Community and youth work

spongebob89

Hey if anyone is reading from the above course please give me some insight of the course. . I was gonna do it but the family talked me out of it about lack of jobs and bang now I'm in a business IT course which I'm finding ok. . But now thinking I shoulda went with something I have a decent interest in which is working to help people. .

Can anyone tell me what this course is truly like? Is there any mature male students on the course and whats the workload like i.e. Tonnes of essays??

Timetable? And social aspect out there

Thanks in advance

Seren_

Hey there - I'm in first year of the MA in community and youth work. I absolutely love the course tbh. It's very engaging and I've learnt a lot since I started. If you want to finish your business course you can always do the MA when you finish, as it's the same professional qualification as you get with the BA. I'm not 100% sure about the workload for the undergrad course, but for the masters, there is a good bit of work involved. There's a good few essays and presentations and then there's a few oral exams and written exams (but not that many). From the undergrad classes I've met, there definitely is a good few male mature students doing the course. And in the masters, majority of the people are late 20s and older.

It's true about the job situation being not the best, but that's the same in most fields at the minute. Realistically though, it is unlikely that a community worker/youth worker will ever get the "ideal full-time permanent job for life" as that's just not the nature of the work. If you're interested in doing the course, then go for it! And I'll try answer any other questions you have too.

Edit: Forgot about timetable - for the MA, it's 3 full days a week from 10-5; think it's same for the BA. Maynooth is a great college for getting to know people and believe me you will know everyone in the course very well after a short while. Lots of scope to get involved with societies too.

joey100

I done this course when it was the H.Dip and my younger brother is currently doing it now as the B.A. From what I know he is in three days a week, -Tues, Wed, Thurs- but sometimes has visits to do to outside projects on the days off. There is also a three month placement which is treated like a full time job in each of the three years.

The workload seems ok, but from my experience and from talking to others who have done the course they have a habit of few essays before Christmas and then a good few before the start of the summer. Once you stay on top of it though it's not the worst.

There is a good few mature students on the course, a few would have done a FETAC course first (like the Liberties course) and then gone on to this so you would definitely not be the only mature male on the course.

As for the job scenario at the moment, it's true there is not a lot out there at the moment and what's been expected of recent graduates in terms of hours worked is changing. Hours are getting later and more and more weekends are becoming part of the work. With the moratorium in the public sector there is no permanent jobs in the sector at all, the majority would be on rolling yearly contracts. But there is other areas to go into with the qualification (School completions, probation services, lecturing).

This is planned to be the last year of cuts to the sector though, so in theory the job situation should stabilise and security in some of the jobs will return.

clax84

Hi there
This is a course I am interested in pursuing this year as a masters. I was wondering Seren or anyone else who has experience with this course, if you could tell me a little more about it? I would probably need to work to afford the fees so I was wondering about the work load and is it still three days in the second year as full time? And i was also curious about the 14 week placement and how this works. Thanks so much for any help anyone can provide!