Transition Year courses in Ireland that students keep.
An accredited 120 hour TEFL qualification, delivered entirely online, that a TY class can finish in as little as three to four weeks. Fifty two schools across twenty counties already run it.
No timetable rebuild. One member of staff holds the code, we do the rest.
Nine months of access, so a class that starts in September is under no pressure to finish in September.
The short version
Transition Year courses in Ireland, answered plainly.
If you are comparing Transition Year courses and only have a minute, this is the whole thing in one place.
- What it is
- An accredited 120 hour TEFL qualification, teaching English as a foreign language, taken fully online by Transition Year students as a TY course or elective.
- Who accredits it
- Ofqual regulated and OTCAC accredited, carrying 120 CPD credits with The CPD Group. The TEFL Institute of Ireland is Ireland’s only Ofqual regulated TEFL provider.
- How long it takes
- Ten assessed modules. Three to four weeks for a focused class, or one slot a week across a term. Students keep nine months of access either way.
- What the school does
- One member of staff holds the access code. There is nothing to teach, nothing to prepare and nothing to mark.
- What the student ends with
- A named and dated certificate recognised worldwide, plus per student module records you can put in front of a TY review.
- Where it already runs
- Fifty two schools across twenty counties in Ireland and Northern Ireland, from Donegal to west Cork.
- When it starts
- September and January intakes, quoted per cohort. Northern Ireland schools run the same course as sixth form enrichment.
A note before you read the rest
Every TY coordinator I speak to in August is holding the same problem. You have a year to fill, a budget that is smaller than the plan, and a room of fifteen year olds who can tell within a week whether something is real or whether it is filler.
So here is the honest version. This is a qualification, not an activity. Ten modules, a quiz at the end of each, and a certificate with the student’s name on it that is recognised by language schools and employers well outside Ireland. It runs online, so it costs you one slot a week rather than a bus, a risk assessment and a day out.
It is not right for every school. If your TY is already tight and you have nowhere to put it, I will say so rather than sell you a place. If you want to talk it through before you commit to anything, email me directly and we will look at your actual numbers.
Jess
Why this one
How the best Transition Year courses compare.
Transition Year is full of good things that leave nothing behind. This is the test we would want a coordinator to apply to us, so we have applied it ourselves and shown where we come out.
The TY activity test
Five questions worth asking of anything that takes a slot in your year.
Swipe the table sideways to see all three columns.
| The question | A typical TY activity or module | A work experience week | A 120 hour TEFL certificate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does the student end up holding an external qualification? | × No | × No | ✓ Yes, named and dated |
| Is there per student evidence you can show at a review? | ~ Usually a portfolio page | ~ A report and a log | ✓ Ten module records and completion data |
| Does it still count to somebody in three years? | × Rarely | ~ As a reference | ✓ It is how you get paid work abroad |
| What does it cost you in timetable and staffing? | ~ A slot plus a teacher to run it | × A week, plus placement admin | ✓ One slot, nothing to teach or mark |
| Can a student who misses three weeks still catch up? | × Usually not | × No | ✓ Yes, self paced with nine months of access |
It is globally recognised
The same 120 hour certificate adults take before they move abroad to teach. A TY student finishes with the qualification, not a version of it made easier for schools.
It fits a real school year
Start in September or in January. Run it weekly across a term, or block it into three or four intensive weeks after the exams. Both work, and the fit planner below shows you which suits your slot.
It changes how they speak
Standing in front of a room and explaining the present perfect to somebody who does not have it yet does something no worksheet does. That is the character building bit, and we have set out exactly what we mean by it below.
Interactive · character and maturity
What Transition Year is for, and where this lands on it.
Transition Year exists to grow the person, not the grade. Pick an aim on the left and we will show you where the course actually meets it, and what a student ends up with as evidence.
Where the statement names a certificate
Fifteen year olds do not become adults in a workshop. They become adults when somebody depends on them.
Personal Growth · Student Dimension 1 of 4
Students mature socially and emotionally over the course of the year, developing in areas that include health and wellbeing, autonomy, identity, empathy and leadership.NCCA Transition Year Programme Statement, in effect since September 2025
The turning point on this course is not a module. It is the first time a student has to explain something they thought was obvious to somebody who does not have it yet, and discovers that they cannot. That is where empathy stops being a poster on a wall.
- Ten assessed modules completed without a teacher standing over them, which is autonomy with a record attached
- Classroom management and behaviour modules that are, in practice, a course in reading a room
- A named certificate they earned rather than attended
Read more
More on Transition Year courses.
Longer pieces on the same subject, written for coordinators and for students deciding what to pick.
- Best Transition Year courses in IrelandWhat to compare before you commit a slot.
- Transition Year courses in IrelandThe wider picture on what schools are running.
- Online courses for Transition Year studentsSix that are worth a look this year.
- Online TEFL course for your Transition Year programmeHow the course runs week to week.
- TEFL as a Transition Year electiveSlotting it in as an elective rather than a block.
- TY programmes built on real world skillsWhere this fits in a wider TY plan.
- Accredited courses for Transition Year studentsWhat accreditation actually means here.
- Five skills TY students learn on a TEFL courseThe life skills side, in detail.
- Why a TEFL course suits Transition YearThe short case for coordinators.
- What TY students sayUnedited feedback from students who finished it.
- Ard Scoil na nDeise, DungarvanOne school’s year, start to finish.
- Managing the course as a TY studentWritten for students, not for staff.
Transition Year is planned in the gaps between everything else, usually by one person who took it on as well as a full timetable. So we write the thing we would want if we were doing that job.
One email on the first Wednesday of the month, for TY coordinators in Ireland and for the enrichment and careers leads doing the same job in the North. Nothing in July or August, because nobody is in.
- What other schools are actually running, and how they fit it into a week that is already full.
- Dates and deadlines far enough ahead to still be useful. Gaisce, work experience windows, the standardised year.
- Framework wording worth quoting in your own TY plan and your own evidence.
- One coordinator’s year, written by somebody doing the job, not by us.
- 01The 2026/27 standardised year, with the four windows where a short course actually fits
- 02Gaisce counts weeks, not hours. What that means if you are planning a Bronze cohort
- 03A coordinator in Westmeath on running it with sixty two students and no extra staff
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Next step
Get a quote for your cohort.
Pricing is tiered by the number of students, so the per student figure comes down as the group grows. Tell Jess your year group and rough numbers and you get a written quote and a start date back, not a phone chase.
A short email with your cohort size and the term you are aiming at is enough to begin.
Cohort size, the slot you have, who is holding the code at your end, and whether a September or January start suits you better.
Students enrol themselves online with the school code, using their school email. No lists to compile, no logins to hand out.
Access is instant and you can see class progress from day one.
For coordinators, parents and boards
Who checks the course a school puts in front of its students
Transition Year students take our 120-hour TEFL certificate, accredited by OTCAC and carrying CPD credits through The CPD Group. Our Level 5 diplomas are the government regulated route: regulated by Ofqual, awarded by Highfield Qualifications and listed on a public register, and they are the ones students go on to if they want to teach for real after school.
We publish every reference number rather than describe the courses as simply “internationally accredited”, so a coordinator or a parent can check it in a minute.
See our accreditation and regulation record