Although there are risks for students working
part-time, a job on the side can help them
to develop.
Image: iStockphoto
A major national study from the University of Ballarat has concluded that students’ part-time jobs are very helpful to their development and that employers are well aware of students’ school, sporting and family responsibilities.
The study, funded by the Australian Research Council, has been carried out by University of Ballarat researcher Professor Erica Smith together with colleague Professor Wendy Patton at Queensland University of Technology.
It involved interviews with workers and managers in three companies over a period of three years as well as surveys of school students and focus groups of university students over the same period.
A paper the researchers have just published in the journal Youth Studies Australia has focused on the potential risks to school students of working at such a young age.
Certain characteristics of adolescents such as their propensity to downplay safety risks, to resist authority and to disregard issues such as fatigue, might make them difficult to manage and prone to workplace problems.
The characteristics of typical student workplaces – busy and with many safety hazards – also could create additional problems. Students could be tempted or pressured to work extra shifts, meaning their school work or extra-curricular activities lost out.
However the paper detailed ways in which large companies employing substantial numbers of school students had developed policies and working environments that addressed all of these issues.
Professor Smith cautioned that this does not mean that all workplaces are safe and happy for school students.
“Smaller companies may be less likely to have good procedures and practices in place, and even within larger companies not all managers are equally skilled at dealing with very young workers,” she said.
Professor Smith said that being aware of potential risks was very important, and the assumption that students’ jobs were menial and unpleasant had prevented a proper examination of such risks, submerging them beneath a general veil of disapproval.
According to Professor Smith, the national mood has shifted since she and Professor Patton began their project in 2006.
“When we started our research, there was not a great deal of national interest in school students’ work. Suddenly education systems and politicians have become interested in the area,” Professor Smith said.
However, she expressed disappointment that she and Professor Patton had not been called to appear before a current Parliamentary Inquiry on school students’ part-time work which has been consulting widely over the past nine months.
“Although we have sent two submissions in, we have not been called to appear, and we wonder whether it is because our research is showing a positive picture about students’ work which is at odds with others’ views,” Professor Smith said.
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
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