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New Perspectives on School Students’ Part-time Work
Article in Sociology · April 2012
DOI: 10.1177/0038038511419183
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New Perspectives on School Students' Part-time Work
Author(s): Cathy Howieson, Jim McKechnie, Sandy Hobbs and Sheila Semple
Source: Sociology , APRIL 2012, Vol. 46, No. 2 (APRIL 2012), pp. 322-338
Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/43497259
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Artide
Sociology
New Perspectives on School
Students' Part-time Work
46(2) 322-338
© The Author(s) 20 1 2
Reprints and permission: sagepub.
co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 1 0. 1 1 77/00380385 1 1 4 1 9 1 83
soc.sagepub.com
(DSAGE
Cathy Howieson
University of Edinburgh, UK
Jim McKechnie
University of the West of Scotland, UK
Sandy Hobbs
University of the West of Scotland, UK
Sheila Semple
University of Edinburgh, UK
Abstract
Most British school students now work part-time but part-time working remains a contes
issue, especially in relation to its impact on school performance. This article suggests that t
debate needs to be widened and that much of the discussion appears to consider school stude
part-time work as if it were the only source of out-of-school activity that might compete wit
school work. It aims to contribute to a wider picture by examining the relationship betwe
students' part-time employment, their educational commitments, social life and family roles a
how this varies in respect of gender, ethnicity, social class and location. The findings suggest pa
time work is not in itself inimical to educational engagement or to involvement in social and oth
activities. The article puts forward the idea of the 'active student' who not only works part-tim
but also participates in a range of other activities.
Keywords
child employment, ethnicity, gender, part-time job, school students' work, work and school
Corresponding author:
Cathy Howieson, Centre for Educational Sociology (CES), University of Edinburgh, St John's Land, Holyroo
Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ, UK.
Email: c.howieson@ed.ac.uk
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Howieson
et
al.
323
Introduction
One of the few areas of common ground amongst researchers concerned with school
students' part-time employment is that a majority of British school students now work
part-time while in full-time education (Hobbs and McKechnie, 1997; Hodgson and
Spours, 2001; Howieson et al., 2006). Nevertheless, the desirability of school students
doing so remains a contested issue and the question of its impact on school performance
is a key area of debate and dispute. We suggest, however, that the debate needs to be
widened beyond the often polarized positions that have been adopted as to whether or not
part-time work detracts from a young person's performance at school.
We argue that an understanding of students' engagement with part-time employment
requires a consideration of the wider context of young people's lives. Students do not
simply go to school and perhaps have a part-time job but are involved in a variety of
activities in the context of their wider social world. Yet much of the discussion appears
to consider students' part-time work as if it were the only source of out-of school activity
that might compete with school work. We suggest that the current picture of school
students' part-time work is a partial one: a great deal of research has focused on its
impact on attainment, but how employed students combine job, educational demands,
social life and family commitments has been largely overlooked. Although some research
in Ireland on part-time work has taken more account of young people's other time com-
mitments (McCoy and Smyth, 2007), similar research in the UK has been limited.
Moreover, the view of part-time work in the UK is also partial in that national level data
is lacking on a number of important individual and background factors such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity and geographical location and their inter-relationships with
part-time work (Hodgson and Spours, 2001). This article aims to contribute to a wider
picture by examining the relationship between students' part-time employment, their
educational commitments, social life and family roles and how this varies in respect of
other factors such as gender, ethnicity, social class and location.
Background
The theoretical arguments on the impact of part-time work on education revolve around
two contrasting perspectives: the zero sum model and the developmental model (Marsh,
1991). The developmental model perceives part-time employment as a valuable activity,
and one to be encouraged, since it facilitates the transmission of knowledge and the
attainment of skills, and encourages a greater sense of responsibility and the development of an adult perspective. In contrast, the zero sum model adopts a very different
perspective: it emphasizes the negative influence of part-time employment on a range of
mainly academic outcomes: given that a young person's time is finite, the more time
devoted to non-school work then the less time is available for school work.
Much of the empirical research on the impact of part-time work on performance at
school has centred on the effect of the 'intensity' of work; that is, the effect on students'
academic attainment of the number of hours worked. It has been argued that working
for a certain number of hours - the 'critical threshold' - is associated with poorer
academic performance (McKechnie and Hobbs, 2001; Payne, 2003; Percy, 2010; Stern
and Briggs, 2001).
