CAO and degrees are no longer the only option in town.
Today, there are also apprenticeship options including auctioneering, biopharma, cybersecurity, hospitality and recruitment, alongside more traditional craft options such as plumbing and motor mechanics.
Then there are traineeships, offering targeted training to develop workers with specific skills to work in areas with job vacancies.
There’s the Post Leaving Cert course, which has been beefed up over the past decade to offer a useful qualification in its own right, as well as a potential pathway to third-level.
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Even at third level, a suite of new courses from the National Tertiary Office (nto.hea.ie) will see students complete a year of further education before directly transferring to a third-level — and these courses are free in the initial year.
These are all welcome developments, but there’s one major downside: students who are overwhelmed with the stress of the Leaving Cert might not be aware of all these choices, or they may feel confused by all their options.
All of these means that while there is more choice, it’s also more important to understand yourself in order to pick the right further or higher education course.
Know your interests
Choosing the right course takes hard work, proper investigation and analysis, says Ailbe Murphy, career guidance expert with Studyclix.ie
“Looking at yourself and what’s right for you is key to it. Look at the results of academic and career aptitude tests. Look at your strengths and weaknesses. Attend as many career exhibitions and college open days as possible to explore the college, learn about courses, gather information, view campus accommodation and get a feel of the campus. Attending an open day gives you the opportunity to ask questions and discover what makes your prospective course different from other colleges.”
The interest profile on CareersPortal.ie is an excellent resource for students to help understand what does — and doesn’t — make them tick, and what kind of career path they might enjoy.
Know the course and college
“It is important that you enjoy the three or four years of whatever you are studying,” says Bernadette Walsh, guidance counsellor with CareersPortal.ie.
“Looking at the modules, and their details, is crucial. A very important piece of research along with understanding what they like and dislike about the course - the content and modules each year is the college itself and the pros and cons of attending the [third-level].
“Also crucial is looking through the lens of (non-academic) factors that are important to you, particularly the clubs and societies — and you can find out more about these at the open days.”
It’s important to consider the course requirements and whether they might contain aspects of study that are less appealing to you.
“If you are looking at science or engineering courses, for instance, you also need to consider if you might need maths,” says Walsh.
With that in mind, many third-levels now have free maths support centres. These can help students who are not doing a maths degree but where some element of maths is involved — such as a psychology student struggling with an important part of that qualification: statistics.
Know the job
Whether you’re thinking about being a vet, plumber, or chef, it’s a good idea to explore what it’s like to hold that role.
“Find out what a typical day is like in these occupations,” Walsh advises. “On CareersPortal.ie, we have over 1,000 occupations profiled and they give information on the ten most common daily tasks. We ask professionals about their typical day, what subjects they took in school, how they got into the sector and more. It all comes back to how much students know and understand the course and the sector, and look at the bigger picture.”
Know your sector
It’s also important to not just look at the course but also what the sector is like, and how it may perform over time. For example, sectors like ICT are performing really well, but while there are currently jobs in construction, will they still be there in four years time? Meanwhile, there are new and emerging occupations that we don’t even know about yet, and the skills required for certain jobs, such as ICT and pharmacy, are changing so fast,” Walsh says.
It’s not necessarily a good idea to choose a course solely because there are lots of jobs and opportunities in that area but, if it is an area that genuinely interests you and there are job vacancies and opportunities available, that is a bonus.
“A guidance counsellor will always work with students around the best fit for them in the world of education or on a degree programme, but it makes sense for them to be informed about the labour market in order to make a balanced and informed choice,” Walsh says.
Questions on your path to choosing the right course
Ailbe Murphy, career guidance counsellor with Studyclix.ie, has distilled a list of questions that students can ask themselves:
- Does the course match my interests/ strengths?
- What are the college requirements, course requirements and last year’s CAO points?
- Is there a language requirement, or a specific subject and grade requirement?
- What modules will I be studying?
- Is there a lot of maths or subjects I may be weak at? If so, is there an option to give them up after first year? Also, don’t forget to look ahead at second-year module options, as these may be quite different — and potentially less appealing — to what you focus on in first year.
- What subject areas/pathways can I specialise in later?
- Is it a level seven or level eight course? Can I progress from a level seven to a level eight? What is the difference between the courses? Remember: students can access a level seven course at more reasonable points and lower requirements and still get to where they want to by progressing to a level eight course.
- Is there placement abroad/Erasmus year/work experience?
- Will I have to do further study after my degree?
- What are the career prospects after?
- After looking at the college course, then investigate if the course has any QQI links. Students can complete a relevant PLC Course, get a certain number of distinctions in their modules and progress to third level in their chosen course. This route to third level can be very competitive, however, so check out how many QQI places are available on cao.ie
Guaranteed a place at college
Over the past few years, the links between further and higher education have been strengthened, with students who complete a post-Leaving often having opportunities to progress on to a third-level course, even if they fall below the CAO points requirement. This route, however, usually relied on random selection, meaning that students could get the required eight or nine distinctions on their further education course — and still miss out on a college place.
A new initiative is helping to change that.
“A tertiary course is one that commences in an Education and Training Board (ETB) and continues in a higher education institution (HEI), culminating in the award of a degree,” says Ailbe Murphy, career guidance expert with Studyclix.ie.
At present, these include 23 degree courses outside the CAO points system, although it is widely expected that more will come on stream over time.
“Students can access degrees in nursing, business, engineering, and media without ever engaging with the CAO system,” says Murphy. “The five fields of provision include business, ICT, arts, engineering, manufacturing & construction and health & welfare.”
ETBs taking part include Donegal ETB, Galway Roscommon ETB and Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim.
“There are no fees attached to the first year of these courses in the ETBs,” says Murphy. “In subsequent years, the normal registration fees will apply.”
