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Chapter Three The Extent of School Pupils' Part-Time Employment in Scotland

3.1 A primary aim of the research is to provide comprehensive data on school pupils' participation in part-time work across Scotland for the first time. In this chapter we report on the extent and nature of pupils' involvement in part-time work based on the national survey of school pupils and part-time employment described in the previous chapter (a copy of the survey is contained in Appendix 4). To re-cap, 18,403 pupils in S3 to S6 in 88 schools across Scotland took part in the survey, approximately a 10% nationally representative sample.

3.2 We begin by presenting a descriptive account of part-time employment among school pupils in Scotland and the extent to which this varies in relation to a number of personal and background factors. In later chapters we extend our analysis using statistical modelling to explore how the various personal and background factors described in this chapter inter-relate and to assess their combined impact on school pupils' experience of part-time employment.

Definitions of part-time work and workers

3.3 Pupils were asked in the questionnaire if they had a paid part-time job at present and, if not, whether they had ever had paid part-time employment since starting secondary school (see p.20, chapter 2 for the definition of part-time employment that pupils were given).

3.4 When we refer to 'pupils currently in part-time work' or 'current worker', this means those who were in employment at the time the survey was administered; 'former workers' are those who did not have a part-time job when they were surveyed but have had one (or more) jobs during their time at school. 'Never workers' are those who have never had a paid part-time job at any time during their secondary schooling. In some situations we refer to 'Ever worked' pupils. This category consists of the current workers and former workers combined and represents all pupils who have experience of part-time employment.

Part-time work: a majority experience

3.5 The survey shows that for school pupils in Scotland, part-time work is a common experience. Well over half of pupils had experience of part-time employment: 59% were either currently in part-time work or had had a part-time job at some point in their secondary education (Table 3.1). Of this 59%, 38% were currently working and 21% had formerly had a part-time job. Part-time employment rose in line with pupils' age and stage of schooling; the proportion of pupils who stated that they currently had a job rose from 28% of S3s to 62% of S6s with a particularly marked increase between the S5 and S6 stages (Table 3.2). By the S6 stage only 18% of pupils had never had a part-time job.

Table 3.1: School pupils' part-time work status

3.6 There is a gender difference: young women were more likely to be currently in a job than were young men and a higher proportion of young men had never had a part-time job (44% male vs 38% female, never worked, Table 3.1).

Table 3.2: School pupils' part-time work status by school year

Part-time working varies by locality

3.7 As Figure 3.1 illustrates, the extent of pupils' part-time work varies across local authorities but the variation does not appear to be explained by what might be thought to be the obvious reasons such as level of economic activity or rural location. In some cases, the level of part-time employment runs contrary to what may be expected. Most rural local authorities had higher than average rates of pupils who had ever worked and also higher rates of those currently in part-time work. The latter finding shows that higher level of part-time employment in rural areas is not simply explained by seasonal employment. The survey was carried out during January-March and pupils classified as 'current workers' were employed at the time of the survey. This finding challenges any common sense assumption that summer jobs might be thought of as the main source of part-time work in rural areas.

Figure 3.1: School pupils' part-time work status by local authority

3.8 Levels of part-time work tended to be lower than the Scottish average in local authorities that may be viewed as having relatively depressed economies but this did not necessarily mean that all of the more prosperous areas had higher than average levels. Involvement in part-time employment was generally lower in urban areas. Although opportunities for part-time work may be thought to be greater in urban areas, it may be the case that the labour markets in rural areas are tighter leading to a greater reliance upon young employees. Alternatively the range of options open to pupils in urban areas may influence their decision to work or not. In addition to variation across the authorities, there are differences in the extent of part-time employment between schools within the same LA: this finding applies to 17 of the local authorities.

3.9 We categorised local authorities according to the Scottish Executive's Urban Rural Classification to investigate further the question of locality, in particular, urban/rural differences. It is clear that pupils in rural areas have higher levels of participation in part-time work compared with their peers in urban areas, especially those in large urban areas (Table 3.3).

Table 3.3: School pupils' part-time work status by Scottish Executive Urban Rural Classification (local authorities only)*

* No LA falls predominately into the 5th category of 'remote small town'

Limited differences according to pupils' Standard Grade level

3.10 Overall, differences in pupils' work status according to pupils' level of study/attainment appear to be small (Figure 3.2; see also Tables 1-4 in Appendix 1).

