Open University - Openings courses

tyllwyd

I was wondering if anyone had experience of doing an OU Openings course? I have a vague idea of moving into working with children / young people and I was wondering about doing an initial course before trying to find a work/volunteering role where I could study a course which requires a work placement.

I was looking at the Understanding children and young people Openings course, but it is quite expensive so I don't want to rush into it. I'm a graduate working in quite an academic world, so I'm confident in terms of use of English, use of pcs, ability to study etc. Can anyone give me an idea of what level the course is aimed at, and whether they found it useful/interesting/challenging?

If not this course, are there any other courses / modules that people would recommend? (I'd like to work with primary or secondary school age children but I'm not looking to quailify as a teacher.)

Dunroamin

tyllwyd wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone had experience of doing an OU Openings course? I have a vague idea of moving into working with children / young people and I was wondering about doing an initial course before trying to find a work/volunteering role where I could study a course which requires a work placement.

I was looking at the Understanding children and young people Openings course, but it is quite expensive so I don't want to rush into it. I'm a graduate working in quite an academic world, so I'm confident in terms of use of English, use of pcs, ability to study etc. Can anyone give me an idea of what level the course is aimed at, and whether they found it useful/interesting/challenging?

If not this course, are there any other courses / modules that people would recommend? (I'd like to work with primary or secondary school age children but I'm not looking to quailify as a teacher.)

I can't comment on this particular course but as the Openings courses are generally taken by people who don't yet feel academically ready to start with a full OU module I think you'll find it very basic.

If you don't want to teach, what do you actually want to do with school age children?

ETA

Have you had a look to see whether there's anything that would be relevant on the OU's OpenLearn programme which is free?

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/education

tyllwyd

Dunroamin wrote: »

... If you don't want to teach, what do you actually want to do with school age children? ...

Thanks! I was thinking along the lines of teaching assistant / learning support, school administration roles or something in the charity sector involving youth work. I'm quite vague at the moment, as you can see!

I've got a science degree but I haven't worked in that area since I graduated so I wouldn't be able to teach science at secondary school level. Teaching at primary level might be an option but I'm too far away from that at the moment, I'd need more practical experience before I went down that route. I do volunteer with reading support at secondary school level at the moment which I enjoy - if I was able to do that, that would be great.

Dunroamin

tyllwyd wrote: »

Thanks! I was thinking along the lines of teaching assistant / learning support, school administration roles or something in the charity sector involving youth work. I'm quite vague at the moment, as you can see!

I've got a science degree but I haven't worked in that area since I graduated so I wouldn't be able to teach science at secondary school level. Teaching at primary level might be an option but I'm too far away from that at the moment, I'd need more practical experience before I went down that route. I do volunteer with reading support at secondary school level at the moment which I enjoy - if I was able to do that, that would be great.

I think that if you've got a science degree you'd be welcomed with open arms as a science teacher for secondary - they're like gold dust! Most secondary teachers won't have worked in the field anyway.

If you do change your mind about this, you might be interested in the OU's flexible, part time PGCE for secondary science. Perhaps worth bearing in mind for the future.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/qualification/k20.htm

mummyroysof3

i did an openings course with no previous study experience since leaving school and could have managed to start with level 1 instead. hth

borkid

Dunroamin wrote: »

I think that if you've got a science degree you'd be welcomed with open arms as a science teacher for secondary - they're like gold dust! Most secondary teachers won't have worked in the field anyway.

If you do change your mind about this, you might be interested in the OU's flexible, part time PGCE for secondary science. Perhaps worth bearing in mind for the future.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/qualification/k20.htm

Just what I was going to say. Be warned though that if you teach science you will be expected to teach all 3 sciences.

tyllwyd

Yes, it is a thought, thank you! My degree was Materials Science, so it incorporated elements of chemistry and physics. I'd be OK teaching chemistry/physics/biology to GCSE level I think, but not sure about A level.

borkid

tyllwyd wrote: »

Yes, it is a thought, thank you! My degree was Materials Science, so it incorporated elements of chemistry and physics. I'd be OK teaching chemistry/physics/biology to GCSE level I think, but not sure about A level.

When I was teaching I never taught A level, I thought I was too out of touch. I had 5 years research then 8 years having children before I trained to teach. My first year I taught maths and a little science. Then I moved school and could pretty much dictate my working hours, the children were still young so I only taught part time and never first or last lesson so that I could take and collect them from school.

What type of schools do you have near you? Here there are a lot of 11 --> 16 schools and for A levels the students move on to another establishment.

Good luck with whatever you decide. Working with children is never an easy option and is very hard work, both mentally and physically, it can be very rewarding though.

tyllwyd

I've had a look at the PGCE course, but I don't think its for me - I'm more interested in Education as a subject in its own right than teaching science myself, if you see what I mean. I'm more drawn to sociology / child development courses, I think.

Dunroamin

tyllwyd wrote: »

I've had a look at the PGCE course, but I don't think its for me - I'm more interested in Education as a subject in its own right than teaching science myself, if you see what I mean. I'm more drawn to sociology / child development courses, I think.

I think you really need to decide what you want to do with children if you don't want to teach them; then you can decide what sort of course would suit you. There's not too much point in doing sociology/child development if suitable jobs would need a social work qualification, for example.