About our Courses

So you’ve finished school and are trying to figure out your next move. Whether you’re looking to go to university, or from College to employment, we want to cut away the confusion and help you make the best choices to go forward and build a secure foundation for future success. We are committed to supporting all of our young learners to help them gain the skills needed for future employment; that is why the College is delighted to participate in the Government’s National Skills Academy* programmes.

* South Essex College is a member of the National Skills Academies in Creative and Cultural Skills, Enterprise, Retail and Advanced Manufacturing.

Vocational Qualifications

1. Apprenticeships

   If you are already in employment and want to earn as you learn or are a school leaver seeking employment with on-the-job training, an apprenticeship might be for you. Apprenticeships are work-based learning qualifications that combine work experience with training on and off the job.

   Your time will be spent combining theory work at the College or in the workplace with practical on-the-job training. Apprenticeships also include a certificate in functional skills (Maths, English and/or ICT), giving you essential transferable skills that will hold strong in any career.
   
   Click here for more information about Apprenticeships

2. BTEC Qualifications

   If you are looking for higher level qualifications that combine vocational training with traditional classwork, you may be interested in BTEC courses. BTECs offer theory and work-based learning in vocational subjects such as art and design, engineering, financial services, health and social care and many more. BTEC courses are offered at foundation, intermediate and advanced levels and can provide a route into university as well as training for employment in a specific field. Please note that entry to Level 3 may depend on you achieving the appropriate grades at Level 2, whether in GCSEs or Vocational Qualifications.

3. National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) and QCF Awards, Certificates and Diplomas

   Some areas of the curriculum have specialised vocational qualifications attached to them that are well-respected by professional industry. For example, legal secretarial work, beauty therapy, hairdressing, hospitality and catering, engineering and motor vehicle engineering. In these and other areas, South Essex College offers the qualifications that will best prepare you for success in your chosen career.

A-levels*

A-levels are the traditional academic route into university and are a good choice if you need a specific mixture of subjects to get into your ideal higher education course, or if you haven’t decided on a specific career path to work towards. You can mix and match subjects, so if you haven’t decided whether you want to go into the Arts or the Sciences, you can do courses in each to find out what you really enjoy. Achieving a full A-level qualification takes two years and they are broken down into two parts: an AS-level that makes up the first year and provides a solid grounding in a subject, and the second year A2-level, which deepens your knowledge. Together they make up the full A-level qualification.

Learners opt to take a maximum of 4 AS-levels in their first year, subject to entry requirements, before deciding which subjects to pursue to full A-level. This allows you flexibility of choice with regards to pursuing a career or gaining the UCAS points needed for entry into university. Subject choices may be affected by time-tabling. A-levels are offered at the Southend Campus only.

Functional Skills

Functional skills are the practical skills in English, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Mathematics that allow people to work confidently, effectively and independently in life. Functional skills are embedded in all of our courses.

The new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) shows how the different qualifications fit together