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324
Not
Sociology
only
has
46(2)
research
on
par
but much of the research in
ings across these studies has
time work and focus of stud
or generalizable. The larger s
part-time
work within a bro
(Howieson, 1990; Payne, 2003
trate on certain categories of
National level data is lacking
factors and their inter-relat
addressed the issue of part-ti
ies and in some cases have fo
Jolliffe
et
whether
a
al.,
1995;
school
Song,
student
tak
(1999) regard poverty as an
concluded that students from
However, McKechnie et al. (2
students are less likely
graphical variations in
to be
stude
stantial differences between
are evident in one county, it
nationally.
In this article we aim to widen perspectives on school students' participation in parttime work. We use data from a nationally representative survey of school students in
Scotland to consider part-time work in the context of school students' other commitments and how it interacts with a range of potentially influential factors. In doing so we
test out the assumptions that underpin the 'zero sum' model of part-time work.
Data and Methodology
The data used in this article were collected as part of a comprehensive study of school
students in Scotland commissioned by the Scottish Executive (Howieson et al., 2006).
We focus here on the survey element of the project.
The survey covered a random 10 per cent sample of S3, S4, S5 and S6 students
(equivalent to Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 in England and Wales) in both local authority
and independent or private secondary schools across Scotland, providing a nationally
representative sample. In Scotland the overwhelming majority of young people who
continue in full-time education beyond the compulsory stage do so at the same secondary school rather than transfer to FE or sixth form college so that the survey captures
the full post-compulsory cohort; furthermore, it covers students from all social classes
since it includes the private as well as the state sector.
The survey was administered to students at school between January and March 2004.
The number of questionnaires achieved was 18,430, an 89 per cent response rate. To
ensure that the sample was geographically representative, the data were weighted on the
basis of the school rolls in each local authority.
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Howieson
The
•
•
•
•
al.
student
6043
5919
4135
2333
Paid
et
in
in
in
in
325
survey
S3/Y10
S4/Y11
S5/Y12
S6/Y13
part-time
When
we
ask
c
(ag
(ag
(ag
(ag
work
about
w
any
or
have
had,
outside
of
work,
selling
goods
doo
include
work
experience
The
question
on
ethni
request
of
the
Scottish
is
based
on
the
office
Setting
Part-time Work
the
Scen
As we would expect from other research, it is clear that part-time work is a common
experience among school students. Participation rose in line with students' age and stage
of schooling: over half of S4/Y 1 1 students were currently or had been in part-time work
(56%) and by the S6/Y13 stage, 83 per cent of them had done so (Table 1). By S6/Y13,
students who had never had a part-time job were the exception.
Among those currently in a part-time job, three sectors predominated: retail (28%)
catering (28%) and delivery work (18%). The remaining students were employed across
a range of job types: babysitting, hairdressing, office work, farm work, manual trades
cleaning, and a miscellaneous category. The type of work varied across the school stages
delivery work was mainly carried out by S3/Y10 and S4/Y11 students; the proportion
employed in retail rose over the years and especially after S4/Y11. Overall, there was
trend away from less structured employment in S3/Y 1 0 and S4/Y 1 1 to more formal types
of employment in subsequent years.
It is also apparent from Table 1 that there are gender differences in part-time work
after S3 AT 10 and especially after S4/Y11 with higher levels of part-time employment
amongst young women (Table 1). This gender divide may be partly related to the sector
in which young people were found to work in the later school years. Delivery work is on
of the main sectors of part-time employment in S3 /Y 1 0 and S4/Y 1 1 , accounting for over
a quarter of part-time employment and is male dominated (S3/Y10 + S4/Y 11 students
43% male vs 11% female) but it declines dramatically in S5/Y12 and S6/Y13 to one of
the least important sectors (only 5% of S5/Y12 + S6/Y13 students). After S4/Y11, the
biggest increases are in three areas: supermarket work, chain stores and 'other shops'.
Supermarket work is male dominated (18% male vs 7% female), while chain stores and
other shops are female dominated (9% male vs 19% female, 9% male vs 16% femal
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326
Table
Sociology
I
.
