Which would be best from the points perspective and what are the chances of an Irish applicant getting into medicine in a UK university? Co Meath reader

A The method used for calculating points from A Level results by Irish universities is not all that favourable, and this can be a disadvantage. On the other hand, you only have to do three subjects at A Level, and while the course is more demanding, there is more time to concentrate on the subjects. I have met applicants who found doing A Levels a very good idea, and the chances of getting higher grades are possibly better in these exams this, of course, presupposes a high level of ability on your part.

Your chances of getting accepted into a UK university are better with A Levels than with Leaving Cert, but I would also warn that very few no more than a handful of Republic of Ireland students get into medicine in Britain or Northern Ireland.