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Chapter Four Overview and discussion
Several issues are raised in this section, many of which will be tied into other sources of data in the final research report.
Links with employers, FE colleges and schools
Formal partnerships between schools and employers (eg as part of the Determined to Succeed targets, or through linking into specific vocational pathways) may ensure that young people get good experience and let the local authority meet Determined to Succeed objectives. However linking school pupils' own paid employment with local companies into their schooling is likely to require a more pragmatic, general (rather than vocational) or looser approach than this to accommodate the reality of young people's moves into, out of and within part-time work: otherwise young people could become contractually tied, or feel under pressure to remain in a job in order to fulfil requirements for recognition.
Some of the SCEIN interviewees suggested that the Scottish Executive should make using part-time work a required part of business engagement by schools and LAs - such a negotiation was thought to be too difficult to be handled at a local level.
There was a view that it might be necessary to look at the range of part-time employment in an area before deciding which of the five models of recognition (discussed in the previous chapter) might be appropriate to use to recognise part-time work. This could certainly be the case if the link between schooling and part-time employment was via vocational pathways and the Scottish Progression Awards. The development of local arrangements would mean that there would be no common national approach to the recognition of part-time work. How much does this matter?
Some respondents suggested that, if formal partnerships were to be developed, those companies who recruited school pupils into their part-time workforce for an intended period of 3-6 years (while the young person continued in FE/ HE) might be more willing to put time and energy into developing their young workers, and therefore be willing to commit to the requirements of formal recognition. However, this would be an approach available only to those young people seeking to remain in education at college or university after leaving school, an equity issue.
Part-time employment and vocational pathways
Another equity issue arises when recruitment to, and selection for, vocational pathways is considered. Who are vocational pathways aimed at? Both employers and lecturers were said by several SCEIN respondents to be 'pleased with the quality of young people' being put forward for the vocational pathways. (This comment was less likely to be made where access to vocational pathways had been targeted at disaffected or disengaged young people, an approach which had been adopted in some areas). Added to this comment was the suggestion that lecturers felt they were more able to 'slot young people in' to full-time courses on leaving school because they were getting a 'consistently better calibre' of young people than many applying to FE previously. From a labour market perspective, there was an incentive for young people who were making good progress to continue along a particular vocational pathway and into full time work in the same vocational area since the level 2 qualification could not be awarded to them until they were actually in employment. There was also an incentive for the employer to take these young people on as full time workers since financial payments became available very quickly to the company once an employee achieved the level 2 award. Such clear articulation between school pupils' achievements in vocational pathways and post-school opportunities in FE and the labour market is obviously extremely important for those young people who have clearly chosen their career direction and who have been carefully advised and supported. But it is potentially very narrowing for others (probably the majority) who are less clear or committed to a single route, chosen at the end of S2. Only one SCEIN respondent noted that the careers adviser was involved throughout with those young people on vocational pathways (but this issue did not emerge until more than halfway through the research interviews, so not all respondents were asked about it.). If part-time work could be tied in to vocational pathways, would this also have a narrowing effect? Is it the case that most young people see part-time work as instrumental (in a very broad sense) rather than as linking them on to a specific vocational route? Data from the pupil survey will shed light on this. Of the five models described in the previous chapter, Model 3 could link most easily into vocational pathways.
Although not all respondents had direct dealings with vocational pathways, those who did noted little evidence of pupils on these programmes being asked if they had any part-time work. The potential to make use of the experience (whether through a direct link eg a hairdressing pathway linked with a hairdressing Saturday job; or through a more generic link into the employability element of SPAs) had not been considered at that point.
At the time of the research, the retail sector seemed not to be involved to any great extent in vocational pathways, but it is a sector which provides a significant amount of pupils' part-time jobs. If recognition of part-time work is to be tied into vocational pathways, then retail pathways would need to be developed. There are recognised difficulties involved in getting retail sector standard training - much current training is employer-specific rather than industry specific. Given that retail work-based training is now rarely (if at all?) done in FE, perhaps private training providers (sometimes regarded with suspicion by educationalists) might provide a more generic training environment for vocational pathways in retail.
Part-time employment, schools and recognition
In considering whether there was merit in recognising the learning gained in part-time work, respondents made a range of assumptions about the quality of the experience. A common one was, for example, that those in a small shop would get a poorer experience and training than those in large stores/chains. This may or may not be the case, but such assumptions, and expectations about the nature, extent and pattern of part-time work underpins responses. Clearer evidence about the actual quality of part-time work will be available from the analysis of pupil survey data and will need to be reviewed when possible approaches to recognition of part-time employment are considered.
