It is not as prestigious but might help you (like most of the other low-level qualifications I mentioned above) land an assistant or trainee position.
Yet, these improvements may not be forthcoming if qualified teachers are not adequately supported in their mentoring of staff with low-level qualifications.
Findings from the Effective Provision of Preschool Education (EPPE) project showed that staff with low-level qualifications improve their pedagogical practices when they work with qualified teachers (Sylva et al. 2003).
In order to improve opportunities for staff with no or low-level qualifications, a new set of occupational profiles linked into the National Qualifications Framework of Ireland now enable early childhood practitioners to progress through various stages (Basic, Intermediate, Experienced, Advanced, Expert), ranging from ICED 3 to ISCED 5, thus opening up pathways for career progression.
Conversely, the reforms signalled the need for a more highly qualified workforce by accentuating concerns over the high proportion of unqualified and certificate qualified staff as high numbers of staff with low-level qualifications tend to be associated with poor child outcomes (Sylva et al. 2004).
This is not a job to which many people feel committed: it's poorly paid, with an abysmally low level of qualifications.
She added that the "staple offer" for a large chunk of sixth-form students was a "diet of low level vocational qualifications".
This can be due to characteristics such as their low level of qualifications, or the instability or weakness of their professional situation.
With the extension of compulsory schooling until the age of 16, in 1994 a vocational training scheme was introduced within the education system at a very low level of qualification, particularly designed for adolescents classified as low academic performers in secondary education and for adolescents in situation of social vulnerability.
Martin Doel, the AoC's chief executive said: "These figures add weight to the results of our October survey of colleges and a new set of interim enrolment figures collected from colleges, both of which suggest that there has been a fall in the number of students leaving school with low levels of qualifications starting at college this year".
