ill answer them in order! yes progress BUT BUT BUT it is a huge huge leap. an FD is for experienced practitioners and experienced students thats who it is specifically designed for. Many people who go from 3 straight to FD fall out because the leap from an assessment based course like the 3 is so different. from essay one you have to pass, not nearly pass or redo anything you don't get second chances you have to pass. ( you get one fail over the 2 years) so you have to be ready. Those who do an academic writing course pre the course always do a lot lot better. even this biggest essay you did on the 3 (prob 3.3) is in no where comparable to the first essay you will do on an fd.
no you don't have to work in different placements for an fd because you need to be employed. your job WILL be your experience and the tutor will visit and you will make a work based portfolio and have a work based mentor in addition to all the essays.
if you want to be an eyes then its worth it BUT if you want to go up the ladder to management then a management course is far better and far more useful the ILM do great ones and often in colleges and of course cheaper! you could do ILM 3 then progress. they're work based so more relevant remember academic courses are about theory rarely practice first.
yes you have to top up, and if you're working you usually do it over 2 years so you are looking at 4 years minimum. Now with fees at 7 to 9 k a year this is a huge fee and like i said unless you want to be an eyes or do your PGCE at some point unnecessary.
BUT if you are academic of you like reading and believe me there is a huge amount of reading the book list i give for the first unit has 7 core books on it and lots more reading ( thats why we say i am reading maths or whatever) and if you can work to tight schedules it is fun, it has been fun but then again it has been 2k a year tops so worth it, at 7k i wouldn't do it.
you may get a bursary but these are being phased out as i believe EYPS will be one day, its a pointless qual, why do that when you can do a pace and earn really good money, eyes brings nothing but more responsibility. I'm rambling.
consider what do you want to do, teach manage lead? if its teach do your degree then your PGCE if its manage do an ILM course BUT remember the investment will come from you via student loans and thats a big mill stone but then everyone who goes to uni has them mine is huge!!!! the good news is tho if you stay in childcare you will rarely earn enough to have to pay it back, double edged good news.
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