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Chapter Ten Re-visiting the quality issue: evidence from case studies

10.1 In the previous chapter we considered the issue of what pupils do in their jobs from the perspective of the survey data. In the present chapter we re-visit the issue by considering the evidence from the Case Studies. In chapter 2 we outlined the range of information sources that this report draws upon and explained in some detail the methodology we use for the Case Studies.

10.2 We will focus upon three stages within the Case Studies in this chapter: the interviews with pupils where they outline what they do at work; the event recording where, based on a time prompt, pupils recorded what they were doing at the time of the prompt; and the observations where employees were shadowed by a researcher who contemporaneously made a record of what the employee was doing.

The activities carried out in the job

10.3 Each stage (interview, event recording and observation) provided us with some information about each employees work activities. By activities we mean the tasks they do such as cleaning tables, working a till, stocking shelves or price labelling goods. Our initial concern was to consider the consistency across these three sources. Table 10.1 provides a summary of the number of activities identified from each information source.

Table 10.1: Total activities from each data source

10.4 The table shows some variation in the number of activities identified from the three stages. In all of the case studies the lowest number of activities is recorded for the event recording stage. One possible explanation for this pattern is that during the interview we ask employees about their typical working day while the event recording focuses on a limited time period within the working day. For example in Case 12, delivery, the employee's newspapers were delivered to their doorstep and they had to count out the papers for the different parts of their paper round. This process was carried out in a time period not covered by the event recording.

10.5 For all of the case studies compared to the event recording, a higher number of activities are recorded for the observation stage. This is not due to differences in the time frame since both stages lasted for one hour. It is more likely that this reflects the different procedures within each stage. The event recording was triggered by a timed signal. This took place on five occasions thus limiting the number of activities that could be recorded. The observation stage involved the researcher recording a one hour narrative noting what the employee was doing. Clearly this had a greater potential to identify more activities than the event recording.

10.6 In the majority of cases (8 out of 12) the interview resulted in the identification of the greatest number of activities. This we believe reflects the fact that many of the pupils' jobs involve a number of roles. In describing their job for us they outline the possible range of activities. What is recorded or observed in a limited time period will only capture the activities they are doing on that day and this may be dependent on which part of the shop or store they have been assigned to. This could lead us to conclude that the interview process provides us with the most detailed account of what pupils do in their jobs. However, this is not always the case. In a number of the case studies the observation identified a greater number of activities, Cases 1, 11 and 13. In addition, both the event recording and the observation identified new activities which had not been mentioned in the interview stage.

10.7 Table 10.2 summarises the unique activities identified from the interview, the event recording and the observation. By 'unique' we mean that the activity was only identified within the stated data source and not repeated in any of the other sources. Based on this information it is possible to identify the total number of unique activities identified for each participant across all three sources.

Table 10.2: The number of unique activities identified at each stage

10.8 In some cases (Case 11 and 13) the observations identified new activities which the employee had not highlighted in their interview. This may be accounted for by variations in the interviewee's and the observer's level of specification of tasks. For example, in the case of some of the participants they would state that they 'served customers'. During the observation stage it was apparent that 'serving customers' involved a range of other activities such as food preparation and working machinery such as tills or coffee machines.

10.9 Of more importance is the fact that Table 10.2 highlights variations between the case studies in the total number of activities identified. Some caution is needed in interpreting this, however, it could be argued that this may reflect some aspect of the 'complexity' of the specific job, or the demands placed upon the employee. If we pursue such an argument it is apparent that the variation in 'complexity', or 'demandingness', exists at two levels, between the individual case studies and between job types.

10.10 The greatest number of activities is recorded for catering (Cases 2, 3, 8 and 11) followed by retail (Cases 4, 5, 6 and 9) and the miscellaneous category (Cases 1, 10, and 13). The lowest number of activities is recorded for delivery (Case 12).

10.11 The discussion about activities becomes rather less abstract if we consider some examples. In the introduction we drew on the case study material to provide a sketch of Amanda's job (Case 9) in the retail sector. The following two sketches provide examples of pupils working in delivery and catering sectors. We refer to the pupils by their case study number but in outlining their job we use pseudonyms.

Case No. 12

Alexandra is 15 years old and delivers a free weekly newspaper. She normally delivers these on a Friday after school and devotes approximately two and a half hours to this task. However, she has some flexibility in delivery times as long as the papers are delivered by Saturday lunchtime.

The bundle of papers is delivered to her door along with any additional leaflets that have to be delivered with the papers. Alexandra is responsible for organising the order of the route, preparing the papers for delivery (counting papers out and pre-folding them) and inserting leaflets in advance of delivery.

When starting her job she was supplied with a delivery bag and her job clearly involves carrying loads, but she can decide for herself how large the load is. She has sub-divided the route into four segments of approximately 70 houses per section and returns to her house to re-load her bag at the end of each section. During the year she may vary the number of houses in any one segment. For example, when there are a lot of additional leaflets to deliver this increase in weight can be compensated by breaking the round into smaller sections.

