Minding the kids! :)

confuseddotcom

Does anyone know what the difference is in the 3 Courses; Childcare, Childcare - Classroom Assistant, and Childcare Practitioner Traineeship? Thanks.

implausible

They are all going to be called Early Childhood Care and Education under the new system: http://www.fetac.ie/fetac/documents/Managing_Transition_to_CAS_L5_L6_Info_Note_June_12.pdf (page 7).

confuseddotcom

Thanks for that Implausible. I had actually got the Courses from the Qualifax Website. I find that FETAC Site absolutely horrendous, drivels and drivels of endless writing. Just went onto FETAC there now and it's directing me over to Qualifax as a Learner. :rolleyes: Why don't they combine all those Sites; FETAC, Qualifax, Education, C.A.O. etc. and make 1 big right Website with all the information and details that anyone needs on it! But I suppose that'd be the right thing to do! :rolleyes: There's absolutely no point in the world in me looking up Courses on Qualifax if that Document about changes to Courses is on the FETAC Site and there's no reference to it, what a total pile of poop! Am I just supposed to guess that Courses are going to be changed?!

If all the currently available Childcare Course are now going to be all called the same name / Course Title, - how are they all going to be distinguishable to be each other?! Some I have been looking at have varying modules, some totally different modules, and some even with Extra modules in them! :rolleyes::D What a mindnumbing minefield!! Courses with extra modules would suggest the qualification at the end of the Course would be higher than standard qualification in some way, Courses with totally different modules would suggest different qualifications, courses with slightly/varying modules may suggested generalized qualifications which seriously need to be elaborated on and explained further. Mother of God........... I just wanna do a Course...... Such un-necessary complication for something that should be plain and simple and straight-forward! Such an embarrassment of an Education System / Curriculum and considering there's 5/6 Websites about all this stuff it doesn't say much for their worth when they're of zero help in my view anyway.

With Childcare Courses I've looked at, some have a Law Module, (Can't think what laws would be of relevance in a Creche or in Childcare in general, maybe Family Law I suppose?) some have an arts n' crafts module, some have a Health element, they all/most appear to have a First Aid Module but the module itself is named slightly differently :rolleyes: for what reason I don't know?! First Aid seems to be a requirement for working in a Creche, I've no idea if it has to be named a certain type of First Aid?! (Didn't realize there was different types of your bog-standard first-aid-giving?! :rolleyes: ) (This is getting ridiculous I better stop typing soon!!)

I know you're supposed to know what ya want to do, and I know Students can and do end up picking stab-in-the-dark random Courses but it's a shambles!! I was mentionning it to somebody a couple of days ago about the differing modules in Childcare Courses, and I think we both came to the conclusion that it may have something to do with qualifications of the Tutors teaching the Courses, that maybe what they are qualified to teach in might necessitate a slightly different module name than another Tutor teaching the same/similar module in another school. But I've since found out, well I may have this wrong, but I think PLC Tutors are qualified differently than school-teachers or something I really don't know?!?! :pac: But that's a whole other Thread in itself for another day!

But I'm just looking at 5/6 places offering Childcare in my county. I would hate to be attempting to pick a Course in the vast tropicana of Dublin!! Wowsers!! Imagine all the Secondary Schools, and V.E.C. Centres and any other places offering PLC's up there, and probably Childcare is a common enough Course I would think, so how in the name of heck are you supposed to pick which Course is best one to do if the modules are all slightly differently named?!?! Am glad am not in Dublin for that reason! But like what is the reason for that?!

It needs to be asked, - why are modules named slightly differently?! Is one Course Tutor/Teacher qualified in some ways differently than another teaching the same Course?! If so why?! Are ye not all singing off the same Hymn-sheet? Is it not logical for me to presume that ye'all work off the same Curriculum and Guidelines to teach ye're Course?! If that's not the case, how in the name of Christ can the beloved NFQ realistically even be a much-loved member of student society?! - how can the idea behind NFQ even be explained / make any sense?! - if teaching the same thing isn't being carried out and done across the board??? It just doesn't make any sense.......

Creches seek A (not any specific type a.f.a.I.k.) Level 5 Childcare qualification, does doing the different modules in the Course you did mean anything to the Creche Owner with the Staff they hire?!

And like I mean, part of the main purpose of FETAC is progression, that's all I seem to hear about is progressing on from FETAC. I would have a little experience in the past from PLC's, the Exam Certs. list the modules you have studied, how can ya progress on from something that is supposed to be the same thing yet it has different modules??!! That in itself renders the whole Course Selection and availability and accessing your Course preference COMPLETELY POINTLESS!! Complete and utter waste of time and space having all those un-helpful Websites in Cyber-space, taking up space that could be used for other Websites that might actually be of benefit and be able to help people.

There's Level 6 then which I'm guessing is along the exact repetitive lines of this curse of "same Courses with slightly different modules for no reason at all whatsoever" brigade, :rolleyes: - ya just do it and don't ask questions! :rolleyes: I think I saw 1 Third-level option about Childcare, but it seemed mostly theoretical rather than practical, and I came across something at Level 10 to do with mostly the development of early childhood years. Maybe Grandparents might like to do that Course who knows?! :rolleyes::pac:

looksee

Is there a question in there somewhere, or is it just a rant? Maybe you should write to the various bodies and tell them where they are going wrong?

implausible

I'm not going to pick through every bit of your post, but I'll try to explain that the confusion arises from each childcare course having a different name depending on the modules in it and who is offering it - FAS, Adult Ed, VTOS, Further Ed/PLC.

A level 5 Childcare (sorry, they're all called Early Childhood Care and Education) qualification will allow you to work in a créche/childcare setting or as an SNA in a primary/secondary/special school.

A First Aid qualification is essential to pass the Caring for Children module, but some centres offer it as a stand-alone module. There is a mountain of legislation covering childcare, so Law would come in there.

It comes down to what you want to do. Investigate what modules are being offered by the colleges you are interested in e.g. the Understanding Special Needs module would be a must if you wish to become an SNA. Also, bear in mind that certain modules are compulsory to progress onto certain Childcare courses at 3rd level.

Edit: I agree with you about the FETAC website - it's a balls.