Is it worth kids doing a levels getting a part time job, or would you prefer your schedule to concentrate on their studies ?

[GingerKittenTail]

? The balance of a teen wanting to earn some money
but also having a lot to do work wise

what are your thoughts ?

@CaronPoivre was it nice for your DC living in such a high pressured environment? What if your DC weren’t academic?

My Ds waited until after his A levels to start working, he was doing 3 quite challenging subjects so we thought that was best.
His college also advised that any work shouldn't be more than 7 hours a week as they really did need time to study and relax as well.
He was the first group who missed GCSEs because of covid so their A levels were the first official exams they were sitting since GCSE mocks and college wanted to put in lots of practice papers.
Worked out well for him, he finished A levels, a week later he started working, 4 days on 3 off until he started uni 5 weeks ago, and now has a good sum of money saved up

For those who want to work in sixth form, where are the jobs? No-one seems to want to take on a 16 year old.

A job or volunteering alongside their studies is so important.

Depends on individual families and also on the type of job, or more so the employer. You need to find one that is used to employing teens, especially ones who are studying, as you need ones who will be flexible when it's exam times, etc.

Dd didn't have a part time job. That was a joint decision. We could afford to give her an allowance which helped. But we did insist that she did something relevant to her future to gain relevant work experience.

Dd did voluntary work on a very regular basis. It was directly related to her future university course and was beneficial to her when applying, along with the references she got from both places she worked in. This benefited her much more than if she'd worked in a bar or fast food place, for example. But we were fortunate enough to be in a position to facilitate this.

Hospitality in this area @SongforWhoever

DD was a young leader at Brownies during 6th form and also volunteered in a care home. Neither of these were too taxing for her (she has CFS), nor time hungry, so they fitted in well with her studies.

They are very well balanced adults. In long-term relationships/married. Learning doesn't have to be high pressured or lacking fun. I rather suspect a trip to Seville to practice spoken Spanish is much more fun and more beneficial than a shift in the local Spar.

I know they learn far more from a summer internship in Switzerland working as a sailing instructor or group tutor at an international childrens summer camp was far more beneficial than waiting tables in a cafe. Much more fun too.

Far from creating mental health problems, success and achievement offers increased resilience and lower rates of mental health difficulties. Poverty is strongly linked to mental health problems.

If they weren't academic same rules applied. Our Foster son with special needs became a mechanic. He was encouraged by building remote control cars, getting an old VW campervan for him to tinker with and requiring him to learn to read.

Dd hasn't had a jib throughout university either. Again a joint decision.

But her course has periods each year where she is effectively working full time on placements, when having another job wouldn't be feasible.

But throughout she has continued to do regular relevant voluntary work experience, making good contacts in schools which will provide her with good references when it comes to applying for jobs after she graduates. She's also done some voluntary activities with the university which she can also include in her CV and talk about in interviews.

So whilst I don't think paid work is necessary. I do feel it's i]very important to get work experience in some form, especially where the skills being learnt can be applied to the work they will eventually be applying for.

My 2 both have/had part time jobs during A Levels. The jobs gave them huge amounts of soft skills and life experience.

DD's job has been literally life changing for her - she is disabled and getting a part time job has shown her that her disability does not have to hold her back and has massively built up her self confidence.

DS didn't want to go to university. Without a part time job during A Levels I'm not sure what he would have said at job/apprenticeship interviews.

I think a key point to think about is whether time spent working would otherwise be spent on study. If time spent working is cutting into study time, then it probably needs to be re-evaluated.

I think it's interesting how this varies though. At my DC's school, it's extremely unusual not to have a part time job through sixth form. However, working apparently is not a thing at my niece's school (hardly anyone works).

For my DC, I'd also say that "working" has replaced time they might have spent on extra-curricular activities in younger years. I can see if your DC spends a lot of time on extra-curricular (the afore mentioned niece spends more time in a week on her music than my DD does working) then "working" would be the thing that gave.

I would add that, if you're not going to let your DC work, please consider how much money they have! My parents refused to let me work, but also didn't give me any money, which meant I had to go to them and justify why they should give me some every time I wanted to do anything. I found this incredibly soul destroying and would much rather have had my own money!

is he paid for being lunchtime supervisor at own school? I would have thought that was just a year 12 school responsibility.

Hospitality.
Retail.
Tuition centres.
Cleaners.
Lifeguards

Think that mostly covers where my DC and their friends work. Retail especially is crying out for people.

I also get the point re relevant work experience, Ds has this too in the area he would like to work.

He has down time, study and work time. Study and relevant w/e comes first but paid work takes away some down time instead.

