BA Social Care - Aussie Equivalent

Duckie88

I graduated from Athlone IT 2 years ago. Enjoyed it there mostly! I was awarded a 2:1 in Social Care Practice. The following is retrospective; i'm heading off on a WHV, but I have mulled over the Sponsored Visa...

Wondering if my degree will match the criteria for Welfare Worker (SOL Occupation - http://www.immi.gov.au/asri/occupations/w/welfare-worker.htm) in Australia. There is a fee for pre-migration assessment and conversion of my degree. As far as I can tell, the Social Care Practice degree meets the awarding body's criteria:
[URL="(http://www.acwa.org.au/sites/www.acwa.org.au/files/Form 1182 Information Pack_0.pdf):"](http://www.acwa.org.au/sites/www.acwa.org.au/files/Form 1182 Information Pack_0.pdf):[/URL]

"UNITED KINGDOM
Applicants with at least a Diploma of H.E. (or similar) in Social Work (or similar) qualification from the
United Kingdom studied full time over at least a two year period, with at least 400 hours of supervised field
education, and recognised by the General Social Care Council in England, or its equivalent in Scotland, Wales and
Ireland, (formerly CCETSW) as a qualifying training for social work as evidenced by the issue of their Diploma in
Social Work (or earlier, the Certificate Qualification in Social Work)."

As for being recognised by the Irish equivalent to General Social Care Council, I have applied for membership to IASCW. That's about as much as I can do.

I've e-mailed the Dept. of Humanities and Careers to inquire about this. Absolutely zero response from either, but there ya go. AIT all over.

The fee for this degree conversion is something like 400eur, better spent on flights methinks. Our course was assured that our qualifications are internationally recognised. Can the course be independently assessed by the Aussie authorities? i.e. Ollie (head of Humanities) forwards course details to ACWA > ACWA assess the course's suitability to the role of Community/Welfare worker > ACWA officially recognise the course as valid > Ollie puts the 'approved by Australian authorities' stamp on the course. I, and every other Social Care graduate, don't have to shell out 400eur to some agency to convert my degree. Result.
I 've raised this with the college before when working in the UK in 2010, again I just was brushed aside. Is this idea completely unreasonable?


On another note, I haven't had much success since graduating last year. I initially moved to the UK and landed agency work as a learning support worker in a college. I enjoyed this role, but there was insufficient hours, I couldn't keep myself afloat, and had to come home after 6 months.
I have had two interviews with Rehab and another with Brothers of Charity, all for the position of support worker - all unsuccessful due to insufficient experience (especially with challenging behaviour). I've tried to keep myself trained up and have completed First Aid and counselling courses. I was accepted on a postgrad in Law for DIT, but honestly can't afford it right now, and am not sure it will lend itself to my job prospects here. I have recently attended interviews for montessori and creches, but my qualifications are deemed by Dept. of Children/Health as unsuitable.

At interviews I find it hard to assert my qualifications. When asked what I am qualified as, I struggle to answer. The fact that I am not even qualified to work with pre-schoolers came as a blow. It feels like I am not equipped with a real, tangible skill-set (record-keeping, crisis intervention, report writing). I don't like buying into the idea that an arts degree is pretty useless, but it just feels that way right now.

So fecking off an a WHV, to see what happens. Any banter welcomed

lynyg18

I have just come back from australia for two years. I have a degree in social care and it was not accepted over there however i did manage to get agency work working with children and as a teaching assistant and a support worker!! i just did all three and would be on call from each and decide which to work with on what day. I got month contracts with each so started to gain good experience but found it very difficult to get a full time job and therefore no sponsership so im back in ireland if you have any more questions i can help?