Term-time Working Research Articles

Dreaming the life: international students and the temporal complexity of employability

ABSTRACT Undergraduates today are required to make strategic decisions about where and what they study, and how they allocate time to studies, extra-curricular activities, and work. International students are likely to experience the pressure to capitalize on their time more intensely because of the high cost of their degree, the work required to acculturate, and the uncertainty of mobility aspirations. Drawing on multi-modal, longitudinal data from a small, diverse group of working international undergraduates at a Canadian university, this article examines how they respond to pressures to be planful, employable and productive. We find that students’ lived experiences contradict idealized discourses of youth mobility. While they feel pressure to make the most of opportunities, the cost of intensive work and constraints on choices are apparent. The effort required to acculturate makes it difficult for such students to be efficient in their use of time. Finally, attempting to keep mobility options open in multiple sites that are constantly changing requires that they invest a significant amount of time and energy. Socio-demographic differences and mobility histories influence students’ ability to choose and their experiences of term-time work, as well as their ideas about what constitutes an appreciable life.

Fitting work? Students speak about campus employment

Balancing part-time work and studies has become commonplace for university students in Canada and other countries where the costs of education have risen over time. While there is a substantial literature on the impacts of term-time work on studies, little has been written about campus employment programs, which are becoming more commonplace in North American universities. This paper addresses this gap by considering students’ experiences in such a program at a western Canadian university. Focusing primarily on qualitative data from a longitudinal study, we examine the various reasons for the attractiveness of this program, which go beyond the promise of professional, career-related work experience. Our analysis draws on the academic literature on work-study roles, which examines whether term-time work has a more positive or negative effect on student outcomes as well as sociocultural literature that is more attentive to different contextual features of the work-study relationship. We find that university-sponsored jobs are highly valued by students for their workplace relationships, regulation, and flexibility. Positive relationships at work are facilitated by supervisors’ recognition of students’ academic priorities and opportunities to develop peer-support networks on campus. Other important features for students include the convenience of working where one studies, and the ability to build work schedules around academic schedules. However, the limited access to ‘good’ campus jobs raises concerns about equity.

How is university students’ paid work associated with their locus of control?

This study examines whether university students doing paid work during their studies improves their internal locus of control – the belief in one’s ability to have control over their life events. Using longitudinal data on a cohort of English students, I estimate a standard skill production function and control for lagged locus of control and a rich set of covariates to partially account for unobserved heterogeneity and selection into paid work. The findings show that engagement in paid work, rather than hours spent in work, is associated with greater students’ internal locus of control. Students who have ever worked during university had 0.08 standard deviations more internal locus of control than students who do not work, and these estimates are largely relevant for term-time work. Estimates during the holidays are smaller in magnitude and statistically insignificant. I do not find any non-linearities in hours of work to skills development, nor do I find heterogeneities by gender. The findings show support for the human capital theory that work experience can help facilitate skills development.

‘Being there’: rhythmic diversity and working students

ABSTRACT Although universities promote undergraduate degrees as journeys of exploration and reflection, they are also viewed by students as investments in professional careers. This paper draws on a study of 57 second-year students at a research-intensive university in Canada to explore the subjective dimensions of time and school-work rhythms in students’ everyday lives. Data suggest that most students expect to work hard, now and in the future, although their backgrounds influence perceptions of the kind of hard work required, and the magnitude and certainty of returns. Students are future-oriented and participation in term-time work is seen as a way of training for future work lives. This training involves adapting bodies to the temporal logics and rhythms of university studies and workplaces. The interplay of rhythms is experienced by some students as harmonious or ‘eurhythmic’, and by others as discordant or ‘arrhythmic’. The extent of discord is related to differences in students’ work and studies, differences in their time horizons and value calculations, and differences in family background and resources. This paper contends that understanding students’ sense-making in regard to chrono-logics and work-school rhythms is important for building a vision for higher education that better supports human flourishing.

Participation in career development communities of practice: Perspectives from low socio-economic background students

Despite experiencing challenges in transitioning into graduate employment (Ashley, Duberley, Sommerlad & Scholarios, 2015; Boston Consulting Group, 2017) low socioeconomic background students are less likely to engage with support offered through their higher education careers services (Greenbank & Hepworth, 2008; Simpson & Ferguson, 2013). This study investigates the efficacy of using a four-week online community of practice intervention aiming to build careers support engagement of students from low socio-economic backgrounds through peer learning. Through a series of 24 semi-structured interviews, it was found that students who disengaged from the intervention reported doing so due to feeling apprehensive about their lack of knowledge and experience, other commitments (especially term-time work and academic studies), and anxiety associated with transition from university to work. This research expands the careers counselling literature to not only consider career consulting practices, but also student engagement through leveraging social learning. This work has additional practical applications for careers practitioners highlighting benefits and drawbacks of offering career support through online communities of practice.