Figure 3.2: Ever had part-time job by SG attainment*

3.11 The S3 and S4 pupils surveyed had yet to take their Standard Grades so to gain some measure of their attainment level, they were asked to state the number of Standard grades they were studying for at Foundation, General and Credit level. This can only be treated as an approximate indication of their likely attainment level. For S5 and S6 pupils, we use their attainment at Standard Grade to enable some degree of comparison across the four year groups.

3.12 For all year groups the variation in the level of part-time work across the different attainment groups is not large and is only statistically significant in the case of S4 and S6 pupils. The main feature that is evident is a trend as one progresses up the year groups to slightly higher levels of part-time work among the higher attaining groups to (4-7 and 8+ Credits) than their peers with a smaller number of SGs at Credit.

Family background - the importance of contacts

3.13 We considered a number of family background variables to investigate whether there was any relationship with the likelihood of pupils having a part-time job. We included: mother's and father's social class; their current activity; their educational qualifications; and family living arrangements.

3.14 Considering social class, there is little difference in pupils' part-time work status in respect of father's class for the three main classes of managerial and professional, intermediate and working class. The main difference is to be found when comparing these three classes with the two residual categories of 'not classified' and especially with 'missing ⁴'. Pupils with fathers in the 'not classified' category and 'missing' were less likely to be currently in part-time employment and more likely never to have had a part-time job (Table 3.4). The same pattern holds in respect of mother's social class: a smaller proportion of pupils with mothers in the 'not classified' category and in particular in 'missing' had been in part- time work (Table 3.5).

Table 3.4: Pupils' part-time work status by father's class

Table 3.5: Pupils' part-time work status by mother's class

3.15 We also have information on the current activity of pupils' mothers and fathers and this sheds a little light on the pattern evident in Tables 3.4 and 3.5. Pupils with fathers who were unemployed and looking for work were more likely not to have had a part-time job as were those with fathers who were retired and those whose fathers were looking after the home (Table 3.6). The same pattern is evident in respect of mother's current activity (Table 3.7). It is reasonable to suggest that these pupils may be less likely to have a part-time job because they lack the parental contacts with the workplace that might help them gain employment. However, other pupils whose parents were not in employment (eg those with parents unable to work or in full-time education) were, in fact, more likely than the average to have been involved in part-time work. It could be hypothesized that what matters is not simply a parents' direct involvement in the workplace but wider aspects of parental encouragement and networks, what some have referred to as 'social capital' (Coleman 1988, Putnam 2000).

Table 3.6: Pupils' part-time work by father's current activity

Table 3.7: Pupils' part-time work by mother's current activity

3.16 There was a high level of non-response to the question on parents' qualifications, only a half of respondents were able to provide this information. Against this background of missing information it is not surprising that no pattern is evident in respect of parental qualifications and the extent of pupils' participation in part-time work.

Part-time work and family self employment

3.17 There was some evidence that pupils' involvement in part-time work varied according to whether either of their parents ran their own business/were self employed rather than being employed by someone else. A slightly lower proportion of pupils whose parent(s) worked for themselves had never had a part-time job (35% self employed parents vs 41% employed, Table 3.8).

Table 3.8: Pupils' part-time work status by parental self employment

Some differences according to living arrangements

3.18 Pupils were asked who they usually lived with during term time and some differences are apparent in levels of part-time work in respect of their living arrangements (Table 3.9). Those living with foster parents and those in children's homes (the numbers here are small) were less likely to have ever had a part-time job. The same is true for those at boarding school. There appears to be a tendency for those living in households with two parents (including a step-parent) to be slightly more likely to be a current worker.

Table 3.9: Pupils part-time work status by family living arrangements

Part-time working varies by pupils' ethnic background

3.19 Pupils' ethnic or cultural background is a source of variation in the level of part-time employment (Table 3.10). Lower than average levels of part-time work are evident among pupils from: Asian/Asian - Scottish/British; Black or Black Scottish/British; Pakistani and 'other' backgrounds. There are clear gender differences within ethnic groups in the likelihood of pupils' having part-time work. We saw earlier that in general, young men were more likely to have never had a part-time job than were young women (44% male vs 38% female, never worked) but this is not the case among pupils from certain ethnic backgrounds. Among pupils from a Pakistani background, 62% of young women had never worked compared with 43% of young men. There are also substantial gender differences in the part-time employment rates among the Black/Black Scottish pupils (63% female vs 48% male never worked). Among pupils from mixed backgrounds, a gender difference is evident but is reversed with young women being more likely to have experience of part-time work (41% female vs 51% male never worked). The gender difference is less marked among pupils from Asian/Asian Scottish and 'other' backgrounds.

