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Chapter One School pupils' part-time employment: introduction and context
The Research
1.1 This study was commissioned by the Scottish Executive in response to the recommendations made by the Enterprise in Education Review Group (Scottish Executive, 2002a). The Review Group's report focused upon the enterprise and work related curriculum and its contribution to economic and educational priorities.
1.2 One issue highlighted by the Review Group was that school pupils have experience of paid employment outside of school. However, it was acknowledged that opinions vary as to the value of this experience, with employees and employers identifying the positive learning gains and educationalists expressing reservations in relation to the potential impact on schooling.
1.3 The central concern of the Review Group with respect to school pupils' part-time employment was that there was a need for research to consider '…the nature and implications of part-time work undertaken by school students of 16 and over'. The review also recommended that there should be some consideration of the potential for linking such part-time employment experiences with the school curriculum and to consider the '… opportunities for certification of appropriate part-time work…' (Scottish Executive, 2002a).
1.4 The Review Group's recommendation and the Executive's response were made against a background where learning to be enterprising had become a central purpose of school education. The idea of being enterprising goes beyond the aim of providing pupils with some practical experience of business ventures and focuses upon enhancing the curriculum to develop a range of skills such as:
'… problem solving, independent and collaborative decision-making, evaluating risk and risk taking, using initiative and working with others. It is seen as encouraging positive attitudes towards creativity, confidence, self-esteem, self-reliance and respect for others.' (Scottish Executive, 2002b, p25).
1.5 In this context, it is possible that the naturally occurring part-time employment experiences that pupils gain may contribute to, or reflect the attainment of, some of these skills. But to evaluate the potential for a pupil's part-time employment to enhance their learning and skill development, there is a need for a greater understanding of such employment within Scotland.
Research Aims
1.6 As we have noted, this research arises from the Enterprise in Education Review Group's recommendation on the need for research into the part-time work undertaken by school pupils; based on the Review Group's concerns and also additional requests for information from the Scottish Executive, a number of specific research aims were identified.
1.7 The recommendation from the Determined to Succeed report identified two principal aims:
- To investigate the nature and implications of school pupils part-time employment
- To consider the opportunities for certification of appropriate part-time employment.
1.8 In the light of the issues identified by the Scottish Executive, a number of more specific aims were identified. These were to:
- Provide a picture of the nature and extent of school pupils (S3 through to S6) part-time employment across Scotland, including state and independent school sectors.
- Consider the factors that influence part-time employment status, hours worked and type of job.
- Identify the types of employment undertaken and the quality of the experience.
- Investigate the relationship that part-time employment has with attainment, attendance and perceived views of schooling.
- Investigate the implications of part-time employment for enterprising attitudes, skills and behaviours.
- Consider policy and practice in the employment of young people.
- Assess the views of key stakeholders regarding part-time employment and the issue of recognition.
- Explore models for accrediting part-time employment experience.
Background: existing research
1.9 It can be argued that within the UK the issue of young people's part-time employment was re-discovered in the 1990s. It is not our intention to review this literature, since that has been done elsewhere (See Hobbs and McKechnie, 1997, Leonard, 1999 and McKechnie and Hobbs, 2001). We wish rather to comment on some of the findings and issues raised by research which has been undertaken in the last 15 years and which are pertinent to the current research.
1.10 The findings from this body of research led some to argue that it challenged prevailing myths about young workers in Britain. Lavalette et al (1995) argued that the research showed that rather than being a minority experience, paid part-time employment was a majority experience amongst school pupils. They went on to argue that school pupils worked in a wide range of jobs that went beyond the stereotypical idea of 'children's jobs' such as delivering newspapers. Finally they argued that the existing legislation which was in place to protect young employees was ineffective.
1.11 In the early part of the 1990s much of the research was driven by a desire to establish the nature and extent of such part-time employment and to consider the effectiveness of the existing legislation. In Britain this legislation is targeted at children under the age of sixteen years of age who wish to combine part-time employment with their full-time compulsory education. The legislation in this area is the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and the Children and Young Persons Act (Scotland) 1937 and its subsequent amendments. The basic aim of the legislation is to protect young employees by limiting the types of jobs they may take, prescribing the total number of hours that can be worked and when those hours are worked. The responsibility for applying the legislation rests with the local authority. In order that such employment can be monitored local authorities issue work permits to young employees. While the legislation has been amended on a number of occasions, most recently in response to European Directives, research has continually questioned its effectiveness (Hamilton 2002; McKechnie, Hobbs, Anderson and Simpson, 2005).
