Hi there, I hope this is the right place to put this!
I had been studying ECCE at university but was finding the course hard and hated uni life but so left halfway though First Year at the end of January.
I still want to work with children but the idea of a full-time academic course doesn’t appeal to me so ideally I’d do an apprenticeship but since there aren’t any childcare/early years/teaching assistant apprenticeships in Ireland, I’ve decided that maybe I could do a short Level 6 SNA course, and came across one by the Progressive College that can be either completed across 12 Saturdays or one intensive week and has no formal entry requirements.
So I was just wondering is the Progressive College and its courses reputable and worthwhile and would they help me to get a job as a SNA/ classroom assistant? I’m not complaining but it seems to be a very quick way of getting a Level 6 qualification compared to other places and I had never heard of that college so would want to be sure that I’d be doing a worthwhile and recognised course and that it would help me to get a job.
progressivecollege.ie/course/special-needs-assistant-training-qqi-level-6/
And would I have to source my own work placement for it or would that be imbedded into it?
And what is the general duties, day-to-day life and pay for SNAs like?
And just in general, is there any such thing as general classroom/teaching assistants in Ireland that just help out with the day-to-day running of the class and groups of people rather than just working with individual people or small groups of people? The classroom/ teaching assistants in the UK seem to be more general classroom helps so was just wondering was there anything similar here in Ireland?
Sorry for the long enquiry, I just want to make sure that I’m fully informed about everything involved with this and go about it in the best way!