Responsabilidades de la sociedad
NIKE Y REEBOK AFRONTAN CUESTIONES DE DERECHOS HUMANOS EN TODO EL MUNDO
homework 27
term grades 8
extra-curricular activities 25
Total 100
162
Although teachers believe part-time employment is more useful to students than work experience in learning about work, the latter is valued more for its educational potential. As shown in Figure 9.3 the negative outcomes of students working part-time are associated predominantly with schooling. When extra-curricular activities are not counted, there is only a minority of teachers (16 per cent) who see part-time work as having a positive effect on school performance; 33 per cent beUeve the effects are neutral, 26 per cent say they don't know and 25 per cent believe the effects are negative. These findings probably explain why teachers are unvvdlling to utilize student-initiated work experience in the curriculum (Freedman, 1963). In the present survey, for example, only 57 percent of respondents favoured class discussion of part-time work compared to 86 per cent for sponsored work experience. The latter is accepted almost universally by teachers as a legitimate part of the curriculum; for example, 39 of the 44 respondents supported the principle of a one-week block release and all but one of these supported the idea of briefing and debriefing students before and after their placements. The support appears to be in principle only, as only two-thirds of the respondents were prepared to spend class time discussing or evaluating the students' experiences.
Furthermore, teachers expressed a general lack of confidence in their abiUty to advise students about careers and work experience. Exactly half the sample felt confident to give advice on careers (28 per cent) and work experience(22 per cent), while the remaining half did not. Most of the latter believed that careers advice should be given by the careers adviser, a staff member engaged full-time for this purpose. On the other hand, only a small minority of teachers believed that the world of work (eg. work study, work preparation, work experience) should remain entirely separate from the curriculum. Just over 60 per cent of respondents wanted such topics integrated in the curriculum.
Since very few suggestions were made in the open-ended question as to how integration might be achieved, the issue was followed up at a subsequent staff meeting. Small groups discussed and reported back on topics such as integrating work experience in the curriculum, evaluating work experience (including part-time work) and ways to enhance student
employability. This latter theme was used as the basis for further discussion by staff which yielded a number of practical suggestions for integrating world of work activities in the curriculum. These will be discussed in Appendix VII.
In the present tiiesis, the perspectives of employers, parents and students, as well as teachers, were sought about 'world of work' issues. Space does not permit a full description of the findings. These are included in Appendices III and IV of the thesis. In brief, the conclusion is that there is general agreement between employers and parents, students and teachers on the inclusion of 'the world of work' in the curriculum. Most will agree with Wilson and Wyn that:
"...the desire amongst young people themselves to achieve a livelihood means that schooling will continue to have marginal credibility, as long as it is seen to have only marginal relevance to the world of work. It is appropriate, perhaps even necessary, to explore a new form of curriculum which takes work in all its forms as the basis for the development of knowledge...and skills..." (1987:118).
4 . The Needs of Students
Evans and Poole (1987) studied the concems of a large number of Australian
adolescents and found that they were most concemed with jobs (37 per cent), and education or education hurdles (28 per cent). The authors believe that education and jobs are viewed as instrumental in achieving a sense of control over oneself. The authors have attempted a classification of life skill areas in which social relationships, personal development and career skills were central. Personal skills, autonomy and self-development were regarded by the respondents as the most necessary life skills. On the basis of these findings, the authors recommend the integration of life skills in the curriculum at a time when many writers have condemned their incorporation into British education. For example, Atkinson et al.,. argue that social and life skills embody the classic approach to social 'pathology', a tendency to blame the victim (1982:122).
Similarly, Gleeson outlines the narrowness of 'SLS' (social and life skills) training which " emphasises individual adaption and survival: society as such is not thrown open to question other than in the narrowest of terms" (1985:65). The CCCS goes further and claims that curriculum initiatives such as SLS are attempts to impose a