Abstract

Does Combining School and Work Affect School and Post-school Outcomes?

Author(s)

Alison Anlezark -NCVER

Ms Alison Anlezark -National Centre for Vocational Education Research

Mr Patrick Lim -National Centre for Vocational Education Research

Financial circumstances, opportunity and the desire for financial independence from their parents all play a role in motivating young people to combine school and work. This provides a good source of labour for employers looking for casual flexible staff, typically in the areas of retail and hospitality.  It may also provide work experience that will help in the labour market post-school.

But, there are also perceptions that working when at school interferes with a student's schoolwork, with limited acknowledgement of the skills gained from work in the senior school certificates.

This poster seeks to answer the question of whether combining school and work is detrimental or beneficial to a student's school educational performance using data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY).  The effects of combining school and work on retention to Years 11 and 12, TER score, and post-school full-time study are analysed.  In addition, employment outcomes for Year 12 completers not continuing with full-time study after school are explored.

We find that young people who combine school and work are distributed right across the school population, but the effects appear neutral in general.  Combining school and work has a slightly negative impact on school and post-school study outcomes when the hours are long (15-20+ hours a week), but a positive impact on post-school full-time employment, even when the hours are modest (5+ hours a week).

This leads us to conclude that individuals can combine school and work with minimal impact on their study, if the hours are modest.  Those working longer hours show a stronger orientation towards work than study.