Leaving cert alternative?

Rosaleenp13

My daughter is not returning back to secondary school this year because of her anxiety. It is slowly taking over her life, I really want to help her but she will not seek professional help and is not allowed to take medication. She wants to go into third level education but says if she has to return back to school she will be "drove to an early grave". Is there any way she could get into college without having a leaving cert? I am not familiar with how the schooling system works in Ireland but I have been told about a further education college? Can she go there without doing her LC?

Bazinga_N

Rosaleenp13 wrote: »

My daughter is not returning back to secondary school this year because of her anxiety. It is slowly taking over her life, I really want to help her but she will not seek professional help and is not allowed to take medication. She wants to go into third level education but says if she has to return back to school she will be "drove to an early grave". Is there any way she could get into college without having a leaving cert? I am not familiar with how the schooling system works in Ireland but I have been told about a further education college? Can she go there without doing her LC?

She could look into doing Homeschooling, Youthreach or even Applying as an External Student. These would probably be the only other routes outside the traditional school route for someone your daughters way. I'm not sure but they're might be something available in a further education college. I think you'd need a leaving cert for most of their courses though. It's worth a look anyways! Best of luck to her!

Rubberchikken

if she is willing and has support, she dan do the leaving cert at home and sit the exams in a school when the time comes.
there are projects in some subjects that require being signed off by a teacher so contacting schools to find one that would be helpful would be better done sooner rather than later.

is there a reason she isn't allowed to take meds as your post states?

i'm sorry she's dealing with anxiety.

she could look at courses in a PLC college. you don't say her age so i'm not sure how difficult it might be but most people are helpful and approaching local colleges to chat can help you to know where your daughter stands.

hope that helps and best of luck

everesteduc

If your daughter does not want anything at all to do with a school then it is feasible to do a leaving cert as an external student that requires no projects and therefore no teacher supervision. She could still do irish, english, maths, languages, business, economics, accounting, classical studies. She could also do physics, chemistry, biology but laboratory work would be beneficial. She would need to contact a school to sit her oral in any languages.

Subjects with projects would be like geography, history, religion, home economics, construction etc.

www.examinations.ie will have the application form online around Christmas. It should cost a little over €300 although I think there are exemptions from the fee for medical card holders.

Rosaleenp13

Rubberchikken wrote: »

if she is willing and has support, she dan do the leaving cert at home and sit the exams in a school when the time comes.
there are projects in some subjects that require being signed off by a teacher so contacting schools to find one that would be helpful would be better done sooner rather than later.

is there a reason she isn't allowed to take meds as your post states?

i'm sorry she's dealing with anxiety.

she could look at courses in a PLC college. you don't say her age so i'm not sure how difficult it might be but most people are helpful and approaching local colleges to chat can help you to know where your daughter stands.

hope that helps and best of luck

Thankyou for your reply and help. she is not allowed to take medication because she won't see a professional, I was told they would consider giving her medication if she got help but because she is under 18 and refuses to see someone they will not allow her to take it.

CINCLANTFLT

Saying this as kindly as possible and as someone who has had anxiety issues... she needs to deal with the anxiety issue sooner or later...

If she does go onto 3rd level, will she be able to deal with lectures etc?

spurious

CINCLANTFLT wrote: »

Saying this as kindly as possible and as someone who has had anxiety issues... she needs to deal with the anxiety issue sooner or later...

If she does go onto 3rd level, will she be able to deal with lectures etc?

Have to plus one this. She needs to get help with her mental health first. The Leaving can wait.

endacl

Rosaleenp13 wrote: »

Thankyou for your reply and help. she is not allowed to take medication because she won't see a professional, I was told they would consider giving her medication if she got help but because she is under 18 and refuses to see someone they will not allow her to take it.

You need to figure a way for her to see a professional, I'm afraid. The child in this scenario has assumed far too much control. She's not equipped to deal with it and that level of control, in itself, is anxiety provoking. By going along with it, you're feeding the fantasy, I'm sorry to say. Mental health problems in young people don't go away without some form of intervention. They only get worse.
Accommodating her in this instance isn't helping her.

CINCLANTFLT wrote: »

Saying this as kindly as possible and as someone who has had anxiety issues... she needs to deal with the anxiety issue sooner or later...

If she does go onto 3rd level, will she be able to deal with lectures etc?

+1