Is there any evidence out there regarding having a part time job during 6th form and grades achieved?

[coldishfeet]

DD is leaving her school to go to a 6th form college. She'll be doing 3 A levels and an EPQ in Year 13. She's keen to get a job but we could afford to increase her allowance. Whisky I think there's are loads of positives to her having a part time job, I don't want her to do so if there's evidence it would be detrimental to her final grades. She's clever and aiming for RG unis. She will continue to play a sport which means she'll be occupied for half a day every saturday. She also needs to fit in volunteering for D of E, which she couldn't manage to fit in whilst studying for GCSEs. People we know with part time jobs don't do any extra curriculars.

I don't have any research evidence only anecdotal.
In my DC's cohort there were one or two who got jobs which required them to work a lot of hours, after school and weekends. They struggled when it came to exams.
On the other hand many seemed to manage part time jobs of a few hours a week. My two both did about 5 hours a week throughout sixth form. It wasn't financially cost effective as it cost me more to give lifts, (no buses) but it was worthwhile in giving them proper work experience and something for their CV.

Definitely she should get a job. Looks good on her cv for one.

Some I know give up the jobs in the Xmas before final exams to focus. As an employer I tend to favour grads who’ve worked in some way for interview as they tend to have more useful life skills. You’d be amazed at how many have never worked - or don’t put it on their cv of course.

I’m not sure how valuable work done in the 6th form is on a cv at 21 if they never do any again! Some work and volunteering is required for some courses and that needs to be taken into account though.

Post degree, work experience or career related internships done whilst studying are taken more seriously for highly competitive grad careers. I would also consider which degree she is taking because some degree holders find it easier to get grad jobs than others. University (even RG) isn’t necessarily a guarantee of anything. She should pay attention to soft skills too and these can certainly be built up in university and school vacations. A weekly job isn’t the only way to do it, unless she desperately wants the money of course.

I would wind down multiple activities before Feb half term in y13 if there are time issues but many DC do sport and other activities just fine and get top grades. Mine certainly managed their time well. However she could always find something and see how it goes but work and DofE volunteering sounds too much. Get the volunteering done first?

It's likely she'll do a sandwich degree course so would work properly in her third year. I envisage her working at some point before she goes to Uni, even if it is the summer before - some friends' 18 year olds have managed to get summer jobs at children's activity camps - or at the very least she would do some useful volunteering.

I think if she could get a job that was 4-5 hours per week - that would be great but she needs to investigate what sort of jobs those could be. My nephew worked in a supermarket and seemed to do far too many hours but it has served him well whilst at Uni as they have him back during university holidays.

I'm happy to take anecdotal 'evidence'

My experiences of working as a student were happy ones where I met lots of interesting people, my age and older, and that was beneficial to me but I didn't have much else going on in my life like sports and volunteering and I wasn't studying STEM A levels.

BubblesBuddy Thanks. That's useful, She's going to put it off until after the volunteering and to see how her timetable looks. We'll keep an eye on job adverts in the area just so we have a bit more knowledge of what's been advertised for young people.

I only know of myself. I had a Saturday job throughout sixth form. I briefly worked the whole day and then I changed jobs and worked 9-1 on a Saturday morning. I also worked two weeks in the summer between lower and upper sixth.

I got 3 As.

One of the 6th form colleges I went to see said they do not recommend more than 8 hours work a week.

I'm all in favour of people having part-time jobs in sixth form (both my DS's did) but if you say your daughter couldn't fit in DofE volunteering around GCSEs then there is no way she will manage that, play a sport and also work around A levels which require far more study. Don't forget also that next year she will start with uni open day visits which will generally take up a whole day with travel included or perhaps even a full weekend, like most 17 year olds she will start wanting driving lessons and all these things eat into her time.

I had a job from the age of 14. While doing a levels I had a Saturday job in a shop and it didn't affect my results. What affected my results was not going to all my lessons as we had a lot of freedom at my college. Plus I had a car from age 17 so that meant I could do anything. My job taught me loads and ensured I could get a job at university to earn extra money.

