Help me highlight my dd's choices Sports Vs Childcare

[sweetheart]

Dd is about to go into year 11 so we have to start looking at colleges in the next few months. She has really struggled at school academically and we are not expecting her to achieve highly in her GCSE's. We are doing our best to make sure she achieves a C in English, maths and Science.

She is however very good at PE (currently doing Btech) and she is also very good with young children and does lots of babysitting.

She is thinking about doing either sports of child development at college so i want to put together a list for her of all the prospective jobs these could lead her into and give her support in choosing the right thing.

Can anyone with more experience of the education system than me think of areas that either of these 2 subjects could lead her into? I don't want her to feel her options are limited at such a young age!

[Donthate]

Both can lead into teaching at an fe college.

Child development could lead to ta, working with children in any setting, nursery nurse etc.

I'm not sure what sport would lead to other than uni and then sports science, it could lead to a TA specialising in sport, community sports worker etc.

Has she thought about an apprenticeship at all?

[LIZS]

Sport can lead to a coaching qualification in a chosen sport (dn is hoping to do a level 3 course with football run in association with a London Club). That in turn could lead to working in a sports centre, teaching, further coaching qualifications or with a sport association and so on. She could develop interests in something like Outdoor Education and work in a field centre or leisure/holiday company.

Child development can lead to nursery and childcare work, teaching assistant , teaching , psychology, nursing, health and social care ... Maybe an access course could be an option further down the line.

[sweetheart]

We are looking at apprenticeships too yes. I want to try and think outside the box a bit and offer her a variety - like I've just read that sometimes doing childcare can lead into social work or perhaps pediatric nursing. Sports wise I'm thinking also maybe coaching / physio / neutrition (which I suppose could also cross over to childcare) etc

[mummymeister]

there is a real lack of qualified coaching for most childrens sports. if she picked a sport she really liked and that you could do near to you then getting her coaching badges would be really good. also she could look at refereeing. again football teams and sports tournaments always struggle for referees.

[sashh]

Has she had a look at CACHE courses? They are for childcare.

Has she got career ambitions or just looking at the next step? BTEC Uniformed Public Services has quite a lot of physical stuff in it and leads to careers in the police, fire service, army etc.

Another route she might look in to is outdoor education, I think this is mostly foundation degree level so would need to do something first possibly BTEC but it is something that would combine sport and childcare.

www.cumbria.ac.uk/Courses/Subjects/ForestryOutdoor/Undergraduate/OutdoorEducation.aspx

My local council has been advertising for apprentice life guards.

Agree with getting coaching qualifications.

[sweetheart]

No we haven't looked at CACHE courses so will look into those thanks.

I think at the moment we are just focusing on next steps. She has no idea what she wants to do so I'm just trying to show her that "something with children or sport" can actually offer her a very wide variety of options. I don't want her to get stuck doing a boring job that she hates just to pay the bills like me

[BackforGood]

Coaching, referreeing, and teaching sports (along with things like lifeguarding is she's a strong swimmer) can be lucrative for a 16+, and can be done as PT jobs whilst studying for other things.
I know of young lad who earned £50 a weekend, for reffing one Jnr football match on a Saturday and one on a Sunday - FAR more than most 16 yr olds can earn for working far more hours in traditional jobs such as in a shop or waitressing, etc. Same with lifeguard training - yes, you have to pay out £200 - £250 for the course, but you will soon earn that back as lifeguard jobs pay up to twice what shop work does.
Get a 'coaching badge' in most sports and you can earn around your studies or other work. This will then give her a flavour of what it's like - if she enjoys it or not, without committing long term.
However, it's not a job area that it's easy to long long term, FT contracts in.