Educating teens
Life after home ed: routes into college without the Leaving Cert
By Laura · Founder, Home Ed Ireland
For a long time, the plan for a lot of home-educating families was straightforward: sit the Leaving Cert as an external candidate, then head to college like everyone else. As we cover in the getting-started guide, that route has gotten much harder since the Senior Cycle changes, because so many subjects now carry project work that has to be completed through a school.
If that has you worried, don’t be. There’s a whole network of further education, training and alternative entry routes in Ireland, and home-educated teenagers use them all the time. This is a plain map of the main ones, and how they connect.
First, a word on the framework
Most of these routes lead to a QQI award, and QQI awards sit on the National Framework of Qualifications, a 1 to 10 scale that lets you see how everything stacks up. The Junior Cycle sits around level 3, the Leaving Cert around levels 4 and 5, a Post Leaving Cert award at level 5 or 6, an ordinary degree at level 7 and an honours degree at level 8. The useful thing to know is that you climb it step by step. A level 5 award can get you into a level 7 or 8 course, so a teenager doesn’t need to land at the top in one jump.
Further education and QQI
This is the big one. Further Education and Training, usually shortened to FET, is delivered through your local Education and Training Board (ETB) and a network of colleges around the country. Courses run from foundation level up to level 6, and they lead to QQI awards that employers and colleges recognise.
Post Leaving Cert (PLC) courses are the ones most families end up looking at. They’re one or two year courses at level 5 or 6, in everything from art and animation to childcare, healthcare, business, science and engineering. You don’t always need a Leaving Cert to get on one. Many colleges take students on the basis of an interview, a portfolio or relevant experience, and they’re well used to non-standard applicants. A level 5 or 6 award is also a recognised way into higher education: plenty of degree courses reserve places for FET students, and you apply through the CAO the same as anyone else.
Youthreach
If a teenager has left school early without qualifications, Youthreach is worth knowing about. It’s a Department of Education programme, run through the ETBs, for young people roughly aged 15 to 20. It offers QQI awards, around levels 3 and 4, alongside work experience and support to move on to further training or a job. It’s free, and there’s often a training allowance. For a home-educated teen who isn’t heading for the exam route, it can be a gentle, supported way into structured learning.
Apprenticeships
An apprenticeship is earn-as-you-learn: your teen is employed, paid, and studies alongside the job. There are apprenticeships in far more than the traditional trades now, from software and finance to lab science and hospitality. You can start from age 16, there’s no upper age limit, and the entry requirements vary by programme, so some are very open. They lead to awards from level 5 all the way up to level 10, so this route can take someone a long way. The national site apprenticeship.ie lists what’s on offer.
If you still want exam results
Some families do still want a set of formal exam results, and there’s a route that sidesteps the coursework problem: sitting British exams, GCSEs and A-levels, as a private candidate. Because most of these are marked on the written papers, they don’t carry the school-based project components that make the Leaving Cert so hard to do from the outside. A home-educated teen can prepare independently, then sit the exams.
The practical side is worth understanding early. The exams are run by boards like Cambridge International and Pearson Edexcel, and you sit them at a registered exam centre as a private candidate. Some centres in Ireland offer the international versions (International GCSE and International A Level), and plenty of families use those. For the UK versions, private candidates usually have to sit in the UK, so some families travel over for exam season. The boards’ own “find a centre” tools and the Joint Council for Qualifications guide for private candidates are the best places to start.
Getting into an Irish college with them is well established, but it pays to check the detail.
Points
The colleges convert A-level grades to CAO points, usually counting the best three subjects, with a bonus for A-level Maths, much like the Leaving Cert. The exact scale is set by the colleges and it changes, so check the current figures with the CAO and the admissions office of any college your teen has in mind.
A spread of subjects
Most degree courses want more than three subjects to meet their minimum entry requirements, so GCSEs often count too. University College Cork’s matriculation page is a clear example of how the subjects are added up.
The Irish requirement
The National University of Ireland colleges (UCD, UCC, University of Galway and Maynooth) require Irish for entry, and that applies to A-level applicants too. There’s an exemption for those who qualify, and the other universities (Trinity, DCU, UL and the technological universities) don’t have the Irish requirement at all. It’s worth knowing which you’re dealing with before your teen settles on subjects.
If this is the way you’re leaning, sort the details early. Which board, which centre, which colleges, and their subject rules all shape what your teen studies, so it’s better mapped out in good time.
Putting a path together
You don’t have to pick one of these and commit forever. They connect. A teen might do a Youthreach or FET course, move on to a PLC, and use that level 5 award to step into a degree. Another might do an apprenticeship, work for a few years, then go to college as a mature student.
As always, the people who’ve walked it themselves are your best source. HEN and local groups are full of parents whose teenagers have gone these routes and can tell you what actually helped. For course listings, Qualifax lets you search every further and higher education course in the country, and Citizens Information has clear overviews of each option.
Common questions
Can a home-educated teen go to college without the Leaving Cert?
Yes. The main routes are a QQI further education award (often a Post Leaving Cert course at level 5 or 6, which can lead into a degree), an apprenticeship, or applying as a mature student from age 23. Some families also sit A-levels as external candidates.
What is a QQI Level 5 award?
It's a further education qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications, usually earned on a one-year Post Leaving Cert course. Employers recognise it, and it's a recognised route into many higher education courses through the CAO.
What age can you start an apprenticeship?
From 16. There's no upper age limit, and the entry requirements vary by programme, so some are very open.
Who counts as a mature student?
For CAO purposes, someone who is 23 or older on the 1st of January in the year they start. Mature applicants are assessed on their experience rather than on Leaving Cert points.
Do PLC courses need a Leaving Cert?
Not always. Many colleges take students on the basis of an interview, a portfolio or relevant experience, so it's worth applying and asking.
Everything here is for guidance only, and the further education landscape changes. We cannot advise on your teen's own situation. Check the current detail with Citizens Information, Qualifax, QQI and the CAO, and talk to the course providers directly. Spotted something that needs updating? Tell us.