Play Fair with Working Children

Author(s): Madeleine Leonard
Commissioned by: Save the Children
Document Type: Report
Year: 1999
Publisher: Save the Children
Place of Publication: Belfast
Subject Area(s): Economic Issues, Employment, Equality Issues, Gender
Client Group(s) : Children, Young People


Background to the Research

  • Until recently little was known about the employment experiences of children
  • To remedy this situation, Save the Children commissioned a series of United Kingdom-wide research projects into children's employment, canvassing the views of children themselves and this report represents the Northern Ireland findings.

Research Approach

  • A total of 545 pupils aged between the ages of 15 and 16 from 12 Belfast secondary schools completed questionnaires. In addition the children participated in classroom discussions and focus groups.

Profile of the Sample

  • Forty-five percent of the sample attended a Grammar school, 48% a secondary school and 7% an integrated school.
  • Fifty-eight percent (317) of the sample were boys and 42% (228) were girls.

Main Findings

  • Twenty-two percent of the sample had a current term-time job and 53.7% of children had experienced employment at some time in their lives.
  • Twenty-nine percent of the sample had worked before the legalised age of 13 years, 32% were aged 13 when they first began to work, 22% were aged 14 and 17% were aged 15.
  • Thirty-two percent of the sample were employed in delivery work - delivering newspapers, milk, coal etc. Shop work accounted for 17.5% (21) of the sample with manual work the third most frequent type of work accounting for some 13.3% of the sample.
  • The types of jobs undertaken showed a marked gender divide with delivery work accounting for 37% of all work done by boys. Manual work was the second most frequently cited type of work for boys. Conversely, shop work and hotel and catering represented 50% of all the girls' jobs
  • Thirty-seven percent of the sample worked between 1 and 5 hours per week, 25% worked between 5 and 10 hours per week and 29% worked over 10 hours per week. Girls tended to work longer hours than boys.
  • Thirty-five percent of the sample worked beyond 7pm, 32% worked more than the recommended 2 hours per school day, with 5% exceeding the 7 hours for Saturday and 2 hours for Sunday limits.
  • The average hourly rate of pay for the sample was between £1-£3, just under 12% earned less than £1 per hour and 5% earned over £5 per hour. The lowest rate was 15p per hour. More boys than girls were represented in the upper wage range of the sample and more girls than boys in the lower wage range.
  • Children reported that their main reason for working was to 'earn money' however, when listing the benefits of work only 25% listed 'money'.
  • Sixty-five percent of the sample felt their work had brought about more interaction with adults, valuable work experience and helped them develop new skills and a sense of responsibility.
  • Forty-one percent of the sample thought they had missed out on other things because of work, the majority citing socialising with friends as the greatest loss.
  • The majority of children spent their earning on consumer items, a number stated that they saved a percentage of their wages and some 24% reported that they gave some of their wages to their parents; these children were more likely to live in unemployed households and to attend secondary school.
  • Twenty-six percent of the sample thought that work did affect their school work, 25% stated they often felt tired during school hours due to work, with only 4% missing school at some time because of work commitments.
  • Sixty-one percent of the sample stated that their employer had told them about safety regulations, however, 26% had had an accident at work and 28% considered their work to be dangerous.
  • Seventy-five percent of the sample thought that children should be able to work after 7pm, over 50% thought children should be permitted to work more than 2 hours on a school day and almost 75% disagreed with the 2 hour Sunday working limit.

Recommendations

  • Any future government reviews of employment legislation should take children's views into account.
  • There should be a co-ordinated approach to the enhancement of children's economic rights by all interested parties.
  • Any new legislation regulating child employment should be sensitive to the realities of children's working lives.
  • Education and Library Boards should review existing arrangements for publicising child employment legislation.
  • Trade Unions need to recognise that many of today's workers are children under the age of 16 and review ways of promoting the interests of working children through their organisation.
  • The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment, in conjunction with the Department of Education for Northern Ireland, should explore ways in which information about term time employment could be effectively incorporated into Key Stage 4 curriculum.

 

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