Quo Vadis Opinions

I’m getting an increasing number of clients considering a degree, so today’s post is about the general routes into college for people 23 years old on or before 1st January 2010. (such applicants are known as  mature student)

There are a number of routes into 3rd level colleges to complete a degree as follows

1. Direct entry to a 3rd level college.
If you are likely to have the leaving certificate points for a particular course which does not have restricted access (e.g. a portfolio or interview application process), you still have up to the 1st May to apply for a course starting this September. So in this case normal CAO timetable dates apply as you are not applying as mature student.

There is no standard CAO timetable for mature students. Confusingly each college has it’s own timetable and even within a college different deadlines apply for different courses.
The deadline for applying for entry in September 2010 as a mature student has passed for most 3rd level colleges in the greater Dublin area. Only Maynooth is still accepting applications for some 3rd level courses for September 2010 from mature students.

2. A Post Leaving Certificate  course (PLC)
These are generally of one year’s duration, though some are two years, usually they have a FETAC certificate and are available in a wide range of areas and colleges, including FAS. A FETAC certificate with a distinction can often be used to gain entry to a 3rd level college. Some of these courses are excellent; others have very little substance so do your research and make sure to talk to past students of your specific course. Many of these courses are currently processing applications now.

3. Pre University Access courses
Generally these courses are run by the 3rd level college or in partnership with a PLC college. Their specific aim is to prepare mature students for progression to a degree. Sometimes satisfactory course completion leads to automatic entry into a 3rd level course. This can be an excellent option as it means you can obtain a taste of college life in a course with other mature students. As these courses can often be very broad, it means you can also defer a decision on which specific course you select, when you have more information to make a more informed decision.
The deadline for application to Trinity’s access course  for september 2010 has now passed, but other colleges are still accepting applications e.g. DIT

Sometimes these courses, give access to full time degrees  but sometimes the degree option available is only part time, which means fees will be payable. So you need to know exactly what options are available at the end of your access course.

There are many more issues to consider when considering a return to education, so you will need to do your research to find out what’s right for you.

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A funny game where you can throw things at the boss
Click to go to game

From the BPS research blog

People think that money affects happiness more than it really does
“So zealous is our pursuit of money, it’s as if we think it will somehow make us happier. Strangely enough, whilst psychologists and economists have conducted numerous studies showing that the relationship between income and happiness is weak, only one prior study has asked what lay people really believe about money and happiness (and this was focused on middle-income, working women). A team have found that people do indeed overestimate the link between money and happiness, especially at lower levels of income.

More detailed analysis showed that people on higher incomes were more likely to overestimate the relationship between money and happiness, perhaps because they had more to fear from losing the ability to maintain their current standard of living”.

“We demonstrate that adult Americans erroneously believe that earning less than the median household income is associated with severely diminished happiness,” the researchers said. “[This is] a false belief that may lead many people to chase opportunities for increased wealth or forgo a reduction in income for increased free time.”
Full story here

“I wanted a new challenge” - Cross-cultural differences in workers’ thoughts about their career changes
“Katharina Chudzikowski and her colleagues interviewed a mix of over a hundred nurses and blue- and white-collar workers from five countries - Austria, Serbia, Spain, USA and China.
Their stand-out finding? Workers in the United States didn’t ever attribute a career transition to an external cause, such as conflict with a boss. Not once. Instead they tended to mention internal factors, such as their desire for a fresh challenge. By contrast, workers in China almost exclusively stressed the role played by external factors. Meanwhile, workers in the the European nations were more of a mix, attributing their career transitions to both internal and external factors.”

Hey we Europeans are more realistic and balanced!
Full story here

Getting involved in changing the world is good for you as activists are generally happier. (Not though if it involves extremism apparently,) I wonder does it apply to getting involved in Irish politics? Have found politician clients tend to be more cynical than happy!
Full story here

Learning a new language: reading the foreign subtitles on films helps
Full story here

As this is the last blog before Christmas. Hope you all have a lovely and restful break.

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A range of free degree and masters courses are aimed at people unemployed or about to become unemployed. Well worthwhile checking out as you’ll keep your existing allowances. You’ll need to move fast though as the deadlines for applications are close.
Go to undergraduate course list

Go to Masters course list

Why you should not have your boss as a friend on facebook. This girl appears to have been sacked!
Go to link

Nice article on getting the most out of mentoring.
Go to link

Glad to see that Abercrombie and Fitch have lost this case. It’s hard enough to have a disability without being made to feel like a reject. At the height of the craze for their clothes, I bought two overpriced hoodies for my teenagers when in London as a special treat. Can’t believe I queued for twenty minutes to pay in their badly lit and laid out London store. Then when my two heard how they treat their staff, they gave out about buying them!
Go to link

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Disturbing figures on the dropout rates from science courses. These range from 39% in DCU to 29% in UCD according to the Irish Times.  Commentators are arguing this is because points for science are much lower than for other courses, so less able students are choosing these courses.

