Going Back To The Classroom To Further Your Career

Are you fed up with the type of work you are doing and now you’re considering a career change? Or maybe you’re happy in your career but to progress further you need to be more qualified. Guess, it’s time to go back to the classroom!

After years of study many school leavers opt out of continuing with higher education due to boredom. Knowing what you want to do for work for the rest of your life is difficult so jumping into a job for a while can help you decide. It gives you time to reflect on what you’ve achieved academically and more importantly what interests you without your judgement being clouded by the pressure to make a decision before you’ve even tasted adult work life.

Deciding Which Courses To Consider

Embarking on a tertiary degree may not be your thing but that doesn’t mean you can not further your education and career. Most industries have further study courses and you can find classroom courses on findcourses.co.uk. The website alone has over 7,000 to choose from. They list open courses which are public courses which are free and there are scheduled courses. This site lists the qualification, the course, the cost, the provider plus dates and times.

Classroom courses are a great way to achieve certification or a qualification, with courses for everyone from beginners through to advanced graduate level. All you need to do to get started is decide which is the best course for you and this is a personal thing. If you’ve not done any study for some time, take a public course and get into training before jumping into a qualification that requires investment.

To help with working out what you want to do first answer these questions:

• Which industry appeals?
• Do you have the specific prerequisites required for a course in that industry?
• Are you able to attend courses Monday to Friday daytime, or do you need to find evening or weekend classroom courses?

The first question is tough as there are so many industries or sectors to choose from, therefore work out what you enjoying and then which industries can accomodate it and what qualifications are required. One of the popular sectors is finance, and there are many career options available within including: law, project management, human resources, health and safety, communications, and a lot of these roles are also transferrable to other sectors too hence it’s important to know what you enjoy doing as the starting point.

The Venues And Atmosphere Of Classroom Courses

Many of the courses listed on findcourses.co.uk are held in dedicated training centres, or in conference centres and hotels so it won’t be like stepping back in time – back to your school days. Your peers will vary, from mums looking to return to the workforce, to full time workers. The atmosphere will be more relaxed, and it’s not unusual for hands-on exercises to be part of the course.

Location-wise, courses are ran everywhere and, as you would expect, there are more in the larger cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and Edinburgh. Throughout the UK there are venues with pubic and scheduled courses.

Virtual Classrooms

Virtual classrooms have been made possible by the advances in technology of recent years. They are a teaching and learning environment where students can chat, ask questions, view videos, discuss presentations, and generally interact with each other online.

Once you are in the virtual classroom, you will find they are similar to a traditional classroom in that you are taught and get instructions from a teacher. The biggest difference is that students could be in any part of the world, which can enhance the learning experience.

A virtual classroom means that you do not have to consider the location of the course, and the hours are often more flexible as well. These types of classes can often be fitted in with your normal lifestyle, perhaps allowing you to study while keeping a job, or fulfilling other family commitments such as looking after your children. You do not have to think about travelling time, as all you need is your device and an Internet connection to join the class.

With an infinite amount of information available on the Internet, any research you need to do will be possible while you are in the virtual classroom, and that can help with your coursework. If you are after a particular qualification, the certificate you are given on passing is just the same as the one you have from attending a physical course. Prospective employers do not normally want to know how you achieved the qualification – it is enough that you have.

If you need to study and learn from home for any reason, then virtual classroom courses could be the answer for you.

Popular Classroom Courses

Finance is one of the most popular subjects, with more courses available than any other. This is because there is such a large diversity of categories in finance, from accounting to finance management, bookkeeping or investment banking. The financial world accounts for 5.5% of GDP in the UK, making it one of the largest industries contributing to the economy.

Business and management courses have the next highest number of courses available, closely followed by ICT. If you are looking for courses in a particular trade, construction, the oil, and gas industry, and engineering all have plenty of choices. The health and care sector has classroom courses in mental health, health and social care, and personal development among others.

There are many other choices as well such as marketing, design, public safety, leadership, negotiation, insurance, and languages, to name just a few of them.

Taking The First Step

Furthering your career or just improving your knowledge starts with you taking the first step. Good luck!