Will employers look less favourably at FETAC certs now?

Dean820

Link

SUSPENSION OF certification of Fás courses by Fetac (Further Education and Training Awards Council) has left many questions to be answered, according to members of the Opposition.

Fergus O’Dowd of Fine Gael and Ruairí Quinn of Labour were commenting following confirmation that a national investigation of Fás courses was under way.

The investigation follows discovery of irregularities in relation to courses in the northeast.

News of the investigation led to immediate expressions of concern by groups representing the unemployed and trainees on Fás courses. It is thought that up to 1,000 trainees may be currently without certification for the courses they attended.

As part of its investigation, Fetac is visiting all 17 Fás centres from which certificates are requested. Fetac said it had already visited six centres and it expected to complete its investigation by the end of the month, after which it would decide on the appropriate action.

Mr O’Dowd called for both the initial and wider investigation findings and positions of both parties to be made public. He said in the longer term Fás would have to be “abolished”. He said it was “ time for a one-stop shop for getting people back to work to take its place”.

So will this news make employers less likely to employ the FETAC certified folks? Are you an employer, and if so would you be less likely to employ now? What are your general thoughts on all this? Discuss.

looksee

It might make employers look twice at FAS/FETAC certs but otherwise I would think that it shows that they are actually paying attention and have standards.

How FAS is surviving is a mystery to me, yet once again they are to be rebranded!

hers3

i have a fetac level 6 advanced cert, which in the nfq shows to be higher than a leaving, yet the department of ed say it is not good enough to be regarded as such............just cost me a job i have being trying to get for over two years

djk1000

hers3 wrote: »

i have a fetac level 6 advanced cert, which in the nfq shows to be higher than a leaving, yet the department of ed say it is not good enough to be regarded as such............just cost me a job i have being trying to get for over two years

I think it means that it's a higher standard of learning than the leaving, in terms of comprehension, application etc. But unless your Fetac level 6 advanced was two years full time duration with 7 or so full subjects, it wouldn't compare in terms of learning hours. As an example, I did a full day manual handling course that was fetac level 5, which according to the NFQ is equivalent to the Junior Cert.

It seems that you really want this job, so maybe you could study for the leaving cert over the next year or two, or do a Hetac level certificate?

hers3

it was a four year national craft cert

djk1000

I'm guessing that that is day release? Working for a while and spending some time in class? which wouldn't equate to two years of full time study. My point is the same, the standard of academic education may be higher than leaving cert according to the nqf, but the quantity isn't.