1.12 Research in this area has also attempted to gain some insight into young workers' views about their jobs, their motivation to work and the disposal of earned income. Such studies have adopted qualitative methodologies to explore these issues (McKechnie et al, 1996, Mizen, Pole, and Bolton, 2001). The findings from such studies are more difficult to summarise but show that although money is an important motivation, work is associated with independence and for some is linked to gaining experience. The findings also show that young employees evaluate their workplace, and like adults, recognise the good and bad aspects of their jobs.
1.13 While this body of research is important it has some limitations. In the context of the present research two are worth noting. First most of the research focused on the part-time employment of pre-16 year old pupils. This was in part due to the focus on the policy and legislation that applies to this age group. However, attention on the post-16 year olds experience of part-time employment has been increasing. In England, Payne's study of post-16 year olds (Payne, 2001) and in Scotland, Renfrewshire Council's study of part-time work amongst senior school pupils (McKechnie, Hill and Hobbs, 2002) showed that it was the minority of pupils who had not had experience of paid employment and that the majority of pupils were combining part-time work and education. What these recent studies have highlighted is that there is a need for a greater understanding of the variations in the pre- and post-16 year old experiences of employment.
1.14 The second issue is that the majority of the studies in the 1990s were not based upon representative samples of the population and reflect the situation in specific geographical areas. An additional complexity was that comparison between the different studies was compounded by variations in methodology and terminology (see Hobbs and McKechnie 1997, for a discussion of this issue). One UK study did claim that it was based upon a representative sample. This study by the Economics, Research and Education Division of the Department of Employment (Hibbett and Beatson, 1995) interviewed a representative sample of 1,663 13-18 year olds. It is worth noting that Hibbett and Beatson's findings are comparable to the results from the other research carried out at this time.
1.15 Unfortunately Hibbett and Beatson's study provides only a limited picture of Scotland. At the time of the study interviewees were categorised as being based either in metropolitan areas (Strathclyde) or non-metropolitan areas (Scotland excluding Strathclyde). This strategy did not provide us with a clear picture of the potential variations in school pupils' part-time employment across the diverse regions and local economies within Scotland (for example see McKechnie, Stack and Hobbs, 2005). Other studies with representative samples as their base do not include Scotland (eg Payne, 2001).
The traditional view of pupils' part-time employment
1.16 For many years the dominant views at national, and international levels, centred on the perceived lack of value of young people's employment. The defined role for young people in developed economies was that of school pupil, not employee. In this context employment was perceived as secondary to schooling and, for many, detracted from it.
1.17 Much of the research regarding the value of employment has traditionally focused on specific variables, such as the number of hours worked, and its effect on specific outcomes, such as academic attainment. For a number of years the issue of hours of work (the 'intensity' of employment) and academic attainments has dominated debates about the value of work. It has been shown that there is an association between working long hours and poor academic outcomes. However, there is some variation in the thresholds identified for 'long hours'.
1.18 For example, Payne (2001) in a study of A Level pupils found that pupils working more than 15 hours in Year 12, and more than 10 hours in Year 13 had poorer academic outcomes. Payne suggests that the variation between the two years reflects the differing academic demands. An earlier study by Tymms and Fitz-Gibbon (1992) involving A Level pupils found that the negative effect of part-time employment emerged for those committing more than 9 hours per week to work.
1.19 Research in Scotland has produced similar results. In a study of S4 and S5 pupils researchers found that the negative effect of employment on academic performance emerged for S4 pupils working 10 or more hours per week, while the threshold for S5 was 16 hours per week (McKechnie, Stack and Hobbs, 2001; McKechnie, Hobbs and Hill, 2002). The pattern for S6 pupils was different and the researchers suggest that this reflects the various motivations of pupils voluntarily returning to this school stage.
1.20 The academic performance of pupils working below the thresholds identified above was no worse than pupils who were not working. In some cases researchers have found that those pupils working a small amount of hours per week have better academic outcomes than those who do not work (Hobbs and McKechnie, 1997).
1.21 International research in other developed economies supports this general pattern regarding intensity of employment (see for example Post and Pong, 2000, and Rhum, 1997, in the USA and McCoy and Smyth, 2004, in Ireland) and the fact that low hours may be associated with positive academic outcomes (Stern and Briggs, 2001).
1.22 In the last decade debates about the potential value of part-time employment have moved on and there is now a growing acceptance that any employment experience, be it a school pupil's or an adult's, has the potential to be both good and bad. Hobbs and McKechnie (1997) proposed that when viewing 'child employment', a Balance Model provided a useful context within which to consider the value of work.
