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Chapter Twelve Current and planned use of pupils' part-time employment in their schooling, and related legislative issues

12.1 In this chapter we have drawn on evidence from across the various elements of the research:

• Firstly, in considering the current and planned use of school pupils' part-time employment in their schooling, we have considered the evidence from the focus studies in the eight schools (covering the views and experiences of pupils, school staff and careers advisers) and from the survey of Scottish local authority members of the Scottish Councils Education Industry Network ( SCEIN);
• And secondly we consider an issue which is key if pupils' part-time employment is to become more linked to schooling, that of the legislation around the employment of children and young people. For this we draw on the experiences of employers and our two local authority studies: firstly, of those staff with knowledge of, or responsibility for, legislation on the employment of children under 16; and secondly the SCEIN study.

12.2 It should be noted that the evidence described here was gathered in 2004/5 and therefore the term 'current' should be read with that in mind.

12.3 Brief details of the scope and approach of each of these elements of the research can be found in chapter 2, and the full text of the individual reports can be accessed in Appendices 6, 8, 9 and 10.

Current use of school pupils' part-time employment in their schooling

The views of teachers

12.4 We met with a group of Principal Teachers in each of the eight schools involved in our focus studies. These came from a range of subject disciplines, and normally included guidance/pastoral care staff.

12.5 In each of these focus groups, Principal Teachers were able to give examples of lessons which mentioned, or drew upon, part-time work. They referred to a range of classes when citing examples, the most common being Personal and Social Education ( PSE), Maths, English and Modern Studies. The following examples were given:

• (We discuss pupils' part-time employment) 'In enterprise and business studies and also via links with employers where they can get stock from or financial advice for the enterprise projects.'
• 'We talk about it a lot in PSE, about core skills or careers and talking about transferable skills and employability as well, also when they are organising work experience.'
• 'In the maths curriculum certainly there are whole exercises about earning money in terms of part-time jobs, about earning commission… we teach the kids about time and a half and double time, clocking in, clocking off.'
• 'I'm in business management and, yes, I can draw on their personal experiences, for example this morning I was doing health and safety legislation with them and I was drawing on various experiences.'

12.6 The Principal Teachers also suggested that there was some similarity in the way that part-time employment and work experience were used within classes. They indicated that work experience was drawn upon in the classroom, or rather in certain types of classes:

'All 4th years go for a week's work experience, if we're looking at a topic in the standard grade syllabus like unemployment, you can talk about industries declining etc you can relate that to jobs that they've done ….'

12.7 A common view from Principal Teachers was:

'I think any good teacher would ask, 'Has anyone got any experience in this area?' and try to draw from the kid's experience.'

12.8 However, none were able to give examples of existing approaches to the systematic use of pupils' part-time work, or of any embedding into the curriculum.

12.9 Enterprise in education specialist school staff were also asked about the current use of part-time employment in schooling. For most, the links were not being made at that time:

'At the moment certainly we don't draw on any of the skills, we don't draw on them in any structured or formal way … it's certainly not something I've ever considered about how do we tap into their experiences that they have outside of the school in terms of employment, but certainly it's something we could do.'

12.10 The only specific example of linking part-time work to schooling, given by enterprise in education school staff, was not from the enterprise in education provision, but from a subject teaching role:

'Quite often when we're sitting having a discussion about, say, in modern studies, employment opportunities, kids will bring in something to bear … a girl was pointing out that she works in a hairdressers at the weekend and she thinks she's paid below the minimum wage so that then generated a discussion … that was brought out in the context of me teaching a subject, it wasn't consciously being brought in the context of enterprise but it is something that could be brought in more.'

The views of Careers Advisers

12.11 The school Careers Advisers found it difficult to comment on the extent to which schools made use of their pupils' part-time employment, mainly because their role brought them into only limited direct contact with the subject curriculum or subject teachers. All, however, said that as careers advisers they commonly referred to pupils' paid part-time jobs in their work with young people. This could be as part of their input to career education, for example during induction sessions with senior pupils, in CareerBox career education lessons, or when advising on CVs/ UCAS or other Personal Statements. Several commented that, in individual interviews, pupils found it difficult to make the links between part-time work and learning, or to draw out their skills from their experience of working. Careers Advisers reported that they regularly made use of part-time work in career interviews, for example through mapping part-time work to the Career Planning Journey (a strategy currently used in much of Careers Scotland work). In working with vulnerable clients prior to leaving school or already in the labour market, Careers Advisors stated that school leavers' part-time work was regularly used to help construct Get Ready for Work action plans.