A second point is that, in order to make use of pupils' experiences of part-time work in their schooling (for example, in Model 1 as a context for school learning and assessment), teachers needed to know that their pupils are working. Some respondents wondered whether there was now more, or perhaps less, knowledge amongst staff of what pupils were doing outwith school, given changes in guidance/pastoral care which have changed responsibilities for pupil support. In addition, respondents raised issues such as:
- Can school staff actually discuss something that, for some young people, was seen to be 'illegal', by which they generally meant 'done without a permit'?
- Would school staff rate the experience of having a part-time job highly enough to want to make use of it?
- Would school staff know how to link workplace skills into their classroom and into their subject?
A number of points were made about assessment. There was a view that if a school were to be putting forward a candidate to the SQA, its staff would need to visit the part-time work employer. There was some uncertainty about SQA requirements for recognising an 'out of school' experience. An SQA perspective might well include questions about: who assesses the evidence; how strong is the evidence; how is the evidence gathered and presented; and how is that evidence quality assured?
Some respondents were concerned that schools might only support accreditation of that part of the experience that they saw, and that units on part-time work would become '90% writing about it - the kiss of death for everyone. This is how work experience handles it - 9 periods preparation, one week out, then one or two periods debriefing…. and the focus is on the preparation and the reflection'.
Others suggested that standardisation was not an issue if the assessment was iterative rather than normed. 'If you're getting a certificate because you've shown evidence of personal development that you describe as related to part-time work, that's OK. But if your certificate says - 'you've actually got these skills at this level' then that requires standardisation and might be for employers to do'. There are clear differences in approach between those models which are more concerned with individual challenge (distance travelled) compared with those seeking reliable assessment of standardised levels of achievement.
It was not clear whether respondents felt it would be useful to take a different approach to linking part-time employment into schooling depending on whether pupils were in S3/S4 or in S5/S6. (The limitations on the employment of under-16 year olds was one main reason for this being raised.) But the relationship of age and stage is not simple: some S4 pupils can be aged 16, and some S5 pupils can be aged 15. In addition, flexibility in the curriculum means that any approach aimed at relating part-time employment to the Standard Grade curriculum and its assessments, for example, would need to take account of those pupils studying Intermediate units at S3/4 in some subjects and in some localities, and vice versa.
Are school staff likely to differ in their reactions to any proposal to link part-time employment to schooling? There were suggestions that this might vary by the subject discipline of the teacher. Maths and modern languages, some thought, were most likely to say pupils needed to do regular homework and to discourage anything which appeared to distract pupils from their schooling. While some thought that the key factor differentiating staff responses was the socio-economic profile of the area ('schools cannot discourage young people from poor families from working'), others suggested that attitudes were more likely to vary by subject discipline rather than by the SES of an area. Any strategy to encourage the use of part-time work in the classroom may need to differ by subject, and to start with those subjects which were more likely to welcome such a proposal.
Part-time work and work experience
The relationship between part-time employment and work experience raised some questions. Some respondents suggested that it would be easier to certificate unpaid as opposed to paid experiences. Their view was that the Intermediate 2 Work Experience unit required pupils to negotiate the work they did in the work place, and while that could happen in work experience it was unlikely to happen in part-time work where, they thought, young people just 'have to do what they are told or they don't get paid'. (There is, however, a question about the extent to which, in reality, pupils on work experience might have sufficient confidence to negotiate tasks, or the extent to which work experience employers would expect this to happen). On this basis, if being able to negotiate tasks is important, then work experience might be considered more amenable to recognition than part-time work. But if the focus were to be on skill and attitude development (eg responsibility, work discipline) then it was suggested that part-time work could be thought to provide more material for recognition. The same issue was noted with regard to voluntary work: it was thought to be more flexible and capable of being driven by the pupil, with the potential for demonstrating development of target-setting and negotiation skills.
Lastly, many respondents wondered whether young people might be increasingly more likely to want a vocationally relevant placement from their work experience if they were already getting basic knowledge of the world of work from part-time work. The overall balance and relationship seems to be of key importance. Might increasing acknowledgement or recognition of pupils' part-time work undermine the principle of 'work experience for all', or can the experience be made complementary?
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