Table 3.10: Part-time work status by ethnic background

3.20 One possible explanation is that the lower levels of paid part-time work among pupils from certain ethnic groups is related to the extent to which unpaid work is undertaken and we investigated this. Overall, 7% of pupils responded that they were currently doing unpaid work and this did vary by their ethnic background (Table 3.11). Nearly a quarter of pupils from a gypsy/travellers background responded that they were doing unpaid work (24%) and those from other white and from a Pakistani background also reported higher than average levels of unpaid work (13% and 12%).

3.21 However, it does not seem that unpaid work is the explanation for the lower rates of paid part -time work among pupils from certain ethnic group. Table 3.11 shows that when we focused on those pupils who had never had a paid part-time job, we found no significant differences in the likelihood of those from the ethnic groups with lower levels of paid work (Asian/Asian -Scottish/British; Black or Black Scottish/British; Pakistani and 'other' backgrounds) to be involved in unpaid work compared to pupils from other backgrounds. It does not seem to be the case that lower levels of paid work equate with higher levels of unpaid work.

3.22 That there is no simple trade-off between paid and unpaid work is shown by the analysis of pupils from a Pakistani background. In this group it was those pupils who had a paid job who were more likely to be working on an unpaid basis while those who did not have a part-time job were less likely to be doing so (table not shown). We also found that pupils from the 'other white' background had both a higher than average level of paid work and a higher than average rate of unpaid work.

3.23 We examined the extent of applications for jobs among those pupils who had never had part-time employment. It is possible that the variation between ethnic groups is due to a failure to secure employment. The analysis showed that pupils from an Asian/Asian Scottish, Black/Black Scottish and mixed ethnic background were less likely to have applied for jobs while those from a Gypsy/Traveller background were more likely than average to have done so.

Table 3.11: Never worked pupils: if doing unpaid work by ethnicity

Part-time employment among pupils with a disability: age is a factor

3.24 Rates of part-time work were similar across pupils who reported that they had a disability (never worked: 42% disability vs 41% other). ⁵ There were no significant differences in the employment situation of young men and young women with a disability.

Table 3.12: Pupils' part-time work status by stage and disability

3.25 The overall figure masks some differences in relation to year group. As we have seen, for pupils as a whole, involvement in part-time work increases as pupils get older and move up the school with a marked increase in participation between S5 and S6 years in particular. Comparing pupils with a disability with their peers, an increase in part-time employment over the school years is less evident among those with a disability and especially between the S5 and S6 stage as Table 3.12 shows. By S6 31% of pupils with a disability have never had a part-time job compared with 17 % of other pupils.

3.26 The lower levels of part-time work in S5 and S6 may be related to the sectors in which pupils with a disability tend to be employed (Table 3.13). In subsequent analyses of pupils currently in part-time work, we found that pupils with a disability were more likely to be working in delivery type of work and less likely to be employed in retail and in catering but as we report below, delivery work is predominately carried out by S3 and S4 pupils while retail is a key sector of employment for S5 and S6 pupils. Pupils with a disability do not appear to share equally in the move of pupils into part-time employment in the retail sector in the later stages of schooling. The different sectors in which pupils with a disability were more likely to be employed in is also reflected in the finding that a smaller proportion of pupils with a disability were employed by major or national employers (16% disability vs 26% other) and a higher proportion by 'other' employers.

Table 3.13: Current workers: type of part-time work by disability

3.27 There was little difference in the average hours a week worked by pupils with a disability compared to other working pupils (10.25 hrs/wk disability vs 9.92 hrs/wk others).

Pupils in independent schools are less involved in part-time work

3.28 A higher proportion of pupils in independent schools had never had a part-time job compared to pupils in local authority schools (50% vs 41%, Table 3.14). This may be linked to the fact that in the independent sector some pupils are boarders and they may be less likely to work. Within the independent sector comparing pupils who were boarders with non-boarders, a very small proportion of boarders reported being currently in a job compared with non boarding pupils (current job: 6% boarders vs 31% non-boarders).

3.29 However, boarding is only part of the explanation for the difference between the local authority and the independent sector. Overall boarders only comprise a small minority of independent school pupils (12%) and the non-boarding pupils in the independent school still have a lower incidence of part-time work than pupils in the state sector (non-boarders 49% never worked vs 41% state sector). Another explanation for this variation may be that pupils in independent schools are more likely to be engaged, and may be expected to engage, in other activities in their free time. Pupils in independent schools reported a higher level of participation in sports activity outside class time and also more involvement in groups or societies than did those in the state sector (table not presented).

