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Chapter Three Capturing the benefits of participation in part-time work
In the previous Discussion paper on Curriculum, Progression and Recognition, the term 'recognition' was used to include a range of possibilities including:
A. inserts or references in appropriate SQA documents which give guidance to teachers on the content and assessment of courses and units (Course Arrangements, unit specifications and National Assessment Bank items)
B. inclusion in general guidelines on assessment issued by SQA
C. the development of new National Units
D. paper or IT support for Progress File or Personal Learning Plans
E. mechanisms or pro forma which a young person could draw on in preparing CVs or being interviewed for a place in further or higher education for a job
This was linked to five models of recognition (see Annex 1) differentiated by factors such as: the extent to which the school is involved, the extent to which the employer is involved; the nature of the link (if any) to the school curriculum; the nature of the link (if any) to employability or other progression; and whether or not the recognition will lead to certification.
It was also noted in the paper that, in considering the viability of each model, three constraining factors would need to be taken into account:
- not all young people will be involved in part-time work
- not all part-time work will yield the kind of outcomes needed for the accreditation process
- not all young people will wish to use their experience of part-time work in this way
To these we can now add a fourth consideration: not all part-time work will yield appropriate outcomes.
If at least two thirds of senior school pupils in Scotland are engaged in part-time work, this must represent a wide spectrum of ability and this raises an issue about the outcomes of part-time work which might be recognised. For the recognition to be credible and worthwhile, the outcomes which are recognised must be at an appropriate level of intellectual demand for the pupils involved. 8 This is especially true if the recognition is to take the form of accreditation (as in models 2 and 3 - Annex 1). Fortunately there is no indication in the findings outlined in sections 1.3 and 1.4 that the outcomes of work-based learning need be low level.
However, while we can envisage some part-time work requiring the young employees to use sophisticated skills - for example relatively high-level problem solving or communication skills in the field of customer care - there is no guarantee that all young people capable of developing or deploying such skills will be involved in part-time work which requires them to do so. In other words, even if recognition can be given to certain outcomes of part-time work, there is no guarantee that individual pupils will be required to exercise these at a level which would make recognition attractive or useful. The consequence of inappropriate certification was demonstrated in 2000, when SQA included core skills on the SQC for the first time. Feedback showed that pupils and their parents were strongly opposed to the certification of additional skills at levels below the level of the courses they were taking and saw these as undermining and devaluing the other achievements on their certificates.
In summary, because part-time work is entirely voluntary, the circumstances of the part-time work will be beyond the control of those giving formal recognition. For this reason there will be considerable dangers in giving a blanket endorsement to part-time work and ways of minimising these will have to be built into any approach to recognition.
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