For decades, further education and training (FET) carried a label: it was what you did when other plans, especially college, didn’t work out.
That framing was always unfair.
Today, it’s also out of date.
Ask anyone who’s completed an apprenticeship in a trade now crying out for skilled workers, or a PLC graduate who walked into a job while their university peers were still job-hunting, and you’ll hear a different story.
READ MORE
FET isn’t a backup plan. It’s often the smarter plan.
Apprenticeships pay you to learn from day one: no fees, no mounting debt, but instead a system that pays you a wage as you earn your qualification through a mix of on-the-job learning and college classes. Apprenticeships start at level six, but many lead to an honours degree qualification at level eight.
Post-Leaving Certificate courses, meanwhile, often include work placements, so students graduate with something increasingly rare: actual experience. And because FET is built around QQI-recognised awards, these aren’t informal certificates; they’re qualifications that carry weight with employers and open doors to further study, including progression into higher education.
There are a range of offerings, including cybersecurity, healthcare, construction, hospitality, digital marketing and sustainability. The courses on offer through Education and Training Boards (ETBs) track the economy’s needs, so they’re heavily geared towards getting you work.
For adults returning to learning after years in the workforce, or after a career break, or after leaving school early, that range matters even more. There’s a route in at almost any stage of life, and much of it can be done part-time, alongside work or family commitments.
None of this is about ranking FET above university, or the reverse. It’s about recognising that these are simply different tools for different goals, and that choosing FET is a decision made on its own merits, not a consolation for missing out on something else. Increasingly, that’s exactly how students are treating it.
Perception still lags behind, however. Parents, guidance counsellors and students themselves can default to viewing FET as the fallback, even as employers increasingly view it as a direct route to skilled, well-paid work. Closing that gap matters not just for individuals weighing their options, but for an economy that needs plumbers and cybersecurity analysts as much as it needs graduates with honours degrees.
Further education and training isn’t where you end up when the first choice falls through. For a growing number of people, it is the first choice, made deliberately, and with good reason.
GLOSSARY: Further Education and Training
Access
For all the talk of the Leaving Cert being “fair”, it’s never been fair for students from disadvantaged backgrounds – whether school-leavers or mature students over the age 23 – as well as for many students with disabilities, who face additional hurdles to getting into college. A number of third-level access offices run access programmes, providing additional educational, emotional and financial supports to students. See AccessCollege.ie for more details
Apprenticeships
Earn while you learn. On an apprenticeship, you’ll pick up a qualification between level five and 10 while training on the job and learning online, in-person, or both. Apprenticeships cover the more traditional, familiar range of trades such as motor mechanics, plumbing, stonemasonry and carpentry, but newer apprenticeships include auctioneering, recruitment and ICT.
Back to Education Allowance/Back to Education Initiative
People with disabilities, carers, and those receiving certain social welfare payments may qualify for the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA), which supports full-time further or higher education study without loss of benefits. The Back to Education Initiative (BTEI), meanwhile, offers part-time further education to people who left school with few or no formal qualifications or who have low literacy levels, and who want to combine learning with family and work commitments. For BTEI, you can enrol directly with your local ETB – no need to apply first through the Department of Social Protection. For BTEA, contact your local Intreo Centre or the department to apply.
Community education
This is adult learning in community settings around Ireland, focused on the needs of learners who are often involved in the design of the programme.
Dropout
There’s a strong body of evidence to show that college students who completed a PLC course (see PLC, below) first are more likely to stay in college.
A study carried out by Solas found that participants on PLC courses have an advantage over their peers in college, because they’ve had that extra year between school and college (although some courses run for two years) to take stock, grow as a person and develop soft skills such as teamwork, independent thinking and critical analysis.
Education and Training Boards
- ETBs around the country have responsibility for delivering further education and training programmes. They’re usually your first port of call if you want any help or need any further information. There’s a full directory of ETBs here.
FetchCourses.ie
A searchable database of FET courses from Solas.
Further education and training
PLCs, apprenticeships, traineeships, adult education, Youthreach, and any other education outside the primary, standard secondary and third-level colleges, fall under the remit of FET.
Grants
Returning to education can be expensive, but your local ETB or, at third-level, student support office, can direct you to sources of funding. See also AccessCollege.ie.
Interest courses
Committing to a full- or part-time return to education – with all the exams and assessment it entails – can be daunting. But adult education centres, community colleges and some third-levels offer a diverse selection of interest-based evening or day courses, which can be stimulating in their own right or help you test the waters for a return to education.
National Framework of Qualifications
NFQ courses accredited by Quality and Qualifications Ireland – the gold standard in Ireland and internationally recognised awards – range from level one and two (certificate) to level three (Junior Cert), levels four and five (Leaving Cert), level six (advanced and higher certs), level seven (ordinary degree), level eight (higher degree), level nine (master’s degree and postgraduate diploma) and level 10 (doctoral degrees). See here for more information.
Post-Leaving Cert
Courses run by ETBs in colleges of further education around the country. Typically a year or two in duration, these are qualifications that ready students for employment and are a stepping stone to third-level. An increasing number of college places are being reserved for students coming from PLCs.
Qualifax.ie
A one-stop source of information for all courses across higher, further and adult education.
Quality and Qualifications Ireland
QQI is the gold standard accreditation for further and higher education in Ireland. Most FET courses have it.
If you want to know if your qualification will be accepted by employers in and outside Ireland, checking whether it is QQI accredited is your starting point. Bear in mind that a lack of QQI accreditation is not necessarily a warning sign, as there are plenty of courses without it – but, if it’s not there, it does mean checking who accredits your course.
QQI identifies courses under the National Framework of Qualifications, running from certificates at level one to doctoral (PhD) degrees at level 10.
ThisisFET.ie
Everything you need to know about further education and training.
Traineeship
Employment-focused courses, leading to a level four to six NFQ qualification, preparing students for jobs in areas suffering skills shortages. Courses are delivered via classroom or online learning, plus at least 30 per cent on-the-job training.
Work experience
An integral component of apprenticeships and traineeships, and now offered on many PLC courses – with third-level colleges and universities lately following their lead. Work experience not only gives people a chance to develop skills, but also sets one graduate apart from another.
