Boost to career prospects with a student loan for CCPD programmes

For the first time new students beginning their part-time course on or after 1 September 2012 won’t have to pay any tuition fees up front and will instead be able to apply for a Tuition Fee Loan.  The Tuition Fee Loan isn’t based on household income and there’s no upper age limit for applying.

This means that for potential students who are not high earners, there has never been a better time to enrol on a part-time course.  Although tuition fees are at their highest level ever, student loans to cover the full fees are available.  These loans need not be repaid until the course has finished and until earnings are over £21,000 per year.  Most part-time students will be able to get a Tuition Fee Loan.

One programme which qualifies for such a loan, run by the Centre for Personal and Career Development at CCCU, is the Foundation Degree in Supporting Young People. For applicants who do not already have a qualification at this level, applications can be made for a loan to cover the full cost of the fees while the student is studying.  Students only have to repay the loan once they have completed the two year part time programme (three years to obtain the full BA Degree) and are earning over £21,000 per year.  Full details about this course are available on our website at www.canterbury.ac.uk/education/ccpd

Students studying on the Foundation degree

For those with a disability, long-term health condition, mental-health condition or specific learning difficulty, such as dyslexia or dyspraxia, extra help may be available through Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs).

Helpful information is available at the Government’s Direct Gov website

Direct Gov:  http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/DG_194466

For more details of the Student Loan scheme including eligibility rules and how to apply, visit Student Finance England.  

Student Finance England:

http://www.sfengland.slc.co.uk/part-time-study.aspx

A Martin Lewis video providing some excellent impartial advice on the changes to student finance for part-time students which is well worth watching:

 

“Studying part time for a higher education qualification could boost your career prospects, while the flexibility it offers, allows you to balance your studies with personal or family circumstances and work commitments.”

Student Finance England

Centre for Career and Personal Development offer new online course

The Centre for Career and Personal Development at CCCU is currently recruiting for a new type of career guidance course.

The Certificate in Career Guidance and Development is now available through the ‘e-learning’ option of studying solely through their pc.   This is an online version of the popular course which is now available to people anywhere.   This is aimed at careers practitioners who need to boost their qualifications to meet the Level 6 requirement.  It covers the underpinning theory for the new work-based Level 6 qualification.  This certificate can also provide a stepping stone to later complete the MA in Career Guidance.

The course covers:

1. Introduction to reflective practice.  
2. An overview of Career Guidance theory and its application. 
3. An overview of Career Development theory and its application.
4. Approaches to equality and diversity – opportunities and challenges for career guidance practice.
5. Labour market research, trends and theory. 

And is delivered 100% online through lectures, case studies, discussion groups and tutorial feedback. Assessment involves undertaking two short pieces of work: a Reflective Evaluation of a 1:1 guidance session with a client and  a Report on an aspect of the Labour Market. These are also submitted and marked online.

Access the course materials online through your computer

Alison Fielding and Rebecca Tee, Senior Lecturers at CCPD, said:  “For those wanting to study from home, who want to design their own learning around other commitments and who need to get a Level 6 qualification wherever they live, this e:learning option is ideal.” 

We are recruiting throughout the year.  Contact us for more information about this and any of our programmes and courses: 

www.canterbury.ac.uk/education/ccpd

Centre for Career and Personal Development recruiting for all courses

The Centre for Career and Personal Development at CCCU is currently recruiting for a wide range of courses in career guidance and allied work.

The Centre offers courses in careers work at every level, from the Certificate in Careers Education and Guidance for careers co-ordinators and the MA in Career Guidance for those wishing to join the Guidance profession. 

For those wanting to study from home, the Centre offers an option of some home and some University study in a ’blended’ course in Career Coaching.  There is also the full ‘e-learning’ option of studying for the Certificate in Career Guidance and Development solely online. 

Recent graduates from the MA in Career Guidance celebrating their success

Hazel Reid, Centre Director said:

“We are proud of the quality of the courses we teach here – together with first class staff, a lively careers community and excellent facilities.  We welcome enquiries from anyone interested in finding out more.” 

Jane Westergaard, Course Director for the Foundation Degree in Supporting Young People, said:  “We teach this innovative course at locations in London, Essex and Kent.  It is a really effective way for non-traditional learners to get themselves a degree based on the work that they do every day with young people.  They study part-time and it gives people a way in to a qualification that fits with their everyday work environment.” 

This programme leads on to the full BA Honours Degree in Supporting Young People after a further year’s study.  Alison Fielding, Programme Director, said:

“It is great seeing people progress in their academic life.  Students in their BA year have the opportunity to undertake a research project and to write about their findings.  There is always an exciting variety of topics that the students choose to research.”

Contact us for more information about any of our programmes and courses: 

www.canterbury.ac.uk/education/ccpd or email ccpdadmin@canterbury.ac.uk

Narrative Career Counselling Workshop

Hazel Reid was invited to give a two hour workshop in Austria in April 2012 at the annual conference of the Bundesinstitut fur Erwachsenenbildung (the Federal Institute for Adult Education  - bifeb).  This took place at their educational headquarters on Wolfgangsee, near Salzburg.  The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers, experts and career guidance practitioners from different sectors of guidance and counselling, in order to encourage discussion and dialogue.  Delegates came from Austria, Germany and Switzerland.




