Expansion of Further and Higher Education

1. Earning While Learning -Student Paid Employment in the Current Higher Educational LandscapeLynette Cavill

2. Expansion of Further and Higher Education • Since the advent of globalisation developed nations have moved away from manufacturing industry into the information and knowledge service sectors • This has created a requirement for a ‘knowledge based’ economy serviced by ‘knowledge workers’(Adnett 2006)

3. Educated Workforce • Dearing Report of 1997 – ‘good investment for individuals as well as society’ • Recent research shows link between adult learning and social cohesion and inclusion within communities

4. UK Government Objectives • Government aim to widen participation in further and higher education – 50% by 2010 • Aim for inclusion for all levels of society, both in educational opportunities and employment, to promote meritocracy

5. Implications of widening participation: • Elite system to mass system of Higher Education (HE) • Public funding for HE moving to individual funding, involving both students and their families via parental contributions • There is a new funding structure of grants, loans and fees • These mean students often find a gap between what they receive and what they require to live on

6. Implications continued: • This has impacted on students’ attitudes to debt and an increased incidence of students undertaking paid employment alongside full time studies • Also within a consumer society there are expectations around lifestyle - a dichotomy of needing ‘paper qualifications’ but the desire to maintain a certain standard of living

7. Why is the increase in students undertaking Paid Employment important? • There are concerns seen within the financing of higher education, around student retention and dropout rates, and student indebtedness. • There is also disquiet as to whether there will be selective inequality, if some students have to work while others do not.

8. This leads to questions being asked around whether there is an impact to academic potential when paid employment is undertaken alongside full time studies Research has identified 58% students work in term time, these are mainly from poorer families and this has a negative cost to academic achievement and the experience of being a student (Student income and expenditure survey 2002/2003)

9. Effects identified by the institutions • Attendance affected • Failures to meet deadlines • Underachieving students Students identified: • Tiredness • rushed assignment work, • missed classes • failure to meet deadlines These were being associated with having to work

10. Research question for my study: What are the perceptions, in retrospect, of graduates regarding the effects of engaging in paid employment while studying full time in education. Is there an impact on potential achievement and the student experience?

11. The study considered: • How was the degree was financed? • What motivations were there to participate in paid employment? • What type of job was undertaken and what patterns of employment existed? • What work life balance and time management strategies were used? • Was there any impact to studies/student life from the paid employment?

12. Parental Contributions A major factor in the decision made on whether to take on paid employment and how many hours would be undertaken was the amount of financial help parents were able to give the student.

13. Parental /student relationship: • Within this study, informal ‘contracts’ or negotiations, whether implied or stated, were identified to exist between the graduates and their parents. • These appeared to be negotiated around perceptions within the parental and family sphere on the amount paid employment might affect achievement levels. • The parents appeared as active players within the graduates’ education, providing financial support but using this as a negotiation tool. 

14. Status of Degrees Today it is suggested the status that a degree had within the labour market is being eroded with inflation of degrees (Brown 2003, Ashworth 1997).

15. Parent/student agreements were identified for five graduates, connected to ideas that today, to obtain graduate employment a high level of achievement within selective courses, preferably from a prestigious university, are necessary. Levels of debt were also a consideration.

16. ‘When I had to repeat a year I was eligible to pay my tuition fees but my parents paid these for me on the condition I would keep my hours down that I worked as they were concerned I would not be able to cope with too many hours working as well as studying.  They did sort of monitor how many hours I worked really but were limited on how much they could help out.  My mother in particular did not like me working nights and encouraged me to go back to a day shift on a Saturday by helping out with money a bit.’

17. ‘In my second year though I worked a lot more hours and that did make me so tired I was missing tutorials in particular.  I still got good grades but my father was concerned so when I got to my final year he made an agreement with me that he would help me more if I agreed to only do one shift because he was worried I would get a lower degree than I was capable of getting, so he gave me more money but I was to spend it on living etc and not as extra money and still do long shifts.  I agreed with what he was saying so I did then just do the one shift.’

18. ‘My uncle made sure I got my work (studies) out of the way or had time to complete them after I worked.  My parents had made this very clear to him.’

19. ‘I was lucky that my parents paid for all my tuition fees and paid for my rent but then I paid for food and electric etc out of the money I earned or had saved....... they (my parents) were prepared to help as they didn’t want me running up huge debts from student loans and, put like that, I am very lucky to have come out of university with a lot less debt than other students.’

20. This whole area illustrates the importance parents are placing on continuing education. Some are happy with their children being employed for a certain number of hours. Others appear to have concerns that there could be a detrimental impact to studies.

21. However, there is not much in the literature about informal ‘contracts’ and negotiations between students and parents. Research, since the numbers of students ‘earning while learning’ have increased, does identify informal contracts between universities and students.  This gives information and set guidelines on hours of paid employment regarding what is considered to impact on study (University of Huddersfield 2007, Durham University 2007). 

22. UK Degree structure: • Full time is 3 years for an undergraduate first level degree • Other western societies such as USA, Canada and Australia have longer full time courses. • Thus time management issues impact more on students in the UK due to the time demands of the degree course.