My DD’s school showed us some evidence for this a couple of years ago. I can’t remember exactly but it was along the line of a job does work well with A levels up to (and not over) 7 hours a week. Mine have had various little jobs and they get stressed near exams and have given them up. Your issue is clubs/D of E- I think that might be too much to squeeze in.

I had a job from 16 in a shop Thursday evening 5-9, Saturday 9-6 and Sunday 11-5. I got 2 A*, 7 A and 2 B for my GCSE's and then A, B, C for A level - this wasn't down to my job though it was down to having a boyfriend and choosing to spend more time out with him! My brother didn't get a job of any kind until after leaving school - he didn't do extra curricular activities or sports, he was just lazy and couldn't be bothered. He struggled to get a job despite having mostly As and Bs because he had no work experience.

I didn't have duke of Edinburgh or extra curricular sport though so it depends on the individual and what they want to spend their free time doing. For me I enjoyed working and the life experience and of course the money and freedom! I will certainly be encouraging my children to get a part time job as soon as they can as I think it gives them a good work ethic and a sense of responsibility.

All the kids I teach have jobs and many get 3 a’s. They often give them up temporarily around Easter then go back after exams in year 13. Most kids do epq in year 12.

EPQ is done in y13 in all the 6th forms around here. One school did it in Year 11 and now they're changing to Y13. I suspect they get their teeth into it at the end of the summer term of Y12 giving them summer to make good progress.

She's only the volunteering party of D of E to do. Once done, her only other commitment will be her sport - just at club level.

The volunteering can be v effective as experience if it's relevant & they commit to it fully. Continue it beyond the minimum time. Something like Guiding/Scouting shows leadership & great people skills, for example. Earn the relevant leadership qualification if possible.

DD had a job during 6th form-all of her friends did but the school pushed very, very hard basically told them quit for them to give up working pre-exams.

DD would have struggled to keep it going...

So best of both worlds really

Dd is at college and dances every evening until 6-7pm. She does have a job but it’s 3 hours on a Saturday in an area related to her course/future career. She couldn’t cope with any more.

If your dd can’t work Saturdays due to her sport she might find it difficult to find something. Most of the retail/cafe type jobs dd was looking at wanted Saturday and Sunday availability.

DD1 had a part time job got top grades at A level and is doing vetmed so did a fair bit of vet related volunteering as well as DofE. She worked on Sunday and some shifts during holidays in a library. She didn’t do a competitive sport but did music and yoga outside of school.

It really depends on the child, resilience level, the A levels she is doing, academic ability, social life, time on Netflix or social media and everything else. Maybe see if a job comes up with suitable hours, she can always quit if it is too tough.

Our daughter has been working since she finished her GCSEs, and worked part-time throughout her sixth form, in fact some weeks nearly 30 hours. She did extremely well in all 3 subjects, plus her EPQ. Exceeded her predicted grades and now on course for a 1st at a very good RG. She also plays sport and is very much the proverbial social butterfly, boyfriends included! She was the only girl in her year to have worked throughout her A levels, as the head was very much against the girls working in upper 6th. However, having worked full time every summer since her GCSEs, she has a wealth of experience her friends just don’t have. The company she is currently working for, have offered her a post graduate training post too, which is a fabulous position to be in. It is not just about academics, work experience is just as important. My straight A niece...first at a good RG followed by her masters, is still flitting around looking for work, as she spent so much time studying, she had zero work experience at the end of it all.

The sixth form Ds1 is about to go to (hopefully) says anything over 8 hours a week and your grades will suffer. Ds1 has never worked (introvert) but high achiever academically, and if he does work next summer I would hope it is related to his course. He is an instructor in a sport due to his high level in that so that should count for something.

I know anyone looking to do medicine or veterinary uni courses should be looking for work/volunteering relating to their uni course.