School
46(2)
students'
exp
Current job Former job Never worked (n)
%
%
%
All
year
groups
All
38
21
41
(18207)
Male
34
22
44
(8823)
Female
42
20
38
(9249)
S3/YI0
All
29
19
52
(5936)
Male
28
20
51
(2920)
Female
29
19
53
(2960)
S4/YI I
All
34
23
44
(5847)
Male
32
23
46
(2912)
Female 36 23 42 (2900)
S5/YI2
All
43
21
35
(4099)
Male
36
21
43
(1916)
Female 50 21 29 (2164)
S6/YI3
All
63
20
18
(2325)
Male
52
23
25
(1078)
Female 72 17 II (1227)
Note: 'Some students did not answe
not appear in the 'Male' or 'Female'
respectively). But supermark
29 per cent in chain sto
undertaken by students aft
with
this
issue
further
later
in
the
Levels of participation in p
nic backgrounds. The perce
backgrounds who had never
cent and 56 per cent respec
and 39 per cent among stud
traveller backgrounds respe
nic minority groups, the low
pation of young women fro
young
women
were
more
Pakistani students, 62 per c
per cent of young men and
Black Scottish-British bac
young women were also le
issue
of
ethnicity
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later.
Howieson
et
al.
327
Part-time Work in the Wider Context of Students9 Lives
In this section we present the results of the multivariate analyses we carried out to explore
the relationships between a set of factors and their impact on the likelihood of participa-
tion in part-time work. We used a logistic regression model to examine the likelihood of
students currently being in a paid part-time job compared with never having had a job.
The analysis therefore excludes former workers.
After a number of exploratory models, the analysis was built up in a series of steps,
entering the variables in a conceptually logical order starting with students' individual
characteristics, adding factors relating to family background, followed by students'
behaviours and activities. Factors that proved significant at the level of 0.05 were carried
forward to the next step while the non-significant factors were omitted. Factors initially included but subsequently excluded as non significant were: attainment, disability,
father's current activity, mother's social class, and voluntary work. The classification
table for the initial model before adding the predictor variables gives an overall percentage of 51.4; the classification table for the final model shows that it correctly predicts an
overall percentage of 66.4.
An issue in modelling is that of 'multi-collinearity ' ; that is, a high degree of correlation between independent variables which means that it can be difficult to separate out
the influence of one variable from that of another with which it is related. Consequently,
the models may underestimate the effect of some factors and this may well apply to the
factors relating to students' activities.
School stage is the key predictor of involvement in part-time work. The likelihood of
a student being in a part-time job rose over the school stages and especially between S5/
Y12 and S6/Y13 (relative odds2 of 8.458 for S6/Y13 students, Table 2). After school
stage, location emerges as the second most important factor in predicting part-time work
but in a perhaps unexpected way: it is often assumed that students in rural areas may be
disadvantaged in the extent of work available to them but this was not the case. Location
was a consistent factor throughout the modelling process and its effect changed very little as we added in other variables. Students in rural areas were more than twice as likely
to have a part-time job as their counterparts in large urban locations (odds of 2.150).
Those living in other urban locations also had higher odds than students in large urban
locations of being in part-time work but the difference was less marked (1 .225). The timing of the survey rules out the possibility that this is explained by seasonal holiday work
in rural areas since it refers to current employment in the months of January-March.
Gender is another significant predictor of participation in part-time work although
with a weaker effect than stage of schooling but also than location. Young women are
somewhat more likely to be in part-time work than young men (relative odds of 1.417).
The exception to this concerns girls from a Pakistani background.
When we explored the relationship between ethnicity and part-time work in the modelling, students from a Pakistani background had a greater probability of being in paid
part-time employment compared with students from all other ethnic backgrounds (odds
of 1.718), controlling for all other factors. But when we added an interaction term for
gender and ethnicity, it became apparent that while boys from Pakistani backgrounds
were more likely to have a part-time job than Scottish boys, the opposite was true for
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328
Sociology
46(2)
Table
2.