The views of SCEIN respondents

12.12 From the 32 local authorities twenty respondents said that part-time work was not used in any way in schooling, nor were there any plans for this: some qualified this by adding 'as far as I know'. The main reason given was that most had just not thought about it: it was not part of the Determined to Succeed plan; it had not formed part of employer discussions on business partnerships; and there had been no consideration of links between part-time work and vocational pathways. One of the main reasons for the lack of a link with vocational pathways was that some of the sectors typically covered by these pathways, for example, construction and engineering, were thought unlikely to be areas in which young people had part-time jobs: areas such as retail, where part-time work was common, were not yet part of the vocational pathway provision, usually because retail training was not located in the college sector but with employers and private trainers. However this did not explain why there had been no consideration of links with vocational pathways such as hairdressing and hospitality where part-time work was already common and where training could be done at an FE college. Other reasons were:

• Schools would not know which pupils were working so could not make these links, and pupils might be reluctant to admit to having a part-time job.
• Schools would not wish to know or make use of it as it might encourage more part-time work.

12.13 Some other respondents thought that there might be some informal links at a school level. Discussion of part-time work might be happening in some classrooms, with some teachers. This was more likely to occur in English, Business Studies and PSE. There might be links between part-time work and work experience: one might lead to the other, with the same employer. And one respondent thought there might currently be some use of part-time work for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

The views of pupils

12.14 We asked pupil focus groups whether their part-time work was referred to in academic classes, in a PSE/guidance context or by Careers Scotland staff. Under a third of focus groups included some pupils who noted reference to part-time employment in subject classes for example:

'In English we had to write about and do a talk and whether you liked it or not.'

'Uh-huh, I do business management and we're always talking about … well, we're always bringing in part-time work to it, to relate to it, kind of thing.'

12.15 Some pupils noted that part-time work was referred to negatively by school staff.

12.16 In more than half the focus groups some pupils noted some reference to part-time work in PSE classes or guidance contacts: this was typically in reference to the use of this experience in CVs and application forms. The use of part-time work in career discussions was also noted by some pupils in a number of discussion groups.

Plans to make use of pupils' part-time employment

12.17 SCEIN respondents were the only data source for this question. A small number had considered developing closer links between school pupils' part-time employment and their schooling in the past. Two authorities had seriously considered replacing work experience with part-time work but because part-time work was not standardised, monitored and had no partnership agreements, this had been abandoned, at least temporarily.

12.18 Others had been wondering whether it might be possible to use part-time work, perhaps to replace work experience for those who had part-time jobs, and release placements for young people with additional support needs. Another idea was that part-time work might be used to help in the certification of work experience since the number of hours required for Intermediate 2 could not normally be found from work experience alone. (For more details of the links between part-time work and other vocational experiences, see chapter thirteen). One respondent thought that New Community Schools might be a good way to harness part-time work, and gave the example of a key worker who set up a baby sitting group for young people who were paid for babysitting in order to help support and train them in this role.

12.19 A very few authorities had more clearly formed plans to make links with part-time jobs. These ideas included:

• Schools would have a 'part-time work' noticeboard where employers who were in partnership with the school would advertise vacancies. This would control hours and share the opportunities around more fairly
• Using part-time work on its own to deliver Intermediate 2 Work Experience, as this seemed to fit the experience required more closely than school work experience
• Building part-time work for S6 into business partnerships under Determined to Succeed, whereby there would be a contract (to ensure each pupil kept a balance between work, study and other parts of their lives) and an agreed wage
• Developing an agreement between a call centre and eight local schools, which would include part-time work opportunities.
• Using 'S6 enhancement time' to allow pupils to include part-time employment in their timetable
• Extending 'timetable flexibility', currently in place to allow sport to take place on a Friday afternoon, to part-time workers.

12.20 At the other end of the scale some showed considerable reluctance to make any links:

'The answer is to bring vocational experiences into the school, not use outside experiences that are not controlled by the school.'

12.21 Both negative and positive views on the increased use of part-time employment in schooling are discussed in more detail in chapters fourteen and fifteen in which we draw together the attitudes of different groups of respondents to the principle and practice of recognition.

12.22 We now move to considering an issue that impacts on current use of part-time work in schooling and requires attention if increased links are to be made: that is, the legislation on the employment of children and young people.

Legislation

12.23 In considering legislative issues we draw primarily on the two surveys of all local authorities in Scotland: firstly, the survey of local authority staff with a knowledge of, or responsibility for, the operation of the legislation on the employment of children under 16; and secondly, the survey of local authority staff who were members of SCEIN, many of whom had responsibility for ensuring health and safety, and risk assessments of work experience placements. Together, these surveys raise important issues that would need to be addressed if significant steps were to be taken to use part-time employment in pupils' schooling.

12.24 We also integrate data on the use of permits from the survey of employers, from the pupil survey and from school staff into our report of the operation of the legislation by local authorities.

Legislation on child employment - local authorities

12.25 A fuller account of the legislation, and of the key points made under this heading, can be found in the Appendices.