Strobl, Lake Wolfgangsee

 

Career guidance and counselling in Austria is not yet established as a discrete profession, very often it is one activity among others.  The individual professional identities of delegates were diverse and the conference sought to bring these professionals together to discuss their different and similar interests.  The papers and workshops at the conference were concerned with theoretical and practical perspectives that aimed to enthuse those attending. 

Dr Hazel Reid

Hazel’s workshop was entitled:  “‘Telling tales’:  Making narrative approaches count in career counselling”.  In her workshop, participants had an opportunity to learn about the approach and to practise using the techniques and strategies.  A keynote presenter had discussed constructivist approaches in the morning and this provided a useful foundation for the afternoon's activity.  Delegates enjoyed the workshop and as a result, Hazel has been asked to give a keynote presentation to another conference in Vienna in the autumn of 2012.

Rebecca Tee

A Fairer Future - Alison Fielding speaks at International Conference in Sweden

Alison Fielding, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Career and Personal Development, recently presented a paper at Örebro University in Sweden to an audience of international delegates. 



Örebro Castle



The conference, "Marginalisation Processes 2012" was aimed at experienced academics, researchers and doctoral scholars and focussed on the sharing of current research activities.  The conference was run by members of the multidisciplinary research group CCD/KKOM (Communication, Culture and Diversity) at Örebro University and is supported by the Swedish Research Council.

Alison's paper was entitled: "A Fairer Future, in search of new meanings of inclusion for young people - in their own words", based on her research with inner city young people in one of the most deprived boroughs in the country,

Örebro has the first and only upper secondary school for deaf students in Sweden.  The university there has a correspondingly higher proportion of deaf students.  Reflecting this, the conference included specialist translator/signers for the benefit of delegates with hearing impairment.

The Organisers of the Conference

The conference was successful with a stimulating atmosphere and a collaborative approach.  Alison expects to contribute a chapter to a possible book resulting from the event in due course.

Participants attending the Conference

Alison Fielding 

Graduation of Foundation degree Students

Dr Barbara Bassot from the Centre for Career and Personal Development (CCPD) went to share in the celebrations as nine students graduated from the Working with Young People and Young People's Services Foundation degree course recently.  In a ceremony held at Augustine House the students received their Foundation degree certificates and celebrated afterwards with their friends and families. 



Augustine House



Dr Bassot said:  "This is another group of successful students from CCPD and it is a delight to see them reach their goal."

Dr Barbara Bassot

The students  studied  the Foundation degree (designed for those without the usual entry requirements for a degree) and achieved the qualification after two years part-time study on a range of subjects on different aspects of working with young people. These students can now continue for a further year study and achieve a full BA Hons degree in Supporting Young People.

The Centre for Career and Personal Development at CCCU runs two of these popular Foundation degree courses, part-time, in Stockwell and Essex.  Another course may be starting in Kent shortly.

One of the group said:

"We studied many topics to do with our work.  It was all  interesting and well-taught and it has really helped me to develop as a professional in my work with young people."

Another said after the ceremony:  "I never thought I'd ever end up with a degree.  I feel so proud today."

For more information about our Foundation degree in Supporting Young People and other courses, see our website at  http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/education/ccpd/    or contact Barry Maughan on 01892 - 507662

Senior Lecturers from CCPD speak at Danish International Conference

Academic papers were delivered by two colleagues from the Centre for Career & Personal Development.  Anne Chant and Rebecca Tee spoke at the European Society for Research into the Education of Adults conference held at the University of Southern Denmark last month.  Their papers conveyed key points from their respective doctoral research at CCCU.  Anne Chant’s paper looked at the impact of parental influence on career choice whilst Rebecca Tee’s explored the motivation of school governors. 

Anne Chant

The conference theme was life history and focused on aspects of in-depth autobiographic narrative enquiry which both Anne and Rebecca are using as their methodology for their research.  One of the most impactful aspects of the conference was the array of disciplines that were represented, all using life story and narrative approaches to help to understand the breadth of human experience.

Rebecca Tee

The conference was opened by Nora Bateson from Canada, who showed a film she had produced about her father, Gregory Bateson (1904 – 1980), an English anthropologist and social scientist and author of:  “Steps to an Ecology of Mind” (1972).

Peter Alheit from Germany spoke about his research which delineates the history of biography.  Marianne Horsdal introduced her new book ‘Telling Lives’ and discussed the interface between positivist and constructivist approaches to narrative research, emphasising the importance of narratives to make sense of the temporal world.

Other notable contributions included:

• Linden West from CCCU – reflecting on transformative learning
• Jesper Hoffmeyer from Denmark introduced the subject of Biosemiotics.  Countering the ‘either/or’ debate he discussed the interface between science and emotions.  
• Ian King, a doctoral scholar from CCPD presented a summary of his research which gave us a lot to think about.  We were particularly taken with the metaphor of the ‘quarry’ from which we dig deep for memories of life’s experiences.
• Laura Formenti from Italy contributed with her ‘myth of birth’ seminar.  She had collected the stories people have of their own births and explored the impact this may have had on those individuals in their relationships and in later life.

This was a memorable and varied conference which illustrated both the power of life stories as a research tool and as an effective conduit for our biological, sociological and emotional journeys.

Anne Chant