Evolving career routes boost options for school-leavers

With the arrival of Leaving Cert results last week most students will be on tenterhooks as they await the first round of CAO offers.
What is often overlooked is that there are thousands of students who sat this year’s Leaving Cert, as well as many thousands of others of all ages, who will not seek a CAO place, but instead will opt to secure places on further education (FE) programmes, apprenticeships, traineeships or in employment.
With the media focus firmly fixed on those who secured the most H1s, you could be forgiven for thinking that those who opt for alternate progression routes are perceived as having secured a less prestigious place.
Nothing could be further from the truth of course. Many other options offer applicants career progression opportunities perfectly in tune with their specific interests. It just happens that these routes are outside of the traditional CAO route.
Looked at from the perspective of any aspiring student, for a programme of study to be successful it must be a good fit for their particular strengths and aptitudes.
For those who apply for courses through the CAO, they will spend years sitting in lecture theatres, attending tutorials, writing essays, studying for long hours in college libraries and taking written exams at regular intervals.
For many aspiring learners, CAO-type courses offered in our universities and other colleges are completely unsuitable learning environments.
They may enhance their skills more effectively through a combination of observation and hands-on practice – often combined with ongoing practical evaluations to assess the levels of competency being achieved.
In many of our fellow EU-partner countries, such practical hands-on courses are seen as having equal status to those offered by third-level college
In Ireland, parental pressures can drive thousands of young people down the academic route, where they often flounder and eventually drop out at huge expense to their sense of self-esteem, their parents’ bank balance and the taxpaying public.
Thankfully, attitudes are beginning to change, and the wonderful opportunities on offer through FE, apprenticeships, traineeships and employment are gaining more and more recognition from society at large.
There are up to 30,000 places available in further-education colleges throughout the country. They are validated by Quality and Qualifications Ireland at level five and six.
Many students take post-Leaving Cert (PLC) programmes with a view to applying to a CAO course that reserves a specific number of places for FE students. Others are looking to develop a set of skills in a vocational sphere so that they can proceed directly to employment after graduation.
More than 4,000 FE students receive offers of places in round zero of the CAO process in early August every year. The CAO points attained by those students, in any previous year’s Leaving Cert, become irrelevant once they secure a good FE award.
For students who are aspiring for places in CAO colleges through the above route, the options are on offer across the country.
Details of every course on offer are available through the PLC course list on the qualifax.ie website.
Examples of just a few courses on offer in one small area of South Dublin include: games development, computer science, and arts and social science at Blackrock FEI where graduates can apply afterwards through the CAO for degree courses in UCD, TU Dublin and IT Tallaght. Graduates from Blackrock FEI business studies and law courses can progress to the business, economics and social studies and law degrees at Trinity.
Blackrock FEI also provides courses that offer direct employment in disciplines as diverse as make-up artistry and accounting technician – certified ITEC and Accounting Technician Ireland respectively. Each year their graduates also gain employment in the health sector, from courses such as pre-paramedic and over-the-counter pharmacy.
Stillorgan CFE offer a level five course in digital entrepreneurship/ebusiness designed to respond to the recent increase in remote working, equipping students with the practical skills to start their own online business, to support an existing business to develop an online ecommerce presence or to acquire the skills to work from home.
Event management with PR and digital marketing is designed to develop the skills to participate in and to co-ordinate an event from inception to completion, including conferencing, corporate travel, tourism, marketing, media, and design. An emphasis is placed on hands-on event production in this course.
Dundrum CFE offers sustainability and built environments, exploring the core principles of sustainability in construction, the scale of the detrimental environmental impact of traditional building and the rationale underpinning the necessity for a more sustainable approach to building as a response to climate change.
Thanks to rapidly changing perceptions within Government and among employers, the range of apprenticeship opportunities has diversified in recent years. There are now close to 70 different types of apprenticeship available in Ireland across 14 different industry sectors.
Alongside the well-established craft apprenticeships in areas such as construction, engineering and motor, the range of options is increasing with new apprenticeships available in areas including computer-generated imagery, healthcare, recruitment, finance, ICT, logistics, hospitality and sales.
Qualifications range from level six on the National Framework of Qualifications up to level 10 doctorate level. Solas, working with the Higher Education Authority, third-level institutes and Education and Training Boards, is the national body responsible for co-ordinating the development of a wide range of new apprenticeship programmes in many areas within our economy.
For those interested in a more direct route to employment, a traineeship is worth considering. They combine learning in an education and workplace setting and provide learners with job-specific training and workplace coaching with an employer at levels four to six on the National Framework of Qualifications.
They also give the trainee the opportunity to gain valuable experience in real work and industry environments providing cutting-edge industry skills. Traineeships are six to 20 months in duration and are delivered through local education and training boards. There are traineeship programmes available around the country across a range of industry areas including aviation, bakery, IT, animation, hospitality and digital marketing.