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Parenting & Education in Ireland

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Parenting & Education

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5th year secondary student needs advice.

re... : 5th year secondary student needs advice.           reply
09/11/2012 10:57 - Ask Mother Hen
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Thanks for replying Lyn35,
I´m glad everything worked out for you. I told my son that he will spend most of his adult life working and whatever career he chooses it should be something hes happy doing. I don´t know if it helped much but he can think on it. I do agree that there is too much pressure but on them. I don´t know if its the same in all schools but in ours the students have to pick subjects from a block system thus they cant study all that they are interested in. You are right though he has plenty of time.
Thank you.



re : 5th year secondary student needs advice.           reply
08/11/2012 09:11 - Ask Mother Hen
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Hi Starlight
If you son is still struggling with his subject/career choice it would be a good idea for him to make an appointment with the school Guidance Counsellor, (if there is one?), to talk it through. It is likely that you son will receive career guidance in the school over the next two years which will help him when it comes to making his course/college choices. However, if you feel that he needs help with his decisions at this stage and there isn´t a resource in the school to help you could consider making an appointment with a private guidance counsellor who will charge you a fee.

Another great resource which can help is the website www.careersportal.ie

This is a huge site which provides lots of free resources for exploring career options. If using the site, it is best to start by completing the sites ´Careers Interest Profiler´. Your son will need to register on the site to complete the profiler but there is no cost involved. By completing the profiler test you son will receive a report on career paths that may suit him and he can use this information to go on and research on the site the various courses/colleges etc that will lead to these careers. There are also lots of great videos and interviews with people in a wide range of careers on the site.

You will find the Careers Interest Profiler on http://www.careersportal.ie/careerplanning/interests.php?userid=0&token=b4b147bc522828731f1a016bfa72c073#.UJt2KWdmMuc



5th year secondary student needs advice.           reply
07/11/2012 13:35 - Ask Mother Hen
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Hello,
I´m not sure if this is the right section for my question but I would appreciate your help. My son is in fifth year, he has picked his subjects for his Leaving Cert. He enjoys school, he loves information on things, he´s like a sponge.

But we have a big problem, he cant decide what he wants to do as a career. We chatted about it, he approached his principle and changed some classes, I thought he was settled until he came home yesterday evening and he told me he is still so confused. He has 3 types of careers in mind but he can only pick certain subjects. My heart goes out to him. What can I do to help him.



re : 5th year secondary student needs advice.           reply
08/11/2012 18:43 - Ask Mother Hen
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I think there is huge pressure on teenagers to decide what career they want before they sit the leaving cert. They have no proper life experience to help them decide so a lot go blindly into college courses and leave halfway through because it wasn´t what they thought. I did my leaving cert 10 years ago (and did very well I might add!). I had no idea what I wanted to do so decided to take a year out to get work experience. I ended up working for 6 years! After years of working I built up a hugely diverse CV that showed my experience in secretarial/office work, childcare, retail, charity work/fundraising just to name a few. At age 25 I went back to college as a mature student after deciding I wanted to be a preschool teacher and that is what I am now - and I love it!! This may not be an ideal situation for your son, but I just wanted to tell my story to show its not the end of the world if you don´t know what to do. I´ve had a fun, interesting and busy 10 years and I´ve always been happy with everything I´ve done and have no regrets. Best of luck to your son with whatever he chooses to do : )



re... : 5th year secondary student needs advice.           reply
09/11/2012 10:46 - Ask Mother Hen
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Mother Hen, thank you for replying. He did approach the guidance counsellor in school but he could only give my son 10 mins of his time.
Thanks for all the advice and the website. Its great to have some more information available, now we don´t feel so lost.
Thank you.




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