What apprenticeships can you get with just a Junior Cert

TrishaIrish

My friend has her Junior Cert and is about to turn 16. She wants to drop out of school to get an apprenticeship but is not sure what apprenticeships are out there that a 16 year old can get. Can you list them for me?

spurious

I would say her only chance is to get a relative in a trade to take her on as an apprentice. There are people out there with really good Leaving Certs looking for apprenticeships.
Absolute madness to be leaving school after the Junior in this day and age.

Finnt

Once you've a junior cert you can do Any fas apprenticeship, or that was the way it was when I served my time.

TrishaIrish

She has not been getting on well in school. She was out sick a lot in the beginning of the year and has fallen too far behind. She was really very sick and when she went back with all the help she was not able for it. She is still recovering and has found it too stressful to try and keep up. She ended up in hospital due to stress of school. The teachers were putting too much pressure on her.

tomo75

TrishaIrish wrote: »

She has not been getting on well in school. She was out sick a lot in the beginning of the year and has fallen too far behind. She was really very sick and when she went back with all the help she was not able for it. She is still recovering and has found it too stressful to try and keep up. She ended up in hospital due to stress of school. The teachers were putting too much pressure on her.

She would be better off repeating the year if the only reason she was struggling due to absenteeism.

spurious

Here are the FAS listings:
http://www.fas.ie/en/Training/Apprenticeships/Apprenticeship+Listings/default.htm
and the eligibility requirements:
http://www.fas.ie/en/Training/Apprenticeships/Eligibility+and++Assessment.htm

When I started teaching in the '80s we used to see kids go into apprenticeships with the bare minimum qualifications - not for a long time now.

TrishaIrish

tomo75 wrote: »

She would be better off repeating the year if the only reason she was struggling due to absenteeism.

She does not want to repeat she would rather work her way up in a job in either hairdressing or It.

partyatmygaff

TrishaIrish wrote: »

She does not want to repeat she would rather work her way up in a job in either hairdressing or It.

The effect of not having a LC is going to hit her very hard very quickly unless she has a connection already working in whatever trade she wants to get in to.

There are people with LCs, PLCs and even some people with degrees that she'll be competing with for jobs. In this day and age, a JC really isn't worth anything substantial.

Leaving school early and working your way up a job and earning money at the same time sounds an attractive idea but the reality is nowhere near as attractive.

She doesn't even need to repeat this year. All she needs to do is try and get by the JC this year and then she can have a go at the LC. Her performance in the JC isn't going to have any effect on her job prospects if she goes on to do the LC.

TrishaIrish

partyatmygaff wrote: »

The effect of not having a LC is going to hit her very hard very quickly unless she has a connection already working in whatever trade she wants to get in to.

There are people with LCs, PLCs and even some people with degrees that she'll be competing with for jobs. In this day and age, a JC really isn't worth anything substantial.

Leaving school early and working your way up a job and earning money at the same time sounds an attractive idea but the reality is nowhere near as attractive.

She doesn't even need to repeat this year. All she needs to do is try and get by the JC this year and then she can have a go at the LC. Her performance in the JC isn't going to have any effect on her job prospects if she goes on to do the LC.

It was 5th year she missed a lot of time. She might not be back for another few weeks yet. She was really very sick. She was in for about.. two days last month and ended up back in hospital.

partyatmygaff

TrishaIrish wrote: »

It was 5th year she missed a lot of time. She might not be back for another few weeks yet. She was really very sick. She was in for about.. two days last month and ended up back in hospital.

Looks like i've misread it then... but even so, she'd be better off repeating 5th year and going for it again. Repeating takes nine months. The effect of not finishing her education will remain with her for years.

TrishaIrish

She does not want to repeat. She said she would rather get a bad paid job. She has always hated school. She struggles a lot.

seavill

TrishaIrish wrote: »

She does not want to repeat. She said she would rather get a bad paid job. She has always hated school. She struggles a lot.

"She" will find it almost impossible to get a job, even badly paid jobs are hard to come by unless you have someone related that can give you a job.

Again the amount of people looking for apprenticeships is large compared to what is available. Look at the amount of people who have moved abroad to try find work after a few years of unemployment.

She may be happy with a badly paid job now but what about 10-20 years down the line when she has kids, wants to buy a house, wants to buy her kids the latest computer game that they want etc.

Your friend should consider doing LCA. This way she will still leave having a full education without the pressures of the amount of theory required for the traditional LC.
It is a lot more practical based she will have many tasks and projects to do over the 2 years but wont have as much pressure in relation to exams as with the LC.