The
likelihood
of
S3/Y
working
(logistic
regression)
B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp (B)
School stage (ref: S3/YI0)
S4/YI
I
S5/YI2
S6/YI3
.380
.947
2.135
Gender
Female
.046
.053
.074
(ref:
.349
67.163
I
317.394
.000
1.462
.000
2.578
.000
8.458
I
824.529
I
male)
.042
68.031
I
.000
1.417
Father's social class (ref: mgt + prof) 66.867 4 .000
Intermediate
-.05
1
.067
.589
I
.443
.950
Working class -.051 .049 1.084 I .298 .951
Not classified -.296 .064 21.579 I .000 .744
Mother's current activity (ref: other statuse
Retired
-.639
.265
5.796
I
.016
.528
Family/home -.293 .058 25.576 I .000 .746
Something else .099 . 1 68 .348 I .555 1 . 1 04
Don't know -.609 .130 22.065 I .000 .544
Ethnicity (ref: others)
Pakistani
.541
.255
4.518
I
.034
1.718
Fem*Pakistani -1.137 .384 8.783 I .003 .321
Living arrangements (ref: others)
Parent + step parent .248 .06 1 1 6.867 I .000 1 .282
Location (ref: large urban) 1 99. 1 07 2 .000
Other urban .203 .042 23.763 I .000 1 .225
Rural
.766
.054
198.194
I
.000
2.150
Homework (ref: 0-4 hours per week) 28.689 4 .000
5-8 hours .065 .049 1.761 I .184 1.067
9-12 hours .148 .069 4.610 I .032 1.159
1 3+ hours -.283 .077 13.377 I .000 .753
Unpaid work (ref: none) 60.730 2 .000
Yes
.521
.076
47.491
I
.000
1.685
Housework (ref: low level) 30.030 3 .000
Quite low -.144 .054 6.995 I .008 .866
Quite high -.212 .057 13.995 I .000 .809
High .055 .060 .815 I .367 1.056
Care duties (ref: low level) 25.833 3 .000
Quite low .248 .068 13.416 I .000 1.282
Quite high .342 .071 23.231 I .000 1.408
High .317 .071 20.232 I .000 1.373
Sports (ref: never) 1 7.806 4 .00 1
1-2 times week .135 .049 7.559 I .006 1.145
3-5
6+
.099
-.084
.060
.066
2.759
1.627
I
.097
I
1.104
.202
.919
(Continued)
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Howieson
Table
2.
et
aí.
329
(Continued)
B S.E. Wald df Si g. Exp (B)
Groups/societies (ref: never) 23. 1 83 4 .000
I -2 times week . 1 56 .046 1 1 .4 1 9 I .00 1 1 . 1 69
3-5
6+
.193
.156
.062
9.628
.077
4.050
I
.002
I
.044
1.212
1.168
Disco, cinema etc. (ref: never) 28.147 4 .000
1-2 times week .132 .049 7.196 I .007 1. 141
3-5
6+
.298
.336
.064
.085
21.470
I
15.602
I
.000
1.347
.000
1.400
See friends (ref: 6+ times week) 33.258 4 .000
3-5
-.114
1-2
-.242
never
.047
.054
-.336
5.854
I
20.241
.098
.016
.893
.000
.785
I
11.845
I
.001
.715
Watch TV (ref: 6+ times week) 45.328 4 .000
3-5
.104
1-2
.331
never
.049
4.480
.060
.343
I
30.052
.159
.034
I
4.655
.000
I
I.I
10
1.393
.031
1.410
Use computers, non school work 14.1 1 1 4 .007
(ref: 6+ times week)
3-5
-.059
1-2
.107
never
.151
Constant
.050
.053
.067
-1.438
1.380
4.058
5.061
.106
I
I
.240
.044
I
.024
183.110
I
.942
I.I
13
1.163
.000
.237
Notes:
tion
Unweighted sample, n = 1 2694. Block 0, Class
table overall percentage 66.4
Pakistani girls who had a slightly lower
Scottish girls (odds of 0.321).
It is sometimes argued that greater invo
family, means that students from certain
part-time work. Our research does not be
worked' and 'never worked' students found little difference between their levels of
unpaid work according to their ethnic background. Further analysis illustrated that there
is no simple trade-off between paid and unpaid work: among students from a Pakistani
background, for example, it was those who had a paid job who were more likely to be
doing unpaid work while those who did not have a part-time job had less involvement in
unpaid work (20% of those in a paid job were also doing unpaid work compared with 4%
of former workers/never worked).
