System fails Kevin as hopes shattered

Aspiring secondary school teacher, Kevin Donohoe, fears that he will have to drop out of his dream studies just weeks after starting because of what he describes as an anomaly in the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) scheme whereby he has disqualified himself by working before starting college. Having completed a FETAC Level 5 course in 2009, Kevin (27) intended to continue his education. "I was unsure of the next path to choose mainly due to the economic downturn. I had previously been in third level education when I was younger and made some bad course choices so this time I wanted to be sure I was on the correct path," he says. See this week's Celt for more...