Student part‐time employment: characteristics and consequences

Abstract

Purpose -The aim of the paper is to examine the consequences of students engaging in part-time employment during their studies. It reports the results of a survey of part-time employment among university students. The research examined the possible consequences of combining part-time employment with full-time study, with particular reference to stress. Design/methodology/approach -The research consisted of an institution-wide Web-based survey of full-time undergraduates within a post-1992 university in the UK. Findings -The survey found that part-time employment, in common with many previous studies, is a majority experience for full-time undergraduates. It also found that some students were spending longer in their chosen employment than in time-tabled classes. A central finding was that unlike much previous research, it emerged here that students reported more positive than negative outcomes.Practical implications -The data shows that students continue to engage in part-time employment at a significant level and for some studying is almost a secondary activity. This perhaps raises questions about the existing model of higher education delivery and the need for institutions to consider offering more support mechanisms for individual students. Originality/value -The paper is of value in seeking to clarify the nature of the consequences for students seeking to combine employment and studying. Furthermore the paper builds on our understanding of the continuing growth of student part-time employment.

Does Student Employment Deteriorate Academic Performance? The Case of Slovenia

“…Student work is a widespread phenomenon in several European countries, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and China (Robotham, 2012(Robotham, : 66,2009Beerkens et al, 2011:680).The results of the most recent Eurostudent survey (Orr et al, 2011)show that in more than a half of considered European countries the share of higher education students who are regularly employed 1 during term time is at least 40 per cent. Countries with the highest regular employment rates among students are Switzerland and Czech Republic (73 per cent), Denmark (61 per cent), and Estonia (56 per cent).…”

“…Manthei and Gilmore, 2005;Ackerman and Gross, 2003) suggest that students who are engaged in paid employment primarily sacrifice their social life and devote less time to extra-curricular activities, such as voluntary work and sports. Robotham (2012) and Kulm and Cramer (2006) show that both holds and that working students cut down time devoted to reading study materials, as well as time for leisure and social activities. This view is in line with the finding of the Eurostudent survey (Orr et al, 2011: 89) that time allocated to study-related activities tends to diminish with rising hours spent on regular paid employment, but additional time spent on paid jobs is not fully compensated by a reduction in the study-related time budget.…”

“…In addition to valuable work experience and better understanding of business world, student work also contributes to the development of communication, teamwork and time management skills, enhances self-confidence and spurs personal development (Robotham, 2012;Manthei and Gilmore, 2005;Ackerman and Gross, 2003;Curtis and Shani, 2002). There is some (rather scarce) evidence that student employment positively affects academic performance by increasing student motivation and self-confidence and improving understanding of the course content (confirmed by one fourth of students taking part in the Robotham's (2012: 71) survey).…”

Gestión del tiempo y procrastinación en la educación superior

“…En las universidades colombianas, es frecuente la presencia de alumnado que financia sus estudios universitarios simultaneándolos con actividades laborales. Al analizar este tipo de alumnado no tradicional, Robotham (2012) señalaba que quienes combinan trabajo y estudio consideran un inconveniente la menor disponibilidad de tiempo para realizar las tareas académicas, lo cual podría llevar a conductas procrastinadoras.…”

El papel de la procrastinación académica como factor de la deserción universitaria

“…El énfasis en unos u otros factores varía según el autor consultado (Barrie, Ginns y Prosser, 2005;Casillas, et al, 2012;Creed, Fallon y Hood, 2009;McLaughlin y Simpson, 2007;Melo et al, 2014;Robotham, 2012;Salinitri, 2005;Tinto, 2006Tinto, -2007; Ukpong y George, 2013). Existen distintos modelos explicativos que tratan de sintetizar los diferentes aspectos que dan cuenta de la retención universitaria.…”