Table 3.14: Part-time work status: independent and LA schools

Disengaged pupils are not more involved in part-time work

3.30 We wondered if pupils who might be considered to be less engaged with school are more oriented towards having a part-time job. We investigated this by considering pupils' part-time work status in relation to three questions in the survey that can serve as indicators of engagement with school: pupils' opinion about school, the time they devote to homework, and their levels of truancy.

3.31 Pupils were asked to respond to a number of statements about their time at secondary school. Examining their responses to these questions in the light of their part-time work status suggests a relationship, although not large, between a positive attitude to school and having a part-time job. Pupils who responded positively to several statements about whether or not school is worthwhile were slightly more likely to have a part-time job than those who gave negative responses to these statements (Table 3.15). We also asked pupils whether school is helping to give them confidence to make decisions. Those pupils who were most positive in their response had a higher rate of current part-time work while those who were least positive were more likely to have never worked.

3.32 The one item where we found that those who were least positive in their response had a higher incidence of part-time work concerned the extent to which pupils thought that school is preparing them for life after school. In this case we found that those who were least positive that school was doing so had a higher incidence of part-time work.

Table 3.15: Pupils' part-time work status by attitudes to school

Table 3.16: Pupils' part-time work status by time spent on homework

3.33 In respect of the relationship between the amount of time spent on homework and the likelihood of having a part-time job, it might be anticipated that those pupils with jobs would spend less time on homework whether due to a lack of interest or time constraints. But what emerges is that there is not a straightforward relationship between time spent on homework and part-time work status. It appears that pupils who had never had a part-time job were more likely to be at either end of the spectrum when it comes to the time devoted to homework. A higher proportion of the never worked pupils spent 4 or fewer hours on homework a week but also a higher proportion of them spent 12 or more hours (Table 3.16).

3.34 The incidence of truancy can be seen as another measure of pupils' attitude. Strictly speaking truancy is not a relevant concept in relation to 5 ^th and 6 ^th years but we use it to mean unauthorised absence among pupils at any stage of their schooling. Pupils were asked if they had ' skipped school (played truant)' in their current year. Overall, those who were serious truants (truanting for days or weeks at a time) and those who had never truanted had a similar level of involvement in part-time work (Table 3.17). It is those who reported an occasional incidence of truancy (lesson or day here and there) who had a higher level of participation in part-time work. This pattern is similar for young men and young women.

Table 3.17: Pupils' part-time work status by reported level of truancy

3.35 Considering part-time work status and truancy across the year groups, there are some small differences from the overall pattern in S3 and S4. (The results for S5 and S6 are in Table 7 and 8, Appendix 1).

3.36 Among S3 pupils, the more serious truant had slightly higher levels of current part- time work than those who had never truanted but the differences are not large (current job: 27% never truanted vs 33% truanted weeks at a time, Table 3.18). In the case of S4 pupils, it is the infrequent truants who have slightly higher levels of current part-time work employment (current job: 38% lesson here and there vs 31% never truanted, Table 3.19).

Table 3.18: S3 pupils' part-time work status by reported level of truancy

Table 3.19: S4 pupils' part-time work status by reported level of truancy

3.37 Pupils were also asked if they had truanted, whether they had worked part-time when they were absent. Only a very small proportion of those who admitted to skipping school responded that they had been involved in part-time work then and this did not differ significantly across the year groups (14%, Table 3.20). The data does not reveal any strong link between truancy and part-time work.

Table 3.20: Pupils who ever had pt job and who had truanted: whether they did any paid part-time work when absent

Do enterprising attitudes and part-time working go together?

3.38 As explained in chapter 2, pupils were asked in the survey to respond to a series of questions designed to assess their enterprising attitudes (see pp.21-22, chapter 2). On the basis of their responses to the enterprise questions we calculated an overall score as a way of summarizing how enterprising they thought themselves to be. We did this to provide a way to examine the relationship (if any) between pupils' perceived level of enterprise and their participation in part-time work. We found that those who had a low score on enterprising attitudes were most likely never to have had a part-time job (never worked: 45% low score vs 38% high score, Table 3.19). In contrast those with a high enterprise score were more likely to be currently in part-time employment (Table 3.21). This parallels the finding presented above that pupils who were most positive that school is helping to give them confidence to make decisions had a higher rate of current part-time work.