At no stage of the modelling did unpaid work make any difference to the main effect
of ethnicity or to the interaction between ethnicity and gender. Overall, controlling for all
other factors, we found those who had an unpaid job had a greater likelihood of also
being in paid employment (odds of 1.685).
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330
The
Sociology
main
students
to
point
being
father's
working
time
46(2)
in
in
social
class,
relation
t
part-time
class,
we
intermediate
employment
taking
all
concerns students whose fat
to work part-time than wer
background but even so, the
The impact of parents' curr
ity
made
no
difference
but
w
or they responded 'don't kn
than their counterparts wh
unemployed, a student or un
We also considered the effe
tion that remained signific
parent and step-parent. Stu
likely to have a current part
time
job
change
in
finding
A
may
offer
other
(Call,
part-time
young
aspects
of
t
1996).
job
is
comm
Spours, 2001; Howieson et
time work and time spent
cated a reasonable amount
likely
a
o
o
to have a part-time jo
(odds of 1.159). However, th
work (13+ hours) had a lowe
who gave little if any time t
no simple displacement of h
time is compatible with also
it is no job and no or little h
How does the time that stu
working part-time? We con
work, caring for others, an
Students who carried out a
of being in a part-time job c
chores (odds of 0.866 and 0.
their counterparts who had
of involvement were more l
The level of students' parti
of having a part-time job. C
in the previous two weeks,
bility of being in a part-tim
Students who were more a
somewhat higher odds of ha
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Howieson
such
more
is
a
et
group
active
al.
33
1
in
the
social
predictor
of
prev
life
i
part-t
When
we
consider
the
school,
watching
TV
an
the
direction
of
a
scena
home
are
also
more
lik
The
frequency
of
seein
ability
of
part-time
em
students
who
report
se
had
spent
time
with
th
In
terms
of
TV
watchi
those
who
watched
TV
six
times
in
the
previo
probability
of
being
in
employment,
they
cho
time
to
maintain
other
Critically,
what
this
re
not
have
a
part-time
jo
watching
TV.
Higher
usage
of
a
com
hood
of
working
part-t
purposes
in
the
previo
being
in
part-time
em
Discussion and Conclusions
We found, in common with other studies, that part-time working while at school
the common experience and that by the S6/Y13 stage a dual status of student- wo
the norm.
Our results also show regional variations in students' employment. But pe
unexpectedly, it is young people in rural locations who are more likely to work
those in large urban areas and this is not explained by seasonal holiday work. It
be that labour markets in rural areas are much closer to reaching saturation with r
to available adult employees so that school students are drawn into employment,
perhaps the range of leisure options open to students in urban areas influences t
decision to work. Another explanation could be the existence of more developed
networks in rural communities: our analyses of how students had heard about th
part-time job found that while there was no difference in the role of family and f
a higher proportion of students in rural than in urban locations reported th
employer had approached them (15% rural vs 8% large urban), which may be an
cation of the role of local networks.
We tried to investigate whether the geographical differences in part-time employment
are related to the local unemployment rate but were hampered by a lack of data on two
key variables: students' home address and their employers' address. Analysis using the
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332
unemployment
ra
participation
but
where
they
live,
n
part-time
work
is
Female
students
and
we
have
sugge
especially
after
S4
stores
and
'other
it
because
employ
may
perceive
to
h
employers'
desire
mented,
and
espe
and
James,
2010
growing
demand
parts
of
the
retail
fied
may
reflect
young
men
that
t
about
gender
appr
men
and
women
(
In
considering
ho
the
wider
debates
'under-achievemen
note
that
this
con
2001).
Nevertheles
white
working
cl
masculinity
and
po
1998;
Jackson,
20
not
offer
a
simpl
while
it
might
be
eager
to
seek
part
acquire
an
adult
r
seen
as
compromis
employment
amo
some
in
relation
t
differences
but
a
work
did
identify
women
cited
as
th
6%
female),
but
m
sports
took
up
all
some
young
men
than
are
young
w
activities
Our
in
study
terms
found
lower
levels
of
pa
mon
assumption
n
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Howieson
less
et
al.
333
likely
to
have
pa
As
well
as
from
Asian,
Pakistan
part-time
work.