12.26 Responsibility for implementing legislation on child employment (of young people under the age of 16) lies with local authorities. They in turn have the power to make byelaws on child employment. At the time of the survey (2004) all but one of the authorities had byelaws on child employment and some were in the process of changing the byelaws, which could take some considerable time. It is important to note that the time taken to amend byelaws and have byelaws ratified by the Scottish Executive might be seen as an impediment to effective regulation of child employment.

12.27 As part of this study, the research team reviewed copies of the byelaws, the majority of which had relevant definitions of 'child', 'employment' and 'light work'. There was a lack of clarity, and some confusion, in the specification of the number of hours that children were permitted to work and more than half of the authorities had byelaws which set a minimum age for work which was not in line with the current Scottish legislation. (Nor did the maximum number of term-time hours of work permitted in Scotland, at the national level, conform to current European Union standards). A cross-authority comparison showed that the lists of prohibited jobs varied considerably, so that work which was permitted in one area might be prohibited in another. Some lists were outdated.

12.28 In implementing the byelaws, all but one of the authorities had adopted a 'permit' system to register child employees. However, there was considerable variation in the particular procedures employed. The majority of authorities had no system in place either to ensure employers and employees conformed to the byelaws or to deal with amendments to permits, for example, if pupils changed jobs. The majority of authorities kept records of the number of permits issued, but some authorities devolved the issuing of permits to schools and kept no central records.

12.29 Our interviews with Headteachers showed that, while a number were concerned about the lack of use of the permit system, some were proactive in monitoring requests at a school level:

'I do get many requests coming in from… sometimes they are submitted by parents, sometimes they are submitted by local employers with the standard form asking for permission, the school's permission, approval or agreement to the hours that are being suggested. In the main the hours are within the framework and that's easy 'cause I sign the form and I am happy to do that generally because I know who the local employers are … I know the nature of the work that the youngsters are being asked to do. It's probably about 1 form in 20 that we send back because the hours are excessive or are at the wrong times and might impact … for example working in the morning before school I would say no, not on … they are usually returned with hours that I can approve but what I don't know if… whether the employer sticks to those new hours, I think in the main they probably do, I'm not aware of too many problems ….'

12.30 A number of Principal Teachers expressed concerns about the regulation of the employment of their pupils at a school level:

'I've sometimes been very surprised that the school never seems to invoke the powers that it has to some extent in terms of ensuring that pupils who are overstretched are not employed for very long hours. There are kids getting in all sorts of trouble, it could be used as a sanction in some ways but it never is.'

'There's no whole-school policy towards it just individuals (guidance teachers) expressing their own genuine felt concerns.'

12.31 There was a high degree of variability in the number of permits issued by different authorities, ranging from none up to 324. In our survey of pupils we asked those currently working how many held a permit to do so. We report here the figures for S3 and S4 as the best proxy for those aged under 16 (of course, some S4 pupils will already be 16, but some S5 would have been under 16 for part of the year, so the two may well balance). Of the 3664 current workers in S3 and S4, 11% said they had a permit, 55% said they had not. Since it was the responsibility of the pupil to get the permit we can also assume that the 25% who said they did not know if they had a permit should be added to those who knew they did not, a total of 80%. The remainder did not answer.

12.32 Drawing on the employers' interview data, few of the 16 employers who had under 16s working for them were able to tell us if their employees had work permits. None of the employers in the Retail sector were able to provide this information and one employer had no knowledge of the permit system. The Delivery sector has generally been associated with higher permit levels and three quarters of the employers said that their employees had permits. Two of the three employers stated that all of their employees had permits, while the other employer was sure that some of his employees had permits, but others did not. The fourth Delivery sector employer said that his employees did not have permits but explained that he had parental permission for his employees and that was good enough for him.

12.33 Although some authorities produced leaflets or information packs on child employment regulations, a significant minority did not, and authorities varied in terms of which department was assigned responsibility for child employment. In the past researchers had speculated that one of the reasons for the low uptake of permits was the lack of awareness and knowledge amongst employers (Hobbs and McKechnie 1997). In our survey of employers we considered two possible routes by which employer information could be generated: visits by local authority personnel to the employer's premises; and the byelaws. Of those employers in our survey, only one employer of under-16s had ever received a visit at his premises to check on his young employees. A higher number of employers had viewed the bylaws (6), however, this did not ensure that their employees had the necessary permits.

12.34 With one exception, all authorities assigned staff to deal with child employment issues but for the majority of the staff concerned, child employment constituted a minor part of their work.

12.35 Part of the rationale for devolving child employment regulation to the local level was to allow for local needs to be reflected but there appeared to be little evidence that authorities were actually accommodating unique features of their regional labour market in their byelaws. There is, however, a question whether the rationale for allowing regional flexibility in the content of byelaws is appropriate in a modern labour market.