Table 3.21: Pupils' part-time work status by their enterprising score

Pupils' career focus and their part-time work status

3.39 In the survey pupils were asked how far they had clear ideas about their career, we refer to this as 'career focus'. The question posed was 'Which of the following best describes your career ideas?' and the five answer options ranged from 'I have no idea of what I want to do' to 'I have had a definite idea for a long time'. We should make it clear that we are not assuming that it is necessarily preferable to have a definite career idea, we simply wanted to examine whether there is any relationship between the degree of focus in pupils' career ideas and incidence of part-time employment. When we considered the pupils' career ideas and their part-time work status, we found those who responded that they had no clear idea of what they want to do had the lowest levels of part-time work; overall the rate of current part-time work increased with the level of career certainty (Table 3.22). We also found that pupils who answered 'don't know' in response to another question which asked what they planned to do after leaving school were less likely to have ever had a part-time job.

Table 3.22: Pupils' part-time work status by career focus

Part-time work in the context of other demands on pupils' time

3.40 In order that we could place part-time employment in a wider context we asked pupils about how they spent their time outside of school. This would allow us to provide a picture of the various demands and use of their time apart from part-time employment. We asked about their social life and other interests, frequency of helping out in the home and involvement in voluntary work.

3.41 A high level of involvement in sport was associated with a greater likelihood of never having had a part-time job (Table 3.23). This may be explained by the time demands made by a commitment to sports activities or the fact that regular part-time work reduces the flexibility needed to pursue sporting activities.

3.42 We also found that pupils who reported less involvement in social activities outside of the home (going to a disco, concert, cinema or sporting event and spending time with friends) and who reported more frequent home-based activities (watching TV, using a computer) had lower levels of involvement in part-time work.

Table 3.23: Pupils' part-time work status and their social activities

Table 3.24: Pupils' part-time work status by extent of helping out in the home

3.43 Having a part-time job was not reflected in a reduced level of participation in household duties. The reverse is the case, a high level of helping out around the house was associated with a higher rate of part-time employment (both current and ever worked) (Table 3.24).

3.44 Finally, we considered whether pupils who were not working were involved in voluntary work. Only a small minority of pupils overall were involved in voluntary work (10%). However, what is evident is that voluntary work and part-time employment seem to go together to some extent. Pupils who had never had a part-time job had a lower incidence of voluntary work than current workers (Table 3.25). Such a finding offers further support for the idea that pupils with part-time jobs are more likely to be engaged in a range of other activities as well.

Table 3.25: Pupils' part-time work status by their involvement in voluntary work

Overview

3.45 Part-time employment is a common experience among pupils at school and among older pupils it is the norm to have a paid part-time job. Involvement in part-time work varies on a number of dimensions including gender; age/stage, ethnicity (with a strong gender difference within this), disability, social class, looked after status and by locality. But such variation sometimes runs counter to what might perhaps be anticipated, for example, pupils in rural areas have a higher incidence of part-time employment than those in urban locations. Another example is that while pupils from certain ethnic minority backgrounds have a lower level of paid part-time work, this is not explained by their greater involvement in unpaid work.

3.46 The results in respect of part-time work status and a number of family background factors indicate that pupils from less advantaged circumstances have lower levels of involvement in part-time work. It may be that both a lack of parental contacts in the workplace and also wider aspects of parental encouragement and networks play a part in explaining this situation. Pupils whose parent(s) were self employed had slightly higher levels of part-time work.

3.47 It is sometimes thought that pupils who are less engaged with school will be more likely to have a part-time job but this is not borne out by the data. There is little difference in pupils' involvement in part-time work according to their Standard Grade level. We also found that a higher proportion of pupils who were positive in their attitudes to school had a part-time job than pupils who were generally more negative about their school experience. The data does not reveal any strong link between truancy and part-time employment.

3.48 We did find, however, that where pupils were less positive that school was preparing them for life after school, this was associated with a higher incidence of part-time work. It may be that these pupils perceived part-time work as a way to gain some of the experience and skills that they thought was lacking in their school based learning. Alternatively, this view of their schooling may have resulted from their experience of part-time work. We cannot be sure of the direction of the link.

3.49 The picture that emerges from examining pupils' out of school activities is that those who are active and involved individuals have higher levels of part-time employment than those who are less engaged in an array of household, social and voluntary activities (with the exception of those active in sports). We also noted a relationship between having a part-time job and assessing themselves as having higher levels of enterprising attitudes. Part-time work was associated with a greater degree of focus about career plans but it is clear from other data in the survey (reported later in chapter 5) that pupils' reasons for working part-time are not primarily related to their future career plans. Overall, it appears that pupils who are engaged with school and are active and positive in various aspects of their lives tend to be more involved in part-time employment.

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