For
sion
over
half
respo
which
is
in
line
with
businesses.
qualifications
(Li
et
students.
Our
data
do
from
applying
or
if
ment,
but
other
rese
ethnic
minority
gro
(Cabinet
Office,
2003
The
issue
of
part-tim
identify
themselves
groups,
including
Sco
from
Pakistani
backg
women
(Li
et
al.,
20
et
al.,
1997)
is
unlik
research
suggests
tha
young
women
in
the
of
maintaining
the
fa
the
family
home
mig
Studies
also
point
to
ing
high
and
to
status
Nicholson,
school
'res
1997;
students
ge
perceived
as
undermi
women
from
a
Pakis
from
most
other
ethn
they
wanted
to
conce
Nevertheless,
they
we
were
young
women
f
expectations
have
bee
we
have
clearly
(Dale
a
et
Parents'
only
to
to
conclud
complex
al.,
ph
2002a).
social
the
class
'not
h
clas
doubt
on
the
proposal
put
forward
by
Mize
the
link
between
'chi
established
(Lavalette
data.
It
could
whether
be
argued
th
a
young
per
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334
Sociology
46(2)
with
the total number of hou
considered this in the full r
between working hours and
social class and job type (How
Work,
Schooling
and
Other
The research was not designe
time work on attainment, b
through data on two factors
and attainment at Standard G
offer any support to those w
engagement.
When
we
working
Indeed,
consider
is
not
there
work
and
associated
may
be
a
w
case
likely to engage in work as w
This concept is supported by
active in terms of participat
cinema or sporting events had
who had not done so. Equally
computer use was linked to lo
Linking the 'active student'
argued that having a job allow
2007; Mizen et al., 2001), but
require money, there was a r
participation. It can also be a
are more likely to have a job
be more attractive applicants
and attributes wanted by em
As
on
noted
two
earlier,
the
debate
t
of time between competing a
a valuable learning opportun
the relationship that sits alon
sum
opposing
argument:
undertaken
viewpoints:
rather
along
than
with
d
other
which demonstrates that stu
range of other activities. It
there was no evidence to sugg
engage from a range of educ
(Mortimer, 2003). It may be m
undertakes a range of activit
part
time
home
or
but
who
various
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does
not
social
in
activ
Howieson
et
al.
management
335
decisions.
likely
to
have
part-tim
spent
on
non-productiv
Our
findings
highlight
played
by
part-time
wo
does
not
of
necessity
m
result.
The
idea
of
the
broader
context
of
youn
ence
and
how
school
stu
Acknowledgements
This
article
Employment
is
based
on
t
of
Secondar
Notes
1 The total of 18430 refers to the number of young people who completed a questionnaire, b
not all answered every question. 223 did not answer the question on whether their part-tim
job was current or at some time in the past and therefore could not be included in the total o
18207 for Table 1.
2 Exp (B) indicates the change in the odds resulting from a unit change in the predictor variab
A value of greater than 1 indicates that, as the predictor increases, the odds of the outcome
increase (in this case the odds of having a part-time job vs never); a value of less than 1 ind
cates that, as the predictor increases, the odds of the outcome occurring decrease (Field, 2005
3 The 'not classified' category consists mainly of those for whom respondents did not give s
ficient information to enable a classification to be made. It also includes very small number
in statuses that are not classified, such as unemployed, looking after the home, retired and n
occupation.
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Cathy Howieson is Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Educational Sociology at
the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests cover secondary and post-secondary
education and training systems; the relationship between academic and vocational learning; and the development of progression pathways and young people's transitions.
Jim McKechnie is Professor of Psychology in the School of Social Sciences, University
of the West of Scotland. His main research interests are in developmental psychology,
particularly adolescent and young people, and their transition into employment. The primary focus has been on child employment, child labour and the range of school student
labour markets.
Sandy Hobbs is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Child Employment Research
Group, at the University of the West of Scotland. His primary focus of research for over
20 years has been the area of child employment and child labour.
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338
Sociology
Sheila
Semple
University
Enterprise,
interests
ance;
Date
Date
is
of
currently
formal
a
Edinburgh
Career
are
Developm
young
and
people's
informal
submitted
July
2010
accepted
July
201
1
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