Certificate in Education and Social Sciences tutors – Rehia Whaanga, Jan Baynes and Joan-Ella Ngata
A degree in social work or teaching is within reach for those who lack confidence or qualifications thanks to EIT’s Certificate in Education and Social Sciences, now available at our Tairāwhiti Campus.
People who had a hard time at school or in life can be great teachers and social workers, and go on to help others who face the same challenges.
EIT’s Certificate in Education and Social Sciences is now available at the Tairāwhiti Campus to help get you up to speed to take on a Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) or a Bachelor of Social Work degree programme in 2017.
“It is a really important programme for people who left school without qualifications or have been out of a study environment for a long time,” says EIT assistant head of school, Education and Social Sciences, Mandy Pentecost.
“It provides generally useful background information to help them in their further study, plus it prepares them with research, academic writing and study skills, and supports them in doing a degree level paper.”
People who do the course often say: “Thank goodness I did that!” because it makes study toward a degree so much easier, says Mandy.
“You will get a heap of support, you will be taught as an individual and brought up to speed so you can carry on and use that experience to gain a degree and a career where you help other people. We don’t want people to miss out on
that because of what might have happened to them previously.”
“It doesn’t guarantee that people will be accepted into the degree they choose, but it gives them a chance to meet the entry requirements.”
With five children aged 2, 6, 8, 10 and 12, Alana Ngawhare had plenty of reasons not to add Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) study to her to-do list, especially since it had been 16 years since she left school.
“Leaving work and living on a student allowance put me off. But the degree is what I wanted to do, and it will be better in the long run for my children and me so I thought it was worth the struggle. Gosh, we’re almost halfway through the year and it feels like we’ve just started study.”
“I needed a bit of help with assignment writing and academic writing, and I thought it would equip me with the skills I needed to get through the degree, and it helped so much – I’m so glad I did it.”
“There’s so much help at EIT – the learning advisors and lecturers are amazing. And also classmates – we work together, have a Facebook group. If you have kids, family is number one. I don’t think I could do it without my family.”