Wealth of alternative stepping stones to further education
If your CAO options seem limited, there are plenty of other routes to consider.
While tens of thousands of students will be glued to their devices on August 26th waiting for Round 1 CAO offers to come out, it should be kept in mind that.
Whether a CAO course is part of the plan or not, there is something for everyone in our ever-expanding further education and training system to keep students moving forward meaningfully into their next life stage.
Some students will want to work towards a qualification at a different pace while others will choose a career path with more on-the-job training. Below are some of the options.
There are 78 tertiary degrees on offer this year through the National Tertiary Office, with the number of places available in September 2026 now standing at 1,200, more than double last year’s figure.
Students who are granted a place on this pathway start their tertiary degree at an ETB and, as long as they meet the required grades, are guaranteed progression to a Level 8 degree program at a HEI.
Students do not need high CAO points to apply for a tertiary degree but some courses do have some minimum subject requirements.
For example, the new tertiary degree in Primary Teaching at Mary Immaculate College requires a H6/O3 in Irish plus a H7/O5 in English and Maths.
Students do not pay fees for the first year of study at the ETB, but normal student contributions etc apply for the years at the HEI.
It takes between 3 and 5 years to achieve a tertiary degree, depending on the course.
Available places range between 5 and 15 per location.
For more information and to check application deadlines, log on to www.nto.hea.ie
There are 68 different apprenticeships on offer this year with many more at development and proposal stage.
While once limited to certain trades, apprenticeships now cover a broad range of careers that include biopharma, engineering, health and social care, ICT (including cybersecurity), insurance, sales and marketing and logistics to name a few.
Training courses soon to be available include quantity surveying, banking and beauty therapy.
While attitudes are changing towards this career path, work still needs to done to better inform parents and guardians about the benefits of this modernized option.
“There is still a bit of educating to be done with parents. They see it like the old apprenticeship model. There is work to do to get the information out there as many people don’t realise the broad range,” explains incoming president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, Gerry Reilly.
Apprenticeships offer the opportunity to learn and earn on the job, and with some employers supporting apprentices to study for their degree, this can give them an edge over their peers who are fresh out of college.
“Earning while you learn suits some people better,” explains Mr Reilly. “And in engineering for example, someone who has come through the apprenticeship route and gone on the do their degree is 18 months more mature in the role than someone fresh out of college, and many companies are supporting workers to further their studies,” he points out.
At present there are calls for more active support to help students to connect with potential employers.
Gerry Reilly and others say that this is more difficult for students whose parents may not know people working in the area their child is interested in. They might not have the social connections and some young people are too shy to make the calls to look for an employer, so finding a better way to match an employer with an apprentice through a centralized system is badly needed to level the playing field.
Log on to www.apprenticeship.ie for more information.
PLC and FET (Further Education Training) courses generally take one year to complete. They are cost effective and many come with progression routes to Higher Education via the Higher Education Links Scheme.
Julie O’Connor of Synergy Careers says that students are realizing the value of these courses as a way to see if they like a subject area, and also as a stepping stone to an area of study that they may not have the subjects for in their Leaving Cert.
An added bonus to taking this route is that students who start a degree course after completing a PLC are less likely to drop out as they are more mature and clearer about their goals.
See www.plccourses.ie and www.fetchcourses.ie
There are 21 positions listed on the Defence Forces website www.military.ie at the moment. They include roles like general service recruit, dental hygienist, trainee chef, marine engineer and instrumentalist for the band. They are also looking to re-enlist past members of the Defence Forces.
Applications are open to anyone who is over 18 and under 39 on the application deadline.
Meanwhile, An Garda Siochana has no vacancies at present as the most recent recruitment drive has recently ended.
Many students choose this option due to a historic lack of places in high demand courses in Ireland like medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry.
Some European colleges charge no fees and many offer courses through English, giving Irish students a natural advantage.
Due to Brexit, Irish students now have to pay fees at UK colleges, but there are scholarships available as well as a humane student loan system where students only start paying back the loan when their income exceeds a certain amount. Applications can be made to the UK’s UCAS system up to the end of June.
The careersportal website www.careersportal.ie offers good advice on what to consider when looking at this option. They warn that some companies make money from recruiting students so don’t have a student’s best interests at heart. They do recommend www.eunicas.ie for anyone looking to study in Europe.
www.eunicas.ie , www.ucas.com and www.careersportal.ie
Some young people may not have a clear idea of what direction they want to take after leaving school. A year out could help, as long as that year isn’t spent wallowing in boredom at home.
Having a plan and a purpose is important. It could be as simple as getting a job to save money for the next chapter, exploring a particular career area, or doing short 10 week courses in areas of interest at a local FE College. All guidance counsellors agree that, like Dory from the film Finding Nemo, it’s important to “just keep swimming” – keep moving forward.
It is extremely rare for anyone to repeat the Leaving Cert these days because there are so many ways to keep moving forward with education and training no matter what grades were achieved in the exams.
In 2024, only 190 students repeated their Leaving Cert in Irish schools. The most likely reason would be to get more points for a specific course in the knowledge that they have the capacity to do better second time around.
You can apply for unfilled college places in the Available Places section of the CAO website, even if you haven’t previously applied through the CAO.
Courses will be listed from August 27th.
See www.cao.ie
