Further training ...

[stargazer1]

Happy new year all!!!

Hope you all had a lovely break and some precious time with your families.

I am looking into pursuing, and hopefully achieving, a qualification!! I did the ICP (unit 1 of the diploma) when I registered. I would like to look into either furthering this, or looking into a foundation degree of some sort. Without wanting to sound negative, childminding suits me perfectly at the moment as my little boy is small but he will be starting primary school next year and it has got me thinking about whether childminding will be my forever job. In the long run, a job in a school would be perfect for school holidays etc. But then my business is going so well at the moment, I may end up doing this for the next 20 years! So basically, have any of you pursued further training/higher education and if so, what would you recommend. I'm always wanting to add extra strings to my bow and have signed up for lots of training courses through the council over the next few months, but would like to do something extra for me also, that will benefit me now and in the future. I am based in Llandovery so Carmarthen/Ammanford/Llanelli are my nearest colleges x

[sarah707]

I would start by asking locally if cssiw have any funding - go from there

[karensmart4]

I have done my level3 in Childcare and Education (a while ago now) I also did a level 3 in 8's to 16's so could apply for work in anything from Baby rooms to Youth Clubs!

I have also got my A1 qualification so am a freelance Assessor in Childcare for all the local Collages (work at my own pace, but only allowed 10hrs per wk contracts).

I was thinking of looking into a course where you co-teach the ICP, again it wouldn't be many hours but it gives you variety and it's a good way of meeting people.

[stargazer1]

Thank you both. I have just emailed my local college regarding the courses they offer - they have a lot of various childcare degrees and diplomas. So am waiting to hear from them now and will hopefully be able to agree the course that would benefit me the most. Thanks for your help ladies x

[bunyip]

If you do a foundation degre then be sure to talk with the provider and be clear about what you're letting yourself in for.

I have 2 friends doing it at the moment, and I think they've both had 2nd thoughts. One finds the workload and deadlines far tougher than she was led to believe. The other has a personal tutor who is very inflexible and was told that her CMing didn't offer enough opportunity for variety and experience to get her through the course. The tutor insisted she do additional work/voluntary hours in a school setting, which meant a massive change in her work and cost her some clients. She's making the best of it, but I wonder if she'd have started the FD if she'd known from the start what it would mean. By the time she found out, it was too late: it was either do as the tutor said, or drop our and waste all the time and money she'd invested already.

Hopefully others have had far better experiences.

[stargazer1]

If you do a foundation degre then be sure to talk with the provider and be clear about what you're letting yourself in for.

I have 2 friends doing it at the moment, and I think they've both had 2nd thoughts. One finds the workload and deadlines far tougher than she was led to believe. The other has a personal tutor who is very inflexible and was told that her CMing didn't offer enough opportunity for variety and experience to get her through the course. The tutor insisted she do additional work/voluntary hours in a school setting, which meant a massive change in her work and cost her some clients. She's making the best of it, but I wonder if she'd have started the FD if she'd known from the start what it would mean. By the time she found out, it was too late: it was either do as the tutor said, or drop our and waste all the time and money she'd invested already.

Hopefully others have had far better experiences.

oh goodness your poor friends. I have to be honest and say that my biggest worry is deadlines and finding the time to do the work needed at home. Sometimes I work from 8am-6pm, have my family to sort before and after, my house to keep, my paperwork to do. Perhaps a diploma would be less demanding? I will wait for a call back from them and explain my situation and ask the best way forward. Our local school is first language Welsh and I am not a fluent Welsh speaker so I would struggle to get time in the school and would have to look further afield, which would mean taking an awful lot of time off from childminding, which I cant afford to do. I was hoping to find some training I could do outside of working hours x

[bunyip]

Don't let me put you off, I'm just suggesting you check first with the provider to ensure it's right for you. I think a lot of my friend's problem is that she has a very rigid personal tutor, but you might get a lovely flexible one. We all need to be careful these days cos colleges, etc. are getting paid for each student, so they're very keen to get us signed up no matter what. It just puts the onus on us to check first.

[manjay]

You will need to do a level 3 before going on to do a FD. It would be your Local Authority who provide funding either through a local college or an online course. CSSIW don't give funding for training. I also think you can now choose to do the full level 3 diploma online (just make sure it is one recognised in Wales)

From a personal point of view you sound very much like me and for me completing my FD was one of the best things I have ever done. It has changed my practice and me as a practitioner immensely and it has opened doors that I would never have imagined. I am now in my 3rd year which will give me a BA(Hons). It is not a walk in the park by any means but as I chose an online version it is completely doable alongside working. I do try to restrict myself to working 4 days a week so I am not studying at the weekend but I have done some of the course whilst working full time.