The association of mental symptoms with teenage work in Iceland

Adolescent mental health problems have increased in recent years, and such problems may predispose the adolescent to long-term mental illness in adulthood. In past decades it has become more common for Icelandic teenagers to work while attending school (term-time work). Nevertheless, research is missing on the association between the level of termtime work and mental health. The aim is to examine the association between six types of mental symptoms (tiredness after an adequate night's sleep, difficulty sleeping, depression, stress/anxiety, worries/sadness, and multiple symptoms) and level of term-time work, by gender, age, and family's financial status. A survey applying a Nordic questionnaire based on self-assessed mental symptoms, was conducted among 2800 randomly selected adolscents, aged 13-19. The response rate was 48.6%. Participants were asked how often they felt symptoms of poor mental health. They were divided into three groups consisting of: non term-time workers, moderate term-time workers, and intensive term-time workers. A Chi-square test was used to test statistical significance: 95% confidence interval (CI). Results show gender difference in the association between level of term-time work and the mental symptoms. Intensive female workers are more likely to suffer symptoms of poor mental health than female non-workers, but no relationship was examined amongst boys. Furthermore, some association between term-time work and poor mental health is found amongst 13-15-year-olds, and for those whose parents are financially well-off. It is important that all stakeholders promote moderate term-time work for adolescents, and that the young people themselves receive occupational health and safety education to better understand the connection between work and mental health.

Exploiting students’ part-time work to enhance learning, teaching and assessment

This article highlights an opportunity for teaching staff in universities to utilise students’ part-time work experience to enhance learning, teaching and assessment activities. Increasing numbers of university students are working part-time while studying and, as a consequence, there have been several academic studies highlighting the adverse impact of this practice on academic performance. This has led to suggestions for changes in educational policy, seeking either to reduce students’ term-time working or to eliminate it altogether. With a gearing to business management education, this viewpoint piece provides an argument for university lecturers to embrace students’ part-time work experience and use it to enhance the learning, teaching and assessment experience. The use of students’ own work experience extends the case study method, which is common in business teaching, to give greater control and therefore reassurance to students and so yield deeper learning. The approach also strengthens the relationship between higher education and industry in that it connects more cohesively students’ work experience and university study.

Number of term-time working hours among undergraduate students

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of term-time employment among undergraduate students and to identify the factors that affect the number of working hours in term-time employment. The study also aims to explore if students work during term time due to self-development or financial needs.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 400 undergraduates in a public university in Malaysia. A Tobit regression model was used to identify the factors that can significantly explain the varying working hours per week in the student sample.FindingsOnly 20.8% of the students in the sample undertook term-time employment, with an average of 16 working hours a week. The financial motivations to work were driven more by the need to sustain a desired lifestyle compared to financing basic living expenses. Students’ perceptions towards term-time employment significantly affected their working hours and likelihood of undertaking term-time employment.Practical implicationsAs students want to excel academically and at the same time gain working experience and skills, universities may want to revisit the higher education curriculum and reconsider the course credit weightage for academic and practical experience.Originality/valueInstead of just documenting the number of working hours among students, the study empirically explores the factors that affect the number of working hours and sheds light on the allocation of time and priorities by students among academics, self-development and social life.

Combining and Balancing Work and Study on the Eastern Border of Europe

There is a vast amount of research in many countries on what motivates full-time students to enter the labor market, and how this affects their future employment, but these phenomena are hardly ever examined from the perspective of university faculties or student job centers, i.e., the other two parties involved. The novelty of this research is that we took into account students’, faculty members’ and student job centers’ perspectives. This article reports on a study that investigated the social and organizational factors of student employment in Hungary. Fieldwork in 16 student job centers and a content analysis of 23 interviews with students and 7 interviews with faculty members were conducted. The qualitative data collected provides detailed information on how students find jobs and combine work with study. According to student perceptions, term-time work contributes to their employability. This study has also identified factors that might lead to an increased dropout rate. Furthermore, research results suggest that the conservative structure of higher education is incapable of reacting to new social challenges.

Tengsl stoðkerfiseinkenna íslenskra ungmenna við vinnu með skóla

Musculoskeletal symptoms are common in adolescence, and may predispose a person to more occurrences in adulthood. Musculoskeletal problems have increased in the adult work force in recent years, becoming one of the most common causes of workers' disability, particularly among women. However, there is a lack of research on the association between musculoskeletal symptoms and teenage work. The aim of this research is to examine the association between four types of musculoskeletal symptoms (aches in joints and/or muscles, aches in the neck or shoulders, backache, and myalgia) and the level of term-time work among Icelandic teenagers, by gender, age, and educational status of the parents. A survey was carried out in the first half of 2018 amongst 2800 teenagers, aged 13-19, randomly selected from the Registers Iceland. The response rate was 48.6%. The young people were asked how often they had experienced musculoskeletal symptoms in the last 12 months, and then were divided into three groups according to their level of term-time work: non-workers; moderate workers (≤ 12 h/w and/or in irregular work); and intensive workers (> 12) h/w and in regular work). A Chi-square test was used to test statistical significance: 95% confidence interval (CI). The results show that intensive term-time workers are more prone to suffer from all four types of musculoskeletal symptoms than non-workers. The association persists for backache independent of demographic factors, and for all measured musculoskeletal symptoms among girls. Conclusion is that the working conditions of Icelandic teenagers need to be improved so that they do not give rise to musculoskeletal symptoms. In particular, the working conditions of young females need to be examined, as well as the conditions that lead to occupational backache.