1.23 This Balance Model suggests that since any employment experience can have positive or negative outcomes, the issue becomes one of identifying what factors influence the outcomes. For Hobbs and McKechnie the factors include: how long the individual works, when they work, the type of job they do, the quality of the job, age and gender. The challenge for the researcher is to adequately define and measure the variables and to consider the interaction between variables.
The potential of part-time work to contribute to wider educational goals
1.24 As we have outlined, research has focused on the evidence linking excessive hours of work with poor academic attainment. However, by adopting this focus, researchers have paid little attention to the potential effect of work on other, wider, educational goals.
1.25 Trends within education suggest that this is an appropriate time to engage more fully with the debate about the potential value of part-time employment to contribute to the achievement of wider educational goals. In Scotland, as elsewhere in Britain, there is a recognition that learning does not only take place in the classroom and that education should make use of the variety of learning contexts in which young people (and other learners) can develop their knowledge, skills and understanding. This is paralleled by the desire to encourage and enable young people to develop a wider set of knowledge and skills than have previously been fostered by the traditional school curriculum (for example, employability skills, enterprising attitudes and behaviours) and to encourage them to become lifelong learners. This sort of thinking and approach is reflected in the desire to move beyond a simple focus on the acquisition of formal qualifications ie to move from a concentration on young people's attainment to a system which recognises their broader achievement in a range of contexts and activities, including out-of school activities. This thinking is central to recent policy debates and developments in Scotland such as the Determined to Succeed strategy, the National Debate on Education and A Curriculum for Excellence. A Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Executive, 2004), for example, states that there is a need to 'ensure pupils get appropriate recognition for achievements in developing work-related and other skills' and 'ensure pupils can take on to the next stage of their lives a broad and rigorous record - not just of their academic work, but also of their vocational learning and their achievements beyond the traditional school curriculum'.
1.26 The latter part of this quote raises the issue of how pupils' broader achievements are to be recognised and recorded and we turn to the question of the recognition of pupils' part-time work in a later section of this chapter.
1.27 Some research has been carried out which has considered the possible wider learning from part-time work and suggests that there is a potential for educational benefits. For example, one recent study by Careers Scotland to consider the link between part-time employment, future aspirations and knowledge of the world of work indicated that S5 pupils working moderate hours had the highest future aspirations, higher even than those pupils who did not work (McKechnie, Hobbs and Anderson, 2004a). The study also found that the types of jobs held by S5 pupils, in contrast to those in S3, were likely to expose them to more adult-like aspects of the world of work (McKechnie, Hobbs and Anderson, 2004b).
1.28 Others have investigated pupils' views on part-time employment and work experience. The findings indicate that pupils associate different opportunities for learning from these different experiences. For some pupils employability skills were more likely to be gained from part-time employment rather than work experience (Semple et al, 2002).
1.29 While these three studies have their limitations they offer an alternative perspective, one which moves beyond the traditional work-attainment debate. This research adopts this approach by considering school pupils part-time employment in the context of wider, and newly emerging, educational goals.
The quality of part-time employment
1.30 Let us consider one example of a school pupil with a part-time job:
Amanda is sixteen and is a full-time school pupil. For nine hours a week she works in a shoe shop. Her main role is to serve customers. This involves showing them the range of stock, helping them with their choice of shoe and if the customer purchases the shoes, she processes the sale through the till. In dealing with the till Amanda has to handle a range of payment methods including cash, cheques, credit and debit cards and vouchers. She also continues her role as a sales person, as she points out a range of shoe care products to the customer.
Amanda is also responsible for shoe sizing within the store and has been trained to use both manual and electronic systems for this task. Since she works mainly in the children's department, sizing is an important element of her job. In addition to selling shoes she is also responsible along with the other employees for dealing with customer enquiries, maintaining the displays, keeping the shop tidy, returning shoes to the stock room and some general cleaning.
Since she is trained in the use of the shoe sizing equipment Amanda has the additional role of monitoring her fellow workers. The store's policy is that staff who are not fully trained in shoe-sizing must be supervised and have their measurements checked by a fully trained member of staff.1
1.31 If we are to consider the potential value of pupils part-time employment there needs to be a greater awareness of what young people do in their jobs. It is apparent that Amanda's job is not easily summarised by the number of hours that she works. The tasks she carries out, the quality of the experience and her interpretation of the experience needs to be considered in any discussion of the value of her job.
1.32 In the USA researchers such as Frone (1999) have long argued that there is a need to understand the quality of employment if we are to fully evaluate part-time employment. Mortimer (2003) argues that evidence from her research indicates that pupils benefit from part-time employment by improving their level of post-school employment and that part-time work aids in the attainment of skills and psychosocial development. The caveat that Mortimer adds is that for this to happen, the work must be of a suitable quality. In this case, the quality of employment can tip the balance in favour of positive outcomes.