I would highly recommend the online course I have done through Glyndwr Uni in Wrexham. there are a large number of childminders on the course and one of the main lecturers used to work for NCMA so the course is very much directed to working in a childminding setting. Also as they are based in Wales they are very familiar with the Foundation Phase which is not always the case if studying with an English Uni.

Pob luc

[stargazer1]

You will need to do a level 3 before going on to do a FD. It would be your Local Authority who provide funding either through a local college or an online course. CSSIW don't give funding for training. I also think you can now choose to do the full level 3 diploma online (just make sure it is one recognised in Wales)

From a personal point of view you sound very much like me and for me completing my FD was one of the best things I have ever done. It has changed my practice and me as a practitioner immensely and it has opened doors that I would never have imagined. I am now in my 3rd year which will give me a BA(Hons). It is not a walk in the park by any means but as I chose an online version it is completely doable alongside working. I do try to restrict myself to working 4 days a week so I am not studying at the weekend but I have done some of the course whilst working full time.

I would highly recommend the online course I have done through Glyndwr Uni in Wrexham. there are a large number of childminders on the course and one of the main lecturers used to work for NCMA so the course is very much directed to working in a childminding setting. Also as they are based in Wales they are very familiar with the Foundation Phase which is not always the case if studying with an English Uni.

Pob luc

Thanks Manjay!! That's made me feel positive! How do I go about finding out which colleges do an online course? Could I do a level 3 online or would I need to do that in college? The course I have enquired about with my local college is called Level 3 Diploma in Children's Care Learning and Development for Wales and Northern Ireland (QCF). Mind you, from what I can gather, it is done two evenings a week which I will be fine with x

[tulip0803]

Hi the course you are talking about is run from Ammanford college so is not too far from you, my friend did hers there and really enjoyed it. Be wary about on-line courses as there was abig hoo-ha last year that some of the level 3 courses offered on-line are not worth the paper they are written on! If you are able to go to Ammanford in the eves it is a great way to get out and talk to people, ensure that your qualification is genuine and valid in Wales. I enjoyed doing my NVQ3 as it was great fun to be able to chat with other people who knew what I was talking about as there were 5 other childminders on my course. I did mine at Lampeter through ceredigion training as I am linked to a ceredigion childminding group.

If you speak little or no Welsh the Geiriau Bach course in Trinity Carmarthen is great. it is a level 4 Higher Certificate of Education run by the early years department of the uni and has been free up to now hopefully will continue to be further details here. There were 2 other childminders on this course who had travelled up from Haverfordwest to do it. It was great fun and geared to using Welsh with young children through practical activities.

Speak to carmarthenshire Family Info service to see if there is any funding available - times are hard so they may not have anything but they may also be able to put you in touch with reputable on-line courses. I must admit that I like attending actual courses as you can bounce things off real people.

Good luck finding the course that you want

[stargazer1]

Hi the course you are talking about is run from Ammanford college so is not too far from you, my friend did hers there and really enjoyed it. Be wary about on-line courses as there was abig hoo-ha last year that some of the level 3 courses offered on-line are not worth the paper they are written on! If you are able to go to Ammanford in the eves it is a great way to get out and talk to people, ensure that your qualification is genuine and valid in Wales. I enjoyed doing my NVQ3 as it was great fun to be able to chat with other people who knew what I was talking about as there were 5 other childminders on my course. I did mine at Lampeter through ceredigion training as I am linked to a ceredigion childminding group.

If you speak little or no Welsh the Geiriau Bach course in Trinity Carmarthen is great. it is a level 4 Higher Certificate of Education run by the early years department of the uni and has been free up to now hopefully will continue to be further details here. There were 2 other childminders on this course who had travelled up from Haverfordwest to do it. It was great fun and geared to using Welsh with young children through practical activities.

Speak to carmarthenshire Family Info service to see if there is any funding available - times are hard so they may not have anything but they may also be able to put you in touch with reputable on-line courses. I must admit that I like attending actual courses as you can bounce things off real people.

