All your education questions answered by Brian Mooney

My daughter has recently applied for a range of social science degree programmes through the CAO and thinks that she might like to be a social worker, but is not yet certain that this is the correct career path for her.

Can you tell me what other career opportunities a degree in social science might offer her? She wants to continue to live and study in Dublin.

A degree in social science is a good choice for your daughter if she is interested in a people-focused career but is not yet sure of which particular career path she wants to follow.

Social science degrees, offered by UCD, UCC, NUIM and NUIG offer a broad education in the social sciences, particularly in areas such as social policy and sociology. Social science degrees differ from social care degrees, which have a strong practical training element for students progressing to careers in child care and residential care.

As your daughter wishes to remain in Dublin, I will use the UCD three-year honours social science degree as the basis for my answer. This programme has been recently re-designed to make it much easier for students to progress to a number of different careers. In first year students take modules from a range of subjects in the social sciences, as well as core modules in social policy and sociology. They take optional modules from politics, geography, psychology, economics, information studies and archaeology. If your daughter accepts a place on this programme, academic advice will be available to help her choose the most appropriate mix of subjects to match her career interests.

In the last two years of the degree she can choose one of seven study pathways designed to allow her to enter  the labour market directly or to progress to graduate study.

Social science students can choose study paths such as environmental and urban studies - looking at issues in housing and environmental policy. From September 2008 students can choose a new study path in crime and social order, exploring the nature of crime and justice in modern society.

The human and organisational administration study path lets students specialise in industrial relations and business administration Other study paths for social science students are in policy analysis, focusing on how to design and implement policies to meet social need; advanced research, with specialist research training and an information studies path, leading to careers in librarianship and the media.

Your daughter should also consider the social science degree in NUI Maynooth, which is within easy reach of Dublin. NUIM social science students have a similar wide choice of social science subjects in the degree, including a chance to study anthropology. Maynooth also have a strong name in graduate training in youth and community work.

If, after all those choices, your daughter still wants to be a social worker, the UCD social work study path will prepare her for graduate professional training in the profession.

On this path, she will be able to study social work theory and see how social work is practised in many different settings. Students on this study path also participate in skills workshops that provide them with introductory practice skills and many move on to graduate training.

Two-year graduate Master's in Social Work training programmes are offered by UCD, UCC, NUIG and TCD and the majority of new social workers now enter the profession with a Master's degree, which is also the minimum qualification for most practice settings in the US and Canada. Currently the job opportunities for social science graduates in general and social workers in particular are good, with most graduates moving swiftly to jobs or graduate training.

Brian Mooney is the former president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. E-mail questions to  bmooney@irish - times.ie