1.33 In Britain there are few researchers who have engaged with the debates about the quality of employment (Leonard, 2002; Hobbs et al, forthcoming). To date there has been no systematic study of what school pupil workers do in terms of the characteristics of their jobs and the quality of their part-time work experience. Clearly such a gap needs to be addressed if the value of part-time employment is to be fully considered.
1.34 In moving beyond a focus on the number of hours worked by young people to consider the quality of their employment experience there will need to be some consideration of the potential interaction between variables. The Balance Model also suggests that it is important that attention is paid to the potential interaction between variables which may influence the impact of employment. To facilitate this there is a need for large scale studies which allow for multivariate modelling in evaluating the outcomes. The present research starts to address such issues.
1.35 Throughout this section we have been focusing attention on those young people who have part-time jobs. However, all of the existing studies in this area acknowledge that many school pupils do not work. Traditionally there has been an implicit assumption in most of the research that non-workers are a homogenous group against which we can compare working school pupils. Lavalette (1994) argued that amongst the group of non-workers are likely to be pupils who used to work and that they may differ from pupils who have never worked. Similarly in a recent Careers Scotland project it was evident that those pupils who had never worked includes some who will have applied for but failed to get jobs and others who have never applied for work (McKechnie, Hobbs & Anderson, 2004a). Such findings suggest that we may be able to gain further insights into part-time employment by attending to these different groups of pupils. In particular there is a need to understand the motivations and goals of those pupils who have never worked.
The recognition of school pupils' part-time employment
1.36 As we noted at the start of this chapter the Determined to Succeed report recommended that 'opportunities for certification of appropriate part-time work as part of the National Qualifications Framework must be investigated so that it is clearly recognised by employers' (Determined to Succeed, 2002a).
1.37 Internationally there is considerable variation in the relationship between formal classroom learning and non-formal workplace learning. In some education systems the links are quite clearly made as we found in the review of the recognition of part-time work in the UK and internationally that we carried out as part of this research (Appendix 14). We noted examples such as production schools in Turkey and Charter High Schools in the USA.
1.38 An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD) issues paper 'Combining learning at school and at work' (2000) suggests that a number of positive outcomes can be associated with workplace experience as experienced around the world. These include: making learning more applied and interesting for young people; contributing to improved educational attainment; helping to develop the specific occupational skills that employers actually want; developing important general work habits and attitudes such as punctuality and team skills; signalling these skills to employers when young people are seeking work; helping employers and young people to get to know one another and facilitate the recruitment process.
1.39 That the part-time work of pupils may warrant fuller attention is a theme which emerges in a number of academic papers. Stern and Briggs (2001) based on their analysis of qualitative data from pupils in the USA, suggested that it was common for pupils to ascribe value to both school and their part-time work 'because they both prepare young people for the future in similar ways'. The authors go on to suggest that drawing more explicit links between school and paid employment is an option that we should consider pursuing.
1.40 Hodgson and Spours (2001) suggest that, based on the increasing evidence in the UK that pupils combine full-time education with part-time work, there is a need for us to recognise this reality within educational settings. They suggest that within the context of ongoing debates about the curriculum, expanding educational participation and raising levels of achievement there needs to be an awareness of the role of part-time employment.
Issues of principle and practice
1.41 Considering how part-time work and schooling could be linked raises a number of issues of both principle and practice. Let us consider some of the issues of principle before turning attention to the practical concerns. Recognising, or certifying, part-time employment would result in a major change in the status of this activity. Clearly there is a question about whether school pupils would wish to link their work with school. The qualitative research on pupils' part-time employment suggests that pupils value this work because it is separate from school and they are treated not as pupils but as employees.
1.42 The issue of control may also be important. Research evidence shows that pupils drop in and out of work (McKechnie et al, 2005) and may use this strategy to control the impact of employment on other aspects of their lives (Green, 1990). However, some systems of recognition may constrain the individual's ability to drop-out of employment since there may be some expectation of minimal lengths of employment being required for it to be recognised. In such circumstances the young person is losing some degree of control over this aspect of their life.
1.43 Existing research indicates that pupils work in a wide range of jobs. It is likely that the types of jobs vary in terms of the demands they place on employees and in the quality of the experience. This issue is raised in the Determined to Succeed recommendation with the reference to certifying 'appropriate part-time work'. What should we consider as appropriate? In order that we may make judgements in this area there is a need for a fuller understanding of the variability across job types, of the skills used, the training (if any) received and the context of the employment. All of these factors could potentially influence the opportunity for learning and the linkage to education. As we indicated in the previous section, in the UK the information to address such questions is not available.
