Irish-Language Competency Assessments

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Description

Under the Official Languages Acts 2003 and 2021, public sector organisations are required to ensure that 20% of new recruits are proficient in Irish by 2030. With a growing demand for Irish-speaking professionals in the workforce, it’s paramount that public bodies can fairly and independently assess the language competencies of potential candidates.

Gaelchultúr is delighted to support public bodies and recruitment agencies with streamlining the hiring process for Irish-language vacancies. Our independent Irish-language competencies assessments allow for comprehensive and fair evaluations of candidates’ proficiency levels as and when required.

Why partner with Gaelchultúr?

Comprehensive Assessments: Depending on the requirements of the role, all language competences can be assessed, including speaking, listening, reading and writing skills, or specific competences can be selected for assessment, for example speaking and writing skills.

Customised Solutions: We will tailor our assessments to match the specific needs of your organisation, ensuring a precise measure of each candidate's Irish-language capabilities.

Expertise: With years of experience in Irish-language education, our team of skilled linguists and educators brings unparalleled expertise to the assessment process.

Equip your organisation with the tools to meet the 2030 Irish-language competency goal. Partner with Gaelchultúr and ensure your new recruits are ready to work bilingually with confidence and proficiency.

Get in touch with fios@gaelchultur.com to discuss learn more about how Gaelchultúr can support you in hiring the right candidate for an Irish-language role.

Our teaching approach

Gaelchultúr has developed comprehensive syllabuses and every class at every level follows these syllabuses.

The communicative approach to language teaching is used by Gaelchultúr’s teachers, giving learners the opportunity to play an active part in each class.

A strong emphasis is placed on group and pair work and learners therefore have a chance to practise what they’ve been taught. The main focus is on speaking and listening in all classes (with the exception of Cruinneas sa Ghaeilge), but reading and writing activities also feature.

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FAQs

You will need a laptop or desktop computer, a reasonably good broadband connection and a headset with a microphone (a USB headset, if possible). Headsets can be purchased online on Amazon and other websites.

You will be sent an invitation by email about 20 minutes before the class begins. This email message will come from Zoom, the video conferencing platform used to deliver the classes.

You can, indeed. Every learner will be given the opportunity to do a technical test before the course commences and any technical issues that emerge during this test will be resolved. You don’t need to organise this – we will contact you to arrange a time after you have registered for the course.

You can but you will not be able to participate in pair work and group work activities. It is better, therefore, to use a laptop or desktop computer, if possible.

We recommend that learners switch on their camera during class as it makes the learning experience more immersive. If you do not wish to turn on your camera, however, that’s perfectly fine.

There will be at least six other learners in the class and a maximum of eighteen people.

Pair work and group work activities will be an integral part of each class, therefore you’ll have plenty of opportunities to speak Irish. You will also be able to raise a virtual hand and ask the teacher questions whenever you like.

No. A digital booklet containing all the material you’ll need during the course will be emailed to you before the course commences and you will be able to use this booklet during the classes and for studying between the sessions. The cost of this booklet is included in the course fee. You will also be able to access all of the notes online. The beginners and lower intermediate classes are based on the books in the Gaeilge gan Stró! series but learners in those classes are not required to buy those publications. Note: Those attending Accuracy 1 and Accuracy 2 will be required to buy the grammar book Gramadach gan Stró! before the course commences. They will be able to buy this book at half price (€10), plus postage.

In the case of the beginners and intermediate level classes, there will be written exercises from time to time but the emphasis will be on the spoken language for the most part. We will teach grammar in context, as it’s required, and we will always ensure that there isn’t too much focus on grammatical rules. There will be a greater emphasis on writing and grammar in the higher level classes, particularly in the accuracy in Irish classes.

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Terms and Conditions

Course fees may be refunded in full to a learner up to five working days prior to the commencement of the course. The refund must by requested by contacting Gaelchultúr’s staff by email or by phone. (Our contact details can be found here.)
If, following the first class, the student decides that he/she would like to discontinue the course, 60% of the total fee will be refunded to him/her. Thereafter, no refund will be made to the student.
Gaelchultúr Teoranta has the right to cancel a class or to amalgamate classes.
If it is necessary to cancel a class, every effort will be made to place the participants in another class or to register them for an online course. A full refund will be made to the customer if these options do not suit him/her.
A student may defer his/her registration only once. If he/she wishes to defer registration, he/she must notify Gaelchultúr’s staff of this by week three of the course. No refund will be made to the student if he/she does not accept a place on the next course he/she is due to attend.
Gaelchultúr will accept no responsibility in the event that a student registers at the wrong level. We advise our students to do our online Irish test or to seek our advice to ensure that they are undertaking the correct level.
If a student wants to move to another level, we cannot guarantee that a space will be available for him/her at that level. Should a space be available, Gaelchultúr will charge a €10 administration fee for making the change. A change may only be made to another level following the first class.
Course fees must be paid in full prior to commencement of the course. Attendance on a course is subject to full payment of fees.
Every student must abide by our Code of Conduct when attending a course with us.
People under 18 years of age are not permitted to attend courses other than those specified as being suitable for those under 18 years of age. Our Child Protection Statement can be found here.