Good luck finding the course that you want

Thank you Tulip!! Have just emailed them about Geiriau Bach. I have recently done a course geared for speaking Welsh with children, and prior to this I spoke no Welsh at all. It has been good, but I would definitely like to expand what I have learned. And to have a "qualification" at the end of it is fab. I don't know if its just because its the new year, but I feel all GO GO GO the last few days. Hope it lasts, hahaha x

[manjay]

Just be careful not to take on too much. I started Geiriau Bach up here in North Wales but I was trying to do it alongside my degree and along with other things I was doing it was just too much. Ironically that course took up more of my time than the foundation degree. I decided that although I loved the course the GB was the one that had to go as the FD was going to be better for my long term career goals. I guess it really depends on where you think you might want to go. The qualifications framework in Wales is quite specific and has just been overhauled. For example they don't recognise level 5 fd qualifications as practice based ones. So if I were going for a practice based job the highest qualification I could quote is my level 3. However as I will be looking to work in the wider childrens workforce my level 5 would be recognised. Completely mad but kind of understandable. There is no longer an NVQ level 4 so you have the option of going on to a level 5 after level 3 which gives you a practice based qualification. If you think at this stage you may want to go on and do a fd you would need to check what previous qualifications they will accept to get you on it. As Tulip says a level 3 must be the full diploma - NCMA now offer this online but it has not yet been recognised by the qualifications framework in Wales.

Hope all that makes some kind of sense

[stargazer1]

Just be careful not to take on too much. I started Geiriau Bach up here in North Wales but I was trying to do it alongside my degree and along with other things I was doing it was just too much. Ironically that course took up more of my time than the foundation degree. I decided that although I loved the course the GB was the one that had to go as the FD was going to be better for my long term career goals. I guess it really depends on where you think you might want to go. The qualifications framework in Wales is quite specific and has just been overhauled. For example they don't recognise level 5 fd qualifications as practice based ones. So if I were going for a practice based job the highest qualification I could quote is my level 3. However as I will be looking to work in the wider childrens workforce my level 5 would be recognised. Completely mad but kind of understandable. There is no longer an NVQ level 4 so you have the option of going on to a level 5 after level 3 which gives you a practice based qualification. If you think at this stage you may want to go on and do a fd you would need to check what previous qualifications they will accept to get you on it. As Tulip says a level 3 must be the full diploma - NCMA now offer this online but it has not yet been recognised by the qualifications framework in Wales.

Hope all that makes some kind of sense

Thanks Manjay. I have just heard back re. Geiriau Bach and the funding has all been allocated so there is no course at the moment. Tbh possibly a good thing, so I can focus on one thing at a time! Yes all makes sense, goodness things get confusing don't they but I can totally see the logic behind why they do it as they do. As I said, I am totally happy minding, may be doing this still in 20 years time. But I want to expand my knowledge, better myself, leave myself open to new ventures and opportunities etc, plus I enjoy a challenge, so looking forward to getting back into some sort of education. (And actually getting out to college and seeing other real live grown ups!!! Love my mindees to bits, but when I find myself asking a 9 month old what they think I should cook for dinner tonight, or if its too early to think about taking the Christmas tree decs down, I fear for my sanity slightly!)

[RuthJ]

Hi Stargazer

I'm in North Wales and am doing the level 3. I have an assessor who comes to my house every 4 weeks and I do the units at my own pace. It's going well and my assessor was a childminder so that helps too. I wouldn't be able to attend college as I have my own family and my husband is a shiftworker so it wouldn't work for me. This seems to be perfect.

Manjay, I'm really interested in the FD - I didn't realise you could go onto that from Level 3 - and online is a massive bonus.

Hope you find something that suits you xx

[manjay]

Manjay, I'm really interested in the FD - I didn't realise you could go onto that from Level 3 - and online is a massive bonus.

This is the course I completed. The first year gives you a Level 4 qualification and the second year is Level 5. We have 3 study days a year held on a Saturday in the Uni where you are able to get together with other students (not compulsory) but everything else is completed through the Uni's virtual learning environment.

[cymraes]

Hi Stargazer

I'm in North Wales and am doing the level 3. I have an assessor who comes to my house every 4 weeks and I do the units at my own pace. It's going well and my assessor was a childminder so that helps too. I wouldn't be able to attend college as I have my own family and my husband is a shiftworker so it wouldn't work for me. This seems to be perfect.

Manjay, I'm really interested in the FD - I didn't realise you could go onto that from Level 3 - and online is a massive bonus.

Hope you find something that suits you xx

Hi there, im on the same course but on my level 5 now, my assessor comes over once a month with my assignments.

[RuthJ]

Thanks Manjay