Sixth-formers who take part-time jobs may be putting their futures at risk, discovers Liz Lightfoot
HELEN Barbour-Bourne, deputy head girl of Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School, is expected to get top grades in her four A-levels, and was selected by the school to attend a course for high-flying students this summer. This 17-year-old star pupil is, nevertheless, the subject of some concern to her teachers: she works between 10 and 15 hours each week in a fast-food restaurant for £3.30 an hour.
"I really only want to work at the weekend, but they are very friendly there and when they ring up and ask me to help in the evenings, it is hard to let them down," she says.
"It's hot in the kitchen, and pretty hard work. When I get home at 10 I am usually tired, but then I have to do a couple of hours' homework. My mother, who is a teacher, is unhappy about it, and I am thinking of cutting my hours."
Helen might be wise to do so. Last month, a fellow pupil at the single-sex comprehensive in Brentwood, Essex, who was thought likely to get straight A grades, managed only a D and two Es because she had supplemented her pocket money with two jobs in the evenings and at weekends.
Helen Penny, Brentwood Ursuline's headteacher, admits to a growing concern about the numbers of students attempting to earn as well as study in their spare time, with consequent effects on their academic achievement. "I've had girls falling asleep at their desks, because they're so tired," she says.
She is determined to point out to her pupils (and their parents) that too many hours spent filling shelves or waiting on tables might cost them their qualifications - and the chance of a well-paid job in the future.
Out of six pupils picked at random, five had part-time jobs, while the sixth had restricted herself to babysitting once a week because she was concerned about her studies. Alex Shaw, 17, was taken on to work for six hours a week at a shoe shop, but feels under pressure to work some evenings as well. "When I said I couldn't, the manageress said she would have to rethink my job," she explains. Corinne Dourado, 17, works in an estate agency for several hours on a Sunday. "I am only paid £2.50 an hour but the work is easy and if I have finished it all they don't mind me getting on with my homework," she says.
None of the girls worked from financial need. Some wanted to afford fashionable clothes, a good social life and holidays, while others were putting money aside to pay for driving lessons or to avoid getting into debt at university.
Overall, Miss Penny estimates that more than 90 per cent of her sixth-formers are working part-time. Statistics appear to show that the number of pupils doing part-time work after school has risen in the past few years. A national survey of sixth-formers in 1988 found that half were working part-time, but a recent questionnaire compiled by Warwickshire education authority showed that 70 per cent of sixth-formers took on some form of part-time work, and the figure is put at 80 per cent at Durham Johnstone School in Durham, which has a large (350-strong) sixth form.
The modern culture of convenience shopping has contributed to the problem. Shops and restaurants have lengthened their opening hours and many now open on Sundays, relying heavily on cheap student labour. Consequently, the "Saturday job" frequently extends to Sundays and to evenings as well.
Most teachers accept that pupils can work for a few hours a week without affecting their academic performance; indeed, some believe that a little experience of the world of work can be beneficial. There is evidence, however, that students who work even a little more than one day a week do less well in their exams.
Dr Peter Tymms and Professor Carol Fitz-Gibbon from Newcastle University's School of Education published a study in 1992, in which they used the A-level Information System database to compare the amount of part-time work students undertook with their exam results. They found that those who worked more than nine hours a week got lower grades. "When you have pupils working over 20 hours a week, as some reported in our study, it is something to be concerned about," says Dr Tymms.
Concern about the problem has prompted some education authorities to act. Warwickshire has called a meeting of heads of sixth forms and is publishing a leaflet, warning students that they may be jeopardising their studies and their futures.