Government policy is to generate badly needed jobs in the science and technology area, so this is worrying.
I’ve written before  about high college dropout rates  and the lack of accountability.    In England they do an annual student feedback survey and publish course completion rates on this website. You can find out a wide range of information from what students thought of the lecturing support, to whether exam marking criteria was clearly published, to whether they got good feedback, to student employment rates.  It’s not perfect, but far  better than what we have here, which is a total lack of transparency and accountability.

I’m  DCU is so high, as they have a good support programme in place and the college president appears to show a lot of commitment to students on his blog. They were also very helpful to a client who did not achieve their expected leaving cert results last year.

If the Government are serious about changing the poor completion rates, then they need to look at the following areas:

 1. The honours maths course is very long and consumes more study time than many other subjects. The curriculum needs to be revised or else award bonus points for honours maths.  Initiatives like project maths which help to address the relevance issue should be rolled out quicker.

2. Teaching of science in primary and secondary schools needs increased sustained & consistent support.  The science curriculum rightly requires practical experiments. The stuff that students love doing & encourages interest in science. But science experiments require well equipped science labs and the Government have not recognised this.  For example after many years of lobbying, Our Lady’s school in Terenure finally got their go ahead for a new science lab (before the cutbacks) in June 2008. The existing classrooms were cleared out, the advance construction crew arrived then two days later they were told work was to stop, funding had been withdrawn. Yet money had already been spent getting ready for the new building! Yet more evidence of a slash and burn approach to cost cutting which is so demoralising for people working in the area.

3 The availability of good careers in science must be publicised more to students and their parents. Careers paths need to be clearer.

4. Many students struggle at 3rd level because studying for the Leaving requires  memorisation and rote learning with plenty of support for students.  Then they go to college which requires independent learning (i.e. you have to learn yourself) and less support from lecturers, whilst also coping with a totally new set of people, often without any friends.   3rd level colleges could do more to help students make the necessary changes in study approach. The Institutes of Technology are generally  better than the Universities in this regard. For example some of DIT’s business courses have special induction weeks at the end of which they make sure students know at least one other student.

Students themselves need to do more research into courses. I’m often surprised at the lack of research put in by clients on courses. You would not buy a car without doing the research and visiting a few garages but some students put more work into choosing a car then choosing a course which has life time implications.
I’ve even had one client(student)  who did not know the applied leaving cert course does not count for points for college applications!

So be prepared to spend time and energy researching colleges.
Don’t just go for a course on the basis of points. I’ve written on selecting a course several times. You can even look at boards.ie  here to as they have people commenting on courses.

So if you’re considering a science course, don’t be put off by the lower points required and  high dropout rates, do the research and decide  whether the course is right for you.

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Creative Careers Back Online
Ireland’s jobs and opportunities website for the arts/creative sector is re-launching with an extended service including an Careers Chat Forum, Training | Seminar section, Classifieds section and an RSS feed for the latest jobs and opportunities. 
 Go to creative careers website

National Learning Network: FAS funded courses
National Learning Network is Ireland’s largest non-government training organisation. It provides a wide range of certified Vocational Training Courses throughout the Country. They provide the following FAS funded courses.

The Advance Program is designed to provide participants with the necessary Skills Knowledge and Attitude to make realistic vocational choices for training and employment, based on a clear understanding of their strengths and needs, relevant to the availability and appropriateness of training and employment.

Fresh Start Offers support to participants in deciding what kind of career they are interested in, finding out what kind of job they would be good at and finding out about educational and further training options

Employer Based Training Programmes are provided through employers in the workplace and conducted by Host Company Trainers, with the objective of preparing trainees for employment of their choice.
National Learning network

The Institute of Chartered Accountants has introduced a new entry route aimed at mature students. This is called the Elevation Programme. There will be an  Evening Briefing - 30th July at the  ICAI Dublin office
ICAI representatives will be available to answer any queries on the Elevation Programme on 30th July, 6pm to 7:30pm in ICAI Dublin office, Burlington Road. See Further details on event website

Update from Aontas on the reintroduction of fees.
“Minister for Education & Science, Batt O’ Keefe TD circulated his report on the reintroduction of third level fees to cabinet last week. While the 110-page report lists five possible options for a new system of student contributions, the Minister has signalled his support for an Australian-style student loan scheme.
According to media reports, the loans advanced to student to pay fees could be repayable – possibly through the taxation system – once they have reached an income threshold after graduation. Sources stress that the income threshold may be higher than the €18,300 used for illustrative purposes in the report.
Other features of the report include:
• The loan scheme, while costing €75 million per year initially, could yield up to €380 million in revenue once fully operational;
• Discussions have already taken place with the National Treasury Management Agency and Revenue about their possible role in the operation of the student loan scheme;
• The student registration charge – currently averaging about €1,500 – could be absorbed into the loan, leaving students with no “up front” payments; higher education would become “free” at the point of use for the individual student.
• Part-time students, who currently pay full fees, could secure the student loans;
• Discounts would be given to student who pay off the debt before it is due and possibly for those who pay fee charges up front;
• An interest rate of 3 per cent could apply to the debt;
• Increased emigration will increase the risk that “some element of student loans will not be repaid”.