@Oblomov22

I disagree with that. Of course they should be doing other things: space for sports hobbies family's boyfriends, anything

Absolutely! Add all that together with a full time course which will entail evening study/homework and that is exactly why a job on top is too much. I don't understand the money issue to be honest- you fund your kids until they are grown ups surely. I can't tell you the times I've seen a student's grades suffer because the thing that has repeatedly taken the hit has been homework when their boss needs them to do an extra shift.

I've also known some capable students change their minds about university because at 17/18 minimum wage seems like loads.

There's lots of ways to develop the skills valued by employers which don't need full time students to also have part time jobs.

@shortandpaleandoldandugly not everyone can afford to pay extras for their teenagers. If they want fancy clothes, latest phone, driving lessons sometimes students have to work to pay for these things

My DS is year 12, doing 4 A levels and works 8-15 hours over the weekend. There is absolutely no way that he would be doing school work if he wasn't at his job. He would just have more time for gaming or hanging about with friends.
It might be too much when he gets into year 13 but will assess then.

He would just have more time for gaming or hanging about with friends.

Precisely why I’m happy for mine not to work. He will have decades of working. Fifty odd years. So to have a couple of weekends of mooching, seeing friends, studying - hell yes!

To have a couple of years of weekends

It’s about so much more than the work. Plus people take sabbaticals and gap years later on.

Our oldest 2 kids did volunteer work over the summers but didn’t work alongside A levels. Lots do as they need the money and seem to manage. Our youngest isn’t at that stage yet but I’ll encourage them to do the same.

It's a balance. Ime they can manage about 8 hours a week but even that can be tricky in final run up to exams.
A lot of employers want more than 8 hours and put pressure on them.to accept more shifts which isn't really feasible

They need down time as well time to study and work.

It’s odd that some people think that 6th formers need to devote 24/7 to study and that working perhaps 6 hours will mean the very top grades are out of reach.

Yes, working 25 hours won’t help, but doing one shift per week is perfectly manageable. If there are other reasons not to work, then fine, but often saying its will mean they can’t do well with their A Levels’ just isn’t true, so a false excuse.

Most kids spend longer faffing about online than they will spend in their paid job.

The list of advantages in terms of self confidence and coping with different situations obviously just isn’t valued by many parents who are determined that paid work should be avoided. I wonder why those things aren’t valued when parents regularly speak of prepping their kids for adult life.

Why would you say it’s important to get academic grades and to learn to drive and to do something like DofE, but fully ignore things like dealing with a range of people and learning about things like being committed to doing something you don’t always like?

Teens can be flakey. Often they think that if they don’t fancy doing something they can just pull out. They think that if a better offer comes along, they can cancel the original plan and blow people out and go for the better option. Some parents do it too. Learning that because you’re scheduled to be at work 10-4 means sometimes you have to say ‘no’ to a fab offer, or have to miss out on something is a good, not bad experience. Volunteering never commits you in quite the same way. Many teens start uni never having had to manage their time or deal with situations that parents haven’t been able to wade into.

To me, it’s not about money. 6th fo life is about learning to manage to study more independently, learning to drive, learning to socialise, learning to be part of the bigger world and to function with responsibility and different types of people without parental involvement. A little job plays a vital part in this. Saying ‘no’ to it is like saying you don’t support school sports or learning to drive in my view - it’s missing out in a vital stage.

And often better to have a little job in 6th Form than in term time at uni.

Fab things to use in grad training applications that arise from jobs - STAR examples etc.

@shortandpaleandoldandugly

I still disagree. I think you are making it too wide. Depends on the child. And the school. If it is a very deprived area?
Here the school is superb. Wide spectrum of families, incredibly rich to quite poor. But strong students. Many had jobs and nearly all of my DS1's friends got the grades that they needed to go to university including my son as I said without being rude he got top top grades and had a job at Screwfix Saturday and Sunday and it's never hindered him at all.

so your wide statement doesn't always apply.

My DD somehow managed to be a lifeguard, do 4 A Levels, carry on with her hobbies and do an EPQ.

The lifeguard work was generally 3 or 4 hours on a Saturday afternoon and few 7 or 8 hour shifts in the holidays. She had a zero hours contract and could choose her shifts.

She is now at uni and still does the lifeguard work in the holidays, so I would say it has worked out well because she can always earn some cash.

More generally, I would say the lifeguard work has done her all lot of good. She has learned how to clean (came in very useful with her student flat - she organises the cleaning rota!) and it has made her more assertive and more confident in dealing with arguments and complaints.

Should have said she got 4xAstar in her A Levels. She is very bright and highly organized.