12.36 There were clearly a number of difficulties in the way the system was operating, difficulties which were clearly recognised and acknowledged by the staff responding to our survey. The majority of the respondents were of the opinion that the present system was inadequate, in that

• It did not give rise to sufficient public awareness of child employment and its regulation, and
• It failed to protect children.

12.37 Staff provided a number of suggestions for improving the regulation of child employment. However, they were aware that since their suggestions would require greater resources, this could be a major constraint.

Health and safety issues - SCEIN local authority respondents

12.38 SCEIN members were prompted to consider the health and safety issues involved in the use of part-time work in schooling. Twelve respondents could not see any particular problems, two felt it would be relatively easy to extend the risk assessment currently done for work experience (including that for post-16s under the school's 'duty of care') and a third thought that those companies on the existing work experience risk assessment database might well overlap considerably with those companies who were providing part-time work for school pupils. (We have noted earlier in this chapter that, while there is some overlap it is not possible to say to what extent).

12.39 Some suggested that at the moment parents would be responsible rather than the school if children under 16 were doing part-time work, but if it became part of the curriculum then the school could no longer deny knowledge.

12.40 The remainder, just over half, had some or major concerns. Some concerns related to specific types of part-time working, for example in farming and fishing environments. Others raised not just health and safety but child protection issues, for example pupils in S3/4 delivering goods in the dark, or going round doors to sell goods. One authority was considering requiring work experience employers to hold Disclosure Scotland certificates because they should not otherwise be in one to one contact with those under 16 years old. Many of the issues that might affect recognition of part-time work in schooling were also present in the attempts to regulate work experience, some feeling that work experience was now getting so over-controlled that it was becoming unmanageable.

12.41 There was considerable confusion and misinformation about what the legal position actually was. A small number were unsure whether there was some kind of system in existence, for example in a byelaw. Was a permit needed for under 16s to have a part-time job? The following quotes will give a flavour of the concerns, the lack of clarity and the inaccurate views held about the current legal position:

'We couldn't stop it anyway. The overarching legislation doesn't provide enforcement powers to stop it, only Environmental Health can, and only regarding food retailing.'

'If we're going to accredit part-time work, it would need legislation that makes the links clear between the byelaws (secondary legislation) and employment legislation (primary legislation). Companies can hire legally under employment legislation, but illegally under the byelaws.'

'Our legal services say that if they have a National Insurance number and are under 16 they can be paid to work but they can't be paid otherwise.'

'There are greater insurance difficulties if young people are paid than not paid.'

'Under 'duty of care' in the common law the local authority does have responsibility for pupils' welfare when they are out on an experience that the authority approves of, so if we 'recognise' part-time work, for example for core skills, this could be termed an exercise we approve of.'

12.42 Some of the underpinning concerns related to the possibility of the authority being sued:

'There needs to be a change in the law or statement from the Executive to say they will cover our liability if part-time work is to be assessed, recognised or incorporated in schooling in any way.'

12.43 One respondent raised the personal issues involved:

'If there are problems then it's me as an individual that's personally responsible and could be sued, not the authority.'

Overview

12.44 It seemed that, at the time of the research, there was very little structured use of part-time employment in schooling. Some subject areas appeared more likely than others to throw up opportunities to refer to part-time work and to capitalise on this workplace experience, but this seemed to be rather by default than design.

12.45 School staff who might have been expected to be more aware of vocational links to schooling, such as enterprise in education teachers, were just as unlikely to make use of part-time employment in their work.

12.46 Careers advisers, whose role is to help pupils make individual transitions from school to work and post-school learning, were more conscious of trying to use pupils' part-time employment in their work.

12.47 From a pupil perspective there appeared to be only a few links into the mainstream subject curriculum, although PSE and individual pastoral care and guidance contacts did appear to refer more often to part-time employment. But pupils noted that they had also experienced discouragement and concern about the impact of part-time employment on their attainment.

12.48 The potential for using school pupils' part-time employment in their schooling had already been considered by a small number of SCEIN respondents. Although other suggestions were made, the most common thoughts had been about using part-time employment to support, enhance or replace work experience, or to allow targeting of work experience placements on particular groups of pupils.

12.49 With regard to legislation and child protection the general picture was one of confusion and lack of clarity from school level to Scottish Executive level on the principles and practice of protecting children at work. The majority of respondents recognised that, even without adding in the potentially complicating factor of recognising pupils' part-time employment, there was the need for clearer guidelines on the legislation and a shared view of how these should be interpreted.

12.50 While there were particular issues around the employment of children under 16, there was also the need for clarity and guidelines on those aged over 16 who were employed while still at school and the idea of recognising part-time work in schooling brought this into focus and made it more of a priority.

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