Update from  Aontas  on new college places
“The provision of 2,500 new places on part-time undergraduate and postgraduate courses for people who are unemployed is part of the Government’s efforts to retrain and upskill the labour force. 1,500 (announced in the April Supplementary Budget) of the new places will be on a range of undergraduate certificate and degree-level programmes at levels 6 to 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). The remaining 1,000 places will be available for unemployed graduates to undertake part-time postgraduate diplomas or conversion programmes at levels 8 to 9 on the NFQ. All 2,500 places will be on courses that support the goals of the Government’s “Smart Economy” plan and particularly those relating to specific skills needs of exporting sectors identified by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs.

Details of the third level institutions providing these places and information on how to apply for a place will be announced in the coming weeks. The information will also be made available through local FÁS and Department of Social and Family Affairs offices.

The scheme will be open to people who have been on the Live Register for at least six months on 1 September 2009, or who have been awarded Statutory redundancy and have an entitlement to a relevant social welfare payment. One of the conditions for people participating on these new part-time places is that they continue to be available and seeking work. Once they satisfy these conditions they will be entitled to retain their social welfare payments. Where they receive an offer of full-time work they must take up this offer of employment. Tuition fees will not be charged for these courses, though postgraduate students may be required to pay a small charge. (The max is €500 – see HEA for more information) Students will not be required to pay the €1,500 registration fee. “

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A very interesting competition from the National College of Ireland and Metro newspaper.
The winner gets a package of educational supports worth €20,000 towards fees, mentoring, and even a style package!

An application form must be completed including a 2,000 word  essay. While  this may put off some people, many colleges require an essay to be completed as part of a college application, so if you’re serious about further study the work you put into this won’t go to waste as it can be re-worked for other college applications.

Emma  from NCI is also offering to help people with their applications.

Closing date is Tuesday 28th of July.

Further details and an application form here

“Adults shouldn’t have to sit in a classroom and learn what they already know,” says programme director Joseph McCann.

So the All hallows college has developed a new degree in personal & professional development, which aims to take  what you’ve already learned into account. (All Hallows is now a college of Dublin City University so it has credibility)

It’s part time, modular, with free car parking on site. Fees are competitive as well at €1,500 per annum. They’re currently accepting applications for september 2009.

Go to College web site

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I criticised job supports in the last post, and   then the Government announce some positive changes in the recent budget.   Total coincidence of course. I don’t have any influence there.

When you’re dealing with various officials make sure to ask about these changes as they can take a while to filter down.

Thanks to Aontas for summarising below:

 ”The Back to Education Allowance Scheme
The Back to Education Allowance Scheme allows jobseekers who qualify for it to return to education and maintain their welfare payment. Improvements are being made as follows:

Jobseekers who have been out of formal education for at least 2 years will now be able to access the second level Back To Education Allowance once they have been in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance/Benefit for at least three months (down from six months).
Earlier access is also being provided to the BTEA third level scheme. Presently, there is a general requirement that a person be receiving a jobseekers payment for 12 months before they can access the scheme. They can access it at nine months if this is recommended by a FÁS Employment Services Officer. This is now being extended so that they will also be able to access it at nine months if this is recommended by one of the Facilitators of the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

New Graduate Placement Scheme
The Department of Social and Family Affairs and Enterprise, Trade and Employment are working together to devise a new graduate placement scheme. It is intended that graduates will be allowed to maintain their social welfare entitlements whilst gaining work experience.

Short Courses

Places on Short Courses provided by FÁS were increased by 51,000 in February, bringing the total to 78,000. Almost a further 14,000 places announced in the Budget brings the total number of training places available to 92,000.

Redundant Apprentices

For redundant apprentices the Budget made provision for an additional 700 places on a new Institutes of Technology training programme, which means that approximately 3,400 redundant apprentices in total will now be able to progress their apprenticeships.

Pilot Training Scheme for Workers on Short Time

A pilot training programme of 277 places is also to be undertaken at a cost of €1 million and is to be introduced for sustaining vulnerable employment. Under this programme workers who are placed on a three-day week and receiving social welfare payments for the days they are not working will receive 2 days training a week for a period of 52 weeks.