She has limited contact with customers since the paper is free and no money has to be collected. However, she does meet a number of customers while delivering the papers. The route was supplied by the employer who checks that the papers are delivered by telephoning houses on her route and checking whether they have received their free paper.

Alexandra carried out a range of activities including the posting of papers, developing strategies to deliver to houses with dogs and responding to householder's requests not to have papers delivered. She has no contact with the employer or any colleagues who do the same job.

Case No. 2

Janet is 16 years old and works in a fast food outlet and typically works on a Saturday for approximately seven to eight hours. A significant part of her job revolves around serving customers. This includes taking orders, preparing the order, placing requests through to the kitchen for items, preparing drinks (hot and cold), taking payment, working the till, giving change and in some cases delivering the food to customers waiting at tables or in the car park at the take away section. In some cases she deals with more than one customer at any one time.

In addition to this Janet carries out a number of other duties. She stocks shelves with consumables (cups, napkins etc.), prepares trays for customers and stocks a number of food displays (eg drinks in the cool cabinet and sweet dispensers). To carry out these activities she has to visit the stock cupboards and lift boxes. She carries out these activities either at the request of her supervisors or on her own initiative.

While Janet's employment contract did not include food preparation in the kitchen area she does prepare some food such as hash browns and fries.

Cleaning responsibilities range from sweeping and mopping the front seating area through to cleaning tables and tidying up after customers, for example, spillages. She also cleans the machines such as the drink dispensers.

During her shift she has to use a number of machines. These include cold and hot drink dispensers, ice cream machines and the till. In the latter case Janet was responsible for collecting the float for the till and ensuring that there was sufficient change available throughout the day.

In this environment working with colleagues was common and Janet would help make up orders for other workers and share responsibility for specific sections (eg drive through) depending on the level of customers at any given time. This element of co-working also extended to showing new employees around and guiding them through the range of tasks.

10.12 The briefest inspection of these two sketches shows some key points of contrast. For example, a significant element in Janet's job is that she has to deal with customers. In contrast Alexandra has little contact with her customers. While Alexandra appears to have a certain amount of autonomy, Janet works alongside supervisors, and while both employees' work is monitored the degree of monitoring varies. It is also noticeable that the range of activities each pupil has to carry out varies. Janet's job appears to place a greater set of demands upon her. Looking back at the case of Amanda, we might be drawn to the similarities between the work carried out by her and Janet. For example, in both cases serving customers is a central feature and they both use equipment in their work.

10.13 In the previous chapter we noted the importance of job type in predicting the 'demandingness' of the job. The finding from the case study element support this idea of variations between jobs in terms of the range of activities carried out and the potential demands they place on the employees.

Contact and Skills

10.14 In chapter 9 we drew on the pupils' survey responses to tell us the extent to which they have to cooperate with others to carry out their job and their views on whether their jobs develop their skills and abilities. The Case Studies also allowed us to explore these issues. During the interview stage we asked pupils about the other people they work with and in the post-event recording debriefing we asked pupils about the skills they thought they had gained from their work.

The extent of contact with customers and colleagues

10.15 During the interview where pupils outlined their typical activities they were asked to outline who they came into contact with as a result of their work. We distinguish between adult and peer contact in their work and whether customer contact is involved (Table 10.3).

Table 10.3: Employee's contacts

10.16 With the exception of Case 12, all of the employees have contact with adults during a typical working period. However, Case 12 is an example of only one form of delivery work. In this case the individual delivers papers that are dropped off at their house and are typically left at the front door. Other pupils working in newspaper delivery are employed by newsagents and as such have a shop base from which they collect their papers and receive their pay. These individuals will be more likely to come into contact with adults. Similarly other forms of delivery work, such as milk delivery, are likely to involve more direct contact with adults due to the nature of the activity.

10.17 In the other eleven cases they all have contact with adults during their normal work activities. However, there is some variation in this contact. In some cases the adult contact is in effect continuous throughout the employment period. For others the adults may be in the vicinity but not continually working alongside the employee. For example in Case 1 and 10 the participants indicated that adults were in the vicinity and could be called on if they were needed. Typically they would see them at some time during their work period. This contrasts with some of those participants who worked in retail or catering where adults were continuously present throughout the work period.

10.18 The role of the adults also varied across the case studies. In some cases the adults were co-workers carrying out similar tasks. In other cases the adults were in supervisory or management roles and issued instructions to the employees and monitored performance. Unfortunately the methodology adopted here did not allow us to identify the specific role of the adults.

