Which Foundation Degree course to do?

[Guest]

Hi

 

I am qualified to Level 3 (Children and Young Peoples Workforce) and I am currently working in a pre-school which I love. In the future I would ideally like to work in a primary school as a Teaching Assistant.

 

I have made the decision that I want to study for a degree and have been looking at the FdA in Early Childhood Studies and the FdA in Teaching and Learning. I am so confused at which course would be most suited for me and wondered if anyone could give any advice.

 

Many Thanks

[LKeyteach]

Sweetchilli I am sorry but don't know what the difference is in the 2 courses.

Is one specific to Early Years and the other for older years?

I followed the Early Years because I knew that I wanted to continue in Early Years and really did not want to work with older children. I also like the Early Years environment, the play base and the way adults can support and work as a team.

The EYFS continues into reception year, so if it is school but the younger end then perhaps the Early Years route is better.

Best advice is to look at the content of both courses, ask the college offering the course what the difference is and find people who have followed the courses and find what path they have followed.

Hope this helps.

[HappyMaz]

I guess I'd start by looking at all the local training providers who offer a Foundation Degree and make my decision based on the titles and content of the modules, plus the delivery pattern. This might entail a compromise or several though: you might find a course with really interesting course content but it might be taught on a day when you'd find it hard to attend College/Uni. Your nearest provider might not offer you modules that you find interesting.

What are the relative merits of each of the courses you have mentioned? Which one is likely to offer you the broadest spread of knowledge and understanding to enable you to achieve your educational and employment goals?

[Guest]

I think you need to decide what age group you would like to work with in school. The early years degree would obviously be suitable for reception aged children but the other degree is a TAs course I THINK and you'd need to check if it would be relevant to reception aged children.

 

However a degree would obviously indicate you have a certain level of education, and a TA in school generally is only level one two or three (well in our school anyway)

 

Some of the degrees are also work based so you'd need to be working in some shape or form with the right age range to suit the degree!!

Edited May 7, 2014 by Scarlettangel

[Guest]

I currently teach on both foundation degrees and I would recommend doing what some others have suggested: firstly look at the course content, modules descriptions, etc. Then you might also need to look at the placement requirements. For ours students must be in a placement (paid or voluntary) for at least 2 days a week, or equivalent. If you love being in preschool at the moment and wanted to study one of our FdAs you would need to do the EY one as you need to have a placement in Y1 or above for our TA FdA. The EY FdA however requires you to be in EY (up to and including reception class).

 

In terms of the outcome of your study, both could be used to go on towards working in a school as a TA, and I know students who have studied both pathways and had equal success in finding work in the future.