Post Leaving Certificate

PLC provision will be expanded by 1,500 places in September 2009

Extra Places at Third Level

·         930 places on short part-time transition courses to facilitate entry to courses starting in September 2009;

·         280 places on accelerated certificate programmes beginning immediately ;

·         2,000 full-time third level

Part Time Third Level Education Places

In conjunction with D/ETE, 1,500 third level places will be provided to enable persons who are unemployed or who are on short time working, to pursue third level certificate or degree programmes at levels 6, 7, and 8 on a part-time basis. The estimated cost is €4 million.”

Visit Aontas for more information also look at their very useful booklet on returning to further education. A new supplement specifically aimed at people just made redundant is also available.

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I’ve written about FAS before and how the actions of management at the top impact what goes on the rest of the organisation. Lately I’ve been hearing more and more complaints from clients about FAS and the lack of customer service.

Here’s just one example. A construction worker realises last August that he needs to retrain. He visits FAS, deals with a very nice person who says, come back in two weeks and they’ll book him in to train as a heavy goods vehicle driver. So he goes back two weeks later, to a new person who contradicts what the first person says saying there’s a long waiting list and they’ll be in touch. Oh and he’s not guaranteed a place on the course, he has to do a selection test.

So in the meantime, this client moves house into cheaper accommodation as he’s been made redundant. Then he’s told he’ll have to re-register, come back in two weeks, then he’s told he does not have to re- register  so this goes on and on and four months later he’s still waiting to receive any kind of training. So he decides  to develop his computer skills. He goes back to FAS again who tell him  if he signs up for this course, he’ll lose his place on the driving course because he can only be on the waiting list for one course at a time!

So seven months later he receives a letter inviting him for interview and threatening him with a welfare benefits review if he does not attend. Talk about loading on the stress to a man who already feels deeply ashamed as this is the first time he’s even been unemployed and he feels guilty about drawing the dole.
He must present at the interview, his  driving theory test pass certificate for heavy vehicles to be considered for the course.
Unfortunately no one has previously told him about this requirement, so with less than a weeks notice, he tries to apply for the test. His local test centre has a six month waiting list. So he starts ringing all the test centres and eventually he gets a cancellation in a centre one hundred miles away. He passes the theory test and attends the interview and gets a place on the course. However no can tell him where the course is going to be held or when it is going to be held.  So he continues to wait.

Organisations are not perfect, but I’m hearing so many stories like this about FAS it’s clear they are failing job seekers and not treating them with respect. Giving people this kind of run around is not good enough.
There’s plenty of other examples. Trainers not training on courses because they’re studying for their own exams or other personal tasks.  Training days spent on “quality team bonding time” in Marley park.
At a very stressful time in their lives, unemployed workers are being let down. One client recently said to me “I’ll consider anything, but FAS, I’ve had enough of them”.

It’s not just individual lives they are messing about with though. The national skills strategy estimates that for a future successful economy we will need to up skill,  only 7%  of the workforce should be trained to Junior Certificate level. Currently nearly 28% of our workforce are at Junior Certificate level, so there is a big challenge here to up skill. We need a higher level of skill in our workforce if employers are to fill the vacancies in the future.

So if you have to use FAS training services, save your self some hassle, make sure you ask the following questions at the  very first interview for further training

1. Has a definite date for this course being set?
2. Where is the venue for this course?
3. Is there a waiting list for this course?
4. If yes, how long before you are likely to be called?
5. Are there any other options for you while you are waiting?
6. Is the course being held subject to enough  participants?
7. If yes, how many participants are currently booked in?
8. Are there are advance requirements for the course? e.g present driving theory test?
9. What is the selection criteria for this course?, interview, psychometrics, etc
10. Is there any accreditation for this course –FETAC etc
11. Are there any follow on courses necessary to become properly skilled- e.g. many of the computer courses require several modules to get the ECDL qualification. One client is still waiting 2 months later to attend his 2nd module.

If your FAS adviser does not have the answers to these questions, say you’ll wait while they get the answers, or else make a specific appointment to see them personally another day. Make sure they know you are coming back to see them and no one else, as this encourages them to get the answers you need.

The cliché “Information is power” still holds. If you know you’re going to be waiting six months before you get anything, then at least you can make some decisions, rather than hoping that every day you’ll hear some thing about your course as my poor client did.
I’ll let you know whether he ever gets on to the course.

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Scam jobs being offered again. Don’t get caught.
Link to article

There is life after working in  construction
Link to article

Check how good your presentation skills are and get some tips
Link to website

Further training had monetary benefits for Irish workers from €18,000 to €65,000
Link to report

Student finance which is an Irish website giving details of supports for education wins best educational site award
Link to website

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