1.44 Previous research has shown that not all pupils have part-time jobs, either through choice or circumstance. For example some studies have shown that school pupils are less likely to work if they live in areas of high unemployment and if they do not have a parent who is working (Howieson, 1990; Payne, 2001). Introducing a system that makes use of part-time employment within educational settings may disadvantage some young people and raises issues around the principles of inclusion and equality.
1.45 The issue of linking education and part-time employment requires us to consider this from the perspective of a number of stakeholders. These include school pupils, parents, school staff and employers. In addition the views of agencies such as Careers Scotland and potential end-users such as further and higher education institutions would have an impact on the viability of any scheme. There are no examples where part-time employment has been used within educational settings. Therefore we cannot draw upon existing sources to address such questions.
1.46 Finally, we need to acknowledge that introducing such a change would impact on the dynamic relationship between employer and employee and on the experience itself. By introducing some form of recognition one would change the dynamic of the situation: the nature of the experience that the part-time employee has would change. It is conceivable that the employer would have to take on new roles and become an assessor as well. The pupil's role as an employee would also change since they would become an 'employee-pupil' being assessed. It may also impact on the nature of the tasks being done since they would now have to be assessable.
Possible models of recognition
1.47 The present research will allow us to address a number of the issues outlined above. However, the practical issue remains of how to conceptualise the integration of part-time employment and education. In the absence of specific examples to draw upon the research team developed a number of approaches drawing upon the material within Education for Work. For a fuller discussion of the background and rationale see Appendix 14.
1.48 In these papers we suggest that there are potentially five models of recognition ( Appendix 14). These are differentiated in terms of: the level of school involvement; the extent to which the employer is involved; the nature of the link (if any) to the schools curriculum; the nature of the link (if any) to employability or other progression; and whether or not certification is involved. The models developed are not exhaustive but were chosen to reflect variations in approach to the issue of recognition. A brief summary of each model is outlined below.
Model 1: recognition of part-time work through full embedding in the curriculum
1.49 In this model part-time work would be recognised as a context for school learning and assessment. This could be achieved through syllabus inserts and/or by ensuring that there were opportunities for learners to draw on their experience of part-time work in assessments. There would be no discrete certification.
Model 2: recognition that part-time work can develop generic transferable skills
1.50 In this model part-time work would be recognised as a context for the development and assessment of skills which complement the subject-based curriculum. These could either be skills which can already be assessed and certificated through national units (eg core skills) or skills which would require the development of new national units (eg other employability skills).
Model 3: formal recognition of the distinctive outcomes of part-time work
1.51 In this model part-time work would become a focus for discrete certification in which either the school or the employer or both could be involved. This would result in the generation of a formal record of the outcomes of part-time employment within the Scottish Qualifications Certificate ( SQC), possibly involving the SQA's new profiling facility.
Model 4: recognition of the role of part-time work in personal planning
1.52 In this model, part-time work would be formally recognised as having a part to play in the learner's personal development planning. This would be captured in paper or IT-based support materials related to Progress File and/or Personal Learning Plans.
Model 5: recognition of the potential of part-time work to contribute to progression
1.53 This model focuses on the contribution which the experience of part-time work may make to the learner in future - ie to the next stages of education or to employment - rather than on possible links to concurrent school activities. Examples of the outputs envisaged here would include web-based self-assessment programmes for the learners, structured references for use by employers, or a combination of these.
1.54 The figure below plots these models on to two axes, one the degree of assessment and the other the relationship with the formal curriculum. In addition the models vary in terms of the degree to which some form of certification is envisaged or not, indicated in the figure by an asterisk. As we can see, the models offer a range of options with respect to these two key factors.
Figure 1.1: Models of recognition
1.55 These models provided a framework for discussing the potential for recognising part-time employment with key stakeholders. In evaluating the potential of any of the models outlined above it is necessary to be able to draw on a range of evidence. In the context of this research, we draw on evidence from a wide range of information sources; these are outlined in the next chapter.
The structure of the report
1.56 The rest of the report is divided into a number of sections which deal with specific themes:
1.57 At the beginning of each section we provide a brief outline of content of the section. We have also adopted a standard chapter layout. Each chapter starts with a summary of the main focus of the chapter before exploring the evidence in detail. At the end of each chapter we provide an overview of the research findings summarising the key issues.
1.58 Before we move onto considering the main research findings in detail we provide some specific information on the methodology we adopted. Chapter 2 outlines the specific research elements and the methods of data collection.
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