There are lots of people that don't like school and it is certainly not for everybody thats a fact but in the long run it is the best course of action to stay and at least try the LCA rather than the LC.

Bazinga_N

OP, might Youthreach be an idea your friend might want to look into. I wouldn't know much about it but there websites here: http://www.youthreach.ie/
It may suit her better?

Tbh, it all seems to be a bit lazy on your friends behalf. I mean very few people actually want to go to school, but they do because they know without it life will be much harder. I understand she was sick, but lots of other students have been sick over the years and have had to repeat and they just got on and did it! Your friend my think it's stressful in school now, imagine how stressful it will be when she's broke, unemployed and feels too old to go back to school?

Galwayguy35

Wouldn't tell anyone what to do but if your friend can stay on in school then she should.

My brother had to leave after the Group Cert and he has struggled ever since to get work.

partyatmygaff

TrishaIrish wrote: »

She does not want to repeat. She said she would rather get a bad paid job. She has always hated school. She struggles a lot.

Struggling in school for a year or two is nothing like struggling for several years trying to get a paid job.

Wils110

the junior cert is suitable qualification as far as FAS are concerned but employers aren't interested in hiring immature 16 year olds your friend will just be stereotyped as soon as she applies

Marcin_diy

TrishaIrish wrote: »

My friend has her Junior Cert and is about to turn 16. She wants to drop out of school to get an apprenticeship but is not sure what apprenticeships are out there that a 16 year old can get. Can you list them for me?

TrishaIrish wrote: »

I will be 16 years old in March. Yes, I am considering leaving school. I know a lot of people are against it. But I would get an apprenticeship as a hairdresser. There are two places where I live that would be willing to give me an apprenticeship.

My reasons are since I was 9 I have been not very well. Missing a lot of days of school etc... I got, 1A. 1B, 3C'S. and a D in my JC. It was good considering I was only in a handful of days in 3rd year. I have missed a lot in 5th year. But things are starting to look up.

Now though the thought of school makes me feel sick. I would not do very well. I would have to drop down to mostly ordinary level subjects. And I am no good with languages. I dropped French in second year because of my absences.

I was just wondering how would I actually apply and register for the apprenticeship.

Grow up...
You are almost 16 and once you write about you, once you write about "friend" ...

wexie

TrishaIrish wrote: »

She does not want to repeat she would rather work her way up in a job in either hairdressing or It.

Not to rain on your parade or anything but if you're looking for work in IT you better come with experience or lots of certs or a degree....

There are a lot of people out there looking for jobs and even low level help desk / call centre jobs will want experience or education. You'd be going up against a lot of people with experience or education and in many cases they'll have both.

You're about 15 years late for the times you could walk into a call centre without anything and be hired.

Karpops

I'd recommend that your friend tries switching to a Leaving Cert Applied class instead. It's not an academic course, there's very little learning or study required, just some projects which can be done in school (or at home if she's off sick and has access to a computer) and they include a work experience module so she could still do hairdressing training on the side no problem! It's a Leaving Cert made much easier and more practical, and she can actually study Hair and Beauty as part of it.

Please don't drop out! As a graduate teacher with a degree and a masters I was lucky to get retail work after graduation, and I was beating off people like nurses and physicists at the interview. It's unbelievably tough to get anything at all out there with no qualifications.

spurious

Karpops wrote: »

I'd recommend that your friend tries switching to a Leaving Cert Applied class instead. It's not an academic course, there's very little learning or study required, just some projects which can be done in school (or at home if she's off sick and has access to a computer) and they include a work experience module so she could still do hairdressing training on the side no problem! It's a Leaving Cert made much easier and more practical, and she can actually study Hair and Beauty as part of it.

Please don't drop out! As a graduate teacher with a degree and a masters I was lucky to get retail work after graduation, and I was beating off people like nurses and physicists at the interview. It's unbelievably tough to get anything at all out there with no qualifications.

The LCA is quite a bit more than 'some projects' (if it is being done properly) and it requires a 90% attendance rate for a student to be awarded Key Assignments. It is also a full 2 year course and cannot be shortened. Yes, there can be a specialism in Hair and beauty but that doesn't mean getting away from the Maths and English and languages. It's also possibly the worst-run course in many Irish schools.

If there is a problem with attendance, the LCA is not suitable at all.

trxking

First question why would you want an apprenticeship these days??theres no jobs in them sectors!!

JackTheGrinder

TrishaIrish wrote: »

My friend has her Junior Cert and is about to turn 16. She wants to drop out of school to get an apprenticeship but is not sure what apprenticeships are out there that a 16 year old can get. Can you list them for me?

Your "friend" (you) needs an LC to be honest it will be difficult without one!