The Incidence and Influencing Factors of College Student Term-time Working in China

The Incidence and Influencing Factors of College Student Term-time Working in China

Pulling Structured Inequality into Higher Education: the Impact of Part‐Time Working on English University Students

AbstractThis paper explores the social and academic effects of term‐time working on undergraduate students at an English university. Data initially collected via a survey of student social relationships were enhanced by the inclusion of end‐of‐year academic performance. Various inferential statistical techniques were used to identify these effects. Path analysis was employed to disentangle significant variables and to show that term‐time working had direct and significant effects on the two factors shown to be affected most significantly by term‐time working: end‐of‐year average grade and participation in university societies. A major finding was that almost all students who worked came from state schools rather than from independent privately financed schools. The findings are discussed within the context of the recent history of funding policy regarding higher education in England. A key conclusion is that structured inequality, an inherent feature of a divided secondary education system, is being pulled firmly into higher education.

The Impact of Increased Fees on Participation in Higher Education in England

This article explores some recent research evidence on the possible impact of the higher education reforms in England on participation by students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The evidence is examined in terms of costs, debt and term-time working. Financial issues have been shown to constrain choice of institution and place of study for lower-income students, and financial problems are commonly cited as reasons for dropping out of higher education. The greatest difference in debt levels has been found to be linked to family background, with students who were poor before they entered university leaving university with the largest debts. Overdrafts and credit card debt levels have been shown to be lower for students in receipt of grants than for those who are not. Research has shown that school leavers who are least debt-averse are more likely to go to university than those who are anti-debt; the latter include those from the lowest socio-economic groups and certain black and minority ethnic groups. Students who work in term-time may achieve less academically: those who work in term-time are more often those from lower socio-economic groups or minority ethnic groups. Overall, the evidence indicates that financial payments and grants are likely to be the most promising way forward to increase participation in higher education among those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Increasing Inequality in Higher Education: The role of term-time working

As the costs of higher education in the UK have moved increasingly from the state to students (and their parents), more university students have term-time jobs. Based on a survey of students in four universities, this paper identifies the pattern of term-time working, its effects on studying and its implications for equity and for the higher education system. The study found term-time employment affected the quality of education. Both cultural and financial factors affected who worked during term-time. Students whose father did not have a degree and female students (especially those from ethnic minorities) were more likely to work during term-time and, hence, benefit less educationally from university. The extent of term-time working varied across the four universities. The research suggested that the financial system might lead to an increasingly polarised university system: those that facilitate term-time working and those that do not, with the more prestigious universities tending to be in the latter category. This would distort the university choice of those who needed to work during term-time, inhibiting their access to prestigious universities, and lead to greater disadvantage amongst those who worked despite being at universities which made fewer concessions for term-time working.

UK institutional responses to undergraduates' term-time working

In the UK, there is currently considerableinterest in the nature and extent of full-timeundergraduates' term-time working. Thisinterest stems from at least two perspectives.First that as the system of student financingin the UK has changed, so has the extent towhich students need to boost their incomethrough employment. The second perspective isthat, in addition to financial benefits,students may be able to derive learningbenefits from term-time working: hence,institutions have developed processes by whichstudents might be helped to recognise in anexplicit way learning derived from experiencesof working.

Flexible working in UK library and information services

Reports results of a study designed to explore flexible working in different types of library and information services (LIS) and the perceptions of library managers. Defines some of the different types of flexible working: part time work; job sharing; temporary work; term time work; flexitime; and annual hours employment. The six month study was financed by the School of Education and Humanities, Loughborough University, and arranged in three parts: a literature review; a questionnaire survey of LIS; and case study interviews with library managers. Findings covered: the incidence of flexible workers in libraries; the incidence of flexible workers by library department; library managers' reasons for using flexible workers; library managers' opinions of flexible workers; and their future uses. Main areas of managers' concern were problems of co-ordination and communication. Concludes that library managers need to develop an understanding of flexible worker demands and requirements. There is evidence that flexible workers have different reasons for such working from their full time colleagues and, presumably, value different things in the workplace. In order to develop good practice in this area, suggests further research into the expanding use of temporary labour in LIS, the role of fixed term contracts and the nature of casual workers.