Should I do an apprenticeship in the Early Years sector?

[CanIHaveChocolatePlease]

Hi,

I am currently in 1st year of uni in Ireland and am studying Early Childhood Care and Education. Unfortunately, I hate the academic side of the course and uni life in general so think I will leave uni at or before the end of first year.

I love working with children so was thinking of doing an apprenticeship in the early years sector instead (even if it would be a backwards step from where I am now in terms of level) so was wondering if I should do an apprenticeship in the early years sector in the UK and if so what type of one should I do? (I’ve see variations in the names of them so am a bit confused and would like to know what would be the best one to do!)

Ideally I’d like to be a pre-school teacher (rather than a nursery assistant, but would be happy with either). And I think I have the necessary grades in my GCSE and A-Level equivalents so should be able to do a Level 3/Advanced one rather than a Level 2/Intermediate one .

Thanks in advance!

If you want to be a pre school teacher, then you really need to do the Early Years Teacher course, which is done after you have finished a degree. If you do a relevant NVQ3, you could become an Early Years Educator and working in most nurseries and pre schools. There are also apprenticeships out there, but if you are planning to work long term in the sector, I'd have a look at getting a job and doing your NVQ3.

So if I do a level 3 apprenticeship, would I still be able to work as a ‘teacher’ in a play school?
So what would be the best apprenticeship to target that area? (Probably an early years practitioner one but I’m confused between them all!)

Thanks for your help

I'm not too sure about how apprenticeships work, but someone else will hopefully come along soon. To be an Early Years 'Teacher' though, you do need a degree. You can work with early years children with other qualifications though.

Level 3 pay is nothing like what a university trainee teacher’s salary. Stick with the degree if you can.

Finish your first year if you can and then you can always transfer to another uni, or work while doing open uni. If you really don't like the academics though, you'll never get to teacher status. I've done the degree and it was jolly hard work, but well worth it in the end.

Realistically I’ll probably never end up getting teacher status- I started back at uni yesterday and already am worried about the assignments , workload and how socially isolated I am and feel so probably will end up leaving soon-i’d nearly leave now only I want to try and have a plan for myself before I do

Unfortunately having a degree doesn’t seem to make much of a difference pay wise here in Ireland (I am doing a level 8 degree, which seems to be like a level 6 in the UK and the levels 5 and 6 shown in the grid are like the apprenticeship levels 2 or 3 I’d be looking at doing in the UK- at the minute I’m earning the same as that-and more on a Sunday- per hour for my part-time weekend/ holiday job in a grocery shop that part of a chain that didn’t require training or much experience!

It’s not wonder I’m not eager to stay in at uni when I’m not enjoying it and the pay and employemnt prospects aren’t great! (See photos for rates of pay per hour and year, the ECCE scheme is like the free funded hours in the UK)

Unfortunately my degree won’t let me work in primary schools (well here in Ireland anyway) so I wouldn’t be getting a trainee teacher’s salary, I could only work in early years settings or play/pre schools with it

Ah ... I don't know about Ireland. Should have checked. Sorry.

Well I’m currently in Ireland but am tempted to relocate to England as I’ve wanted to do that for a long time now (for varying reasons) and the possibility of doing an apprenticeship over there (I can’t do any in childcare here) certainly has me more tempted!

Yea... I think relocating to England would be a better idea.

Hi, i'm sorry to hear you're not enjoying University :( I definitely recommend, if you can, sticking with it, or could you do it part time or transfer to a different uni?

I have a similar degree to yours although I left uni 11 years ago now (eek!). I have a BA Early Childhood Studies. My first ft role after graduating was as a play worker for a charity which specialised in supporting families and children with complex needs and my salary 23k if I recall. I was then promoted to a more senior playworker and was on 28k. A few years later I left and took up a role as Children centre manager for 35k and 2 years later took on a bigger children centre for 44k a year. I was 28 when I left that role and started in a new industry.

I thought I would share so you can see what I've done with a similar degree. Some of my friends who did the same have done an additional year training to become teachers. There is lots of potential and I still had the opportunity to be very hands on with the families/children etc which I enjoyed. The degree 100% helped me get these positions though I should add they were on the outskirts of London.

If you're looking to work in a nursery training alongside a job role could be your best bet if going to uni means getting in a lot of debt etc BUT....for more scope I'd definitely consider trying to complete your degree. Best of luck! xx

Was it you who posted about teaching apprenticeships a few weeks ago?

You won’t be able to be a teacher without a degree but it sounds like you are struggling with the academic side of things.

What about an NVQ? Or a TA course?

Yes it was me who posted that, I’m just trying to explore all of my possible options!

Realistically I’ll probably just finish out first year and then leave uni (I hate the academic and social side of uni, plus it’s very expensive for my parents and it doesn’t look like it will make much of a difference to my employment or pay prospects, especially here in Ireland) and I like the idea of doing a teaching assistant or early years apprenticeship but I don’t see my parents wanting me to go to England to do it (for various reasons, not just Brexit, although that is a big worry)

All of those salaries look like at least £10k more than what I’d get for working 30 hours a week with having my uni degree in a play school here in Ireland

I thought I recognised you!