10.19 Contact with peers was common in all cases with the exception of the delivery sector (Case 12). Once again this may reflect the particular type of delivery work and should not be viewed as representative of all delivery work. While the majority of employees worked alongside peers these were not always other part-time school pupils. In some cases the peers were co-workers or supervisors who had left school or were full-time employees.

10.20 Customer contact was identified in ten out of the twelve case studies reinforcing the findings reported in the previous chapter. Once again there are variations in the form of contact. In the case of the delivery worker contact was intermittent and limited in its range. It might be a simple 'hello' or 'thank you' being exchanged through to a conversation about not delivering the paper to their house.

10.21 In contrast for Case 2, Janet, customer contact was central to the employment experience. Dealing with varying customer orders, specific requests and complaints meant that there was a greater degree of variation in the form of customer contact. Similarly, in Case 9, Amanda, the type of customer contact has a specific quality to it. In her retail environment she serves customers and deals with a range of product questions. In addition the 'sales element' within the job has a specific impact on the employee-customer interaction.

10.22 It is noticeable that neither Case 1 nor 10 have customer contact. This is in part a reflection of the jobs that they do. In both cases the participants were involved in sports coaching. As such they do not have 'customers' in the sense of the word that was applied to this research. Rather we may think of them coming into contact with a range of 'clients' who benefit from their services as coaches. Clearly the initial conception of customer needs to be re-considered to allow for the variety of jobs that school pupils are involved in.

Skills gained from work

10.23 During the meeting that took place after the event recording stage, pupils were invited to outline what skills they thought they had gained from working. When analysing the interview transcriptions some common themes emerge which cut across all of the case studies, while other themes were clearly job specific. Let us start by considering the former.

10.24 Six of the participants identified communication skills as a skill that they had gained as a result of working. Amongst those who did not directly refer to communication skills a number inferred this skill by referring to behaviours such as 'better at talking to customers' or 'talk to strangers a lot better', while one referred to an improvement in their 'people skills' as a result of their employment.

10.25 A second theme to emerge was the relationship with co-workers. A number of the participants refer to 'working with others' or 'being able to work with different people'. In some cases the pupils refer to having gained some skill in team working or 'working together with people'.

10.26 For some pupils working had improved their confidence. One may debate whether confidence is a skill per se, however, many of the employees indicated that their employment had contributed to a greater sense of confidence. Some commented that their employment had resulted in the ability to 'overcome shyness' or 'more confident dealing with customers'.

10.27 Finally, a number of individuals referred to skills such as 'maths skills' or numeracy. These pupils typically work with tills and handling cash. As such this leads us onto the issue of job specific skills.

10.28 In a number of cases it is apparent that the skills pupils are developing are dependent on the specific job that they do. For example in Case 1, the pupil is a part-time sports coach, and in their view coaching has improved their own specific sports skills. However, they also commented that through coaching different people they had an 'understanding that they learn differently'. This idea was also mentioned by another pupil who works as a sports coach, Case 10. This pupil also thought they had gained another skill, the ability to adapt to different situations. This results from the fact that while they may plan their coaching session in advance what actually happens is dependent on who turns up and their particular ability levels. Not all jobs have this degree of variability.

10.29 Pupils working in the retail sector suggested that as a result of their work they had learned a lot about, and had become more aware of, retail sales. Job specific aspects emerged in other cases as well. Some pupils linked their training with skills attainment. For example, Case 9 referred to skills gained as a result of training. In this case they had been instructed in shoe fitting, how to use specific equipment, and shoe care products. Case 2, who worked in catering, had gained health and safety knowledge as a result of training, while Case 8 referred to specific skills associated with clearing tables and setting up function suites. While training may be linked to skills attainment we noted in chapter 8 that not all jobs provide this type of experience for this group of employees.

10.30 Given the context within which this information was provided it was possible to check on the reliability of the pupils comments about skill gains. By checking what the pupils told us with respect to skills against the interview, event recording and observation material we are able to verify, in the majority of cases, that there was a basis for the claims being made.

Overview

10.31 In considering what pupils do and the potential impact of this experience we have two sources of information to draw upon, the survey and the case studies. As we saw in chapter 8 when looking at job activities and the scope of work an important influence is the type of job. This finding is reinforced by the regression analysis where a key factor in predicting 'demandingness' was job type.

10.32 The case studies provide us with a level of insight that we cannot expect to gain from large scale self report sources. Adopting this methodology also points to the importance of job type. Across the various sectors it is apparent that there is variation in the number of activities or demands that pupils face within their jobs. The variations mirror a number of the findings we report in the previous chapter. However, the case studies also show us the variation between jobs within the same sector. We should not assume that simply because two jobs have the same title, eg shop work that the activities carried out will be the same.

10.33 The survey data clearly demonstrates the scope of the jobs that pupils do. In this chapter the case study sketches provide concrete examples of the range and scope of some pupils' jobs. They also offer some support for the pupils' views that their work offers them the opportunity to learn and attain skills.

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