Questions Answers &

All your education questions answered by Brian Mooney

My daughter graduated from the University of Limerick with a 2.1 honours degree in physiotherapy this year. Since then she has had three unsuccessful interviews. Very few of her class colleagues have secured jobs. She knows graduates from the other colleges who have been equally unsuccessful. She is also looking at recruitment in England, with no success. There were 25 students in her class in Limerick. She worked extremely hard in secondary school to secure the points for physiotherapy. She had a similar academic record in college. Where are the jobs for physiotherapists and why train the numbers if there are not jobs for the graduates?

Your daughter must feel a huge sense of disappointment. Given that the entry points for physiotherapy in UL in 2006 were 585 points, it seems very unfair.

The college itself does not offer any guarantees to prospective students, simply confining itself to stating that "Graduates of the programme will be equipped to work in clinical practice in Ireland and in other countries where their chartered status is recognised."

Should there be a relationship between the number of students accepted on to programmes in our third-level colleges and the number of prospective employment opportunities available within Ireland?

Is it the responsibility of colleges to offer sufficient places to meet student demand or should they allow the employment opportunities to dictate the number of places offered each year?

There has been a major expansion in the number of physiotherapy places offered in the last number of years, and in all areas of medical and paramedical training. Along with the course offering full degree programmes in physiotherapy, there are two courses offered through the institutes of technology in Carlow and Sligo, which offer physiology and health science. The vast majority of these graduates transfer directly into physiotherapy degree programmes in the UK.

Some Irish students have taken up places in medical programmes offered through the University of Budapest.

These students, when they graduate and return home, will add further to the pool of potential applicants for each available medical and paramedical appointment. Therefore, even if we rationed the number of places offered, to keep it in line with expected recruitment needs, students would simply bypass our education system, and seek their education in the UK and in other European universities.

It may be the case that your daughter will have to undertake post-graduate studies in physiotherapy, to improve her employment prospects.

There are opportunities in the field of orthopaedic physiotherapy, specialising in muscle and joint problems such as arthritis, back pain, fractures and sport injuries.

Other specialisations include respiratory physiotherapy, treating breathing problems. neurology physiotherapy treating brain injuries and stroke victims or ongoing problems such as spinal injuries and Parkinson's disease.

There are also opportunities in paediatrics treating children with diseases such as cystic fibrosis and cerebral palsy. Persons with learning difficulties or mental health problems are supported by mental health physiotherapists. Physiotherapists also specialise in dealing with women during and after pregnancy and in the workplace as ergonomics specialists.

The message for the Leaving Certificate class of 2007 is that there is often no relationship between the popularity of a course, high points requirements and job opportunities.

•Brian Mooney is the former president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors.

E-mail questions to bmooney@irish- times.ie