TA jobs do not pay well-What sort of salaries do you think you’re looking at? I think ours get about £12k a year rather than a teacher salary starting at £22k with £38k at the top of UPS.

That seems like a degree rather than something that gives you specific qualifications. What made you choose that one?

The salaries for full time pre-school teachers here in Ireland (even with a uni degree) seem to be only about €12,000, which I know is similiar to a teaching assistant but at least i wouldn’t be having my parents paying €3,000 + transport costs each year (I’m commuting about 40 minutes from home, so at least we’re not paying €3,000 upwards for accommodation but are using loads in petrol each week) and i’d earn a small wage whilst doing an apprenticeship. Then my plan would be to try and become a HLTA and then work from there

TBH everyone I know who did that degree went into management roles in childcare or went on to top up to become a teacher. if you want to be a teacher it will be more straight forward to do a teaching degree and if management roles don't appeal then I'd say the degree is a really nice to have but if you'd like to work in a nursery/playgroup setting then you should be more than fine without it though you'll need to do a level 3 childcare which you can often do alongside a role in a setting. Good luck x

This is the course

www.mic.ul.ie/faculty-of-education/programme/ba-in-early-childcare-education-mi007

You need a proper chat with your college career advisor - I don’t think jumping ship to the U.K. is necessarily going to result in higher earning potential, particularly if you’re going down the TA/HLTA route. It’s so badly paid , salaries are often advertised pro-rata and if you’re living in a big city you could have huge cost of living to consider. Childcare work is badly paid across both countries. And in England you’re dealing with the intensely stressful Ofsted side of things. The benefit of the Early Childhood degree is that it opens the door to lots of areas - anyone I know who did that degree works in a Tusla (social care) role (not social workers though), or have specialised in an aspect of special education and work in the Bros of Charity/special Ed sector. They aren’t childcare workers or nursery assistants.
Another option if teaching (in the qualified sense if the word) appeals above everything else is to tough out 2 more years of degree and aim for H.Dip or PGCE. There are options outside of childcare with the degree. Also, non-standard UK quals (Eg apprenticeship/SCITT) are not necessarily recognised in Ireland. You might have huge difficulty with recognition if you wanted to come back home, which frankly, is a possibility given Brexit.

It sounds like you’ve more going on than just the academic side of things - it would be really beneficial to seek out support to help settle at college and explore if the problems are just academic ones, or if it’s a mix of not settling well into college and money worries and the academic side .

Best of luck x

Ya that’s the problem - lots of people including myself didn’t get primary teaching (it’s very competitive to get into and you have to have a high standard of Irish and that) so since I want to work with kids, I thought that would be the next best thing to do (and just to get my degree early in rather than having to go back and get it when I’m older) , but now I’m just not liking the academic or social side of the course or uni life in general and even if I did, it looks like i’ll just end up in a poorly paid job that I could have done with a lesser qualification

So for both the financial and mental health side of it, I think I will end up leaving and doing an apprenticeship in the sector in the UK instead (Ireland doesn’t have any apprenticeships at all in that sector, let alone degree ones)

Thanks for all yer help

Honestly. You really need a decent careers chat with someone who can lay out options for you. There’s nothing to say you couldn’t do a PGCE in a few years or a H. Dip through Hibernia (if that appealed) if you had enough of your current place. If I understand correctly, you’re looking to do an academically lower qualification which only leads to jobs in one country, which pay similar to Ireland? £12,000 was what someone pointed out was the salary for a TA? That’s if you were being paid the whole year round. TAs aren’t usually paid the whole year through, it’s for a fixed number of hours per term/year. The take home pay is much less than £12k. (If you were a SNA in Ireland you’d earn higher I think. )

Hlta money is still dreadful and I didn’t think the funding for the training existed anymore? I’m sure a head now can just decide to call you an hita if they want, pay you an extra £1 an hour and have you in front of classes. It’s supply teaching on the cheap.

Then my plan would be to try and become a HLTA and then work from there

Where would you intend to go from there?

I think work based learning would probably suit you better university really isn't for everybody if you want to work with preschoolers there is nothing wrong with just getting stuck in.

DD did the level 3 childcare at college and works in a crèche along side it. All those who did the apprentice route seem to be lacking a lot of basic knowledge.

How about looking at getting a childcare job and looking at something like open university to do along side it so you still end up with the academic qualifications (you can often get credit for uni work you’ve already done) the. You can do a pgce later.

Also with OU you can do the childcare courses but too then up with other random courses of things you find interesting

I meant to say, in terms of where I’d go from there, I found this thing which seems to suggest that if you are a HLTA and have ‘teaching’ experience, you can become a teacher without having to have a degree

www.tes.com/institute/straight-to-teaching-qts?utm_source=tes&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=from-TA-to-teacher-editorial&utm_campaign=blog-referral#about

I think at this stage, I’d nearly be happy to take a backwards step academically in order to be happier and financially a bit better off - i just don’t like academic stuff do don’t fancy spending years training for a job that will pay poorly when I can do a lesser qualification with on job training and end up with almost the same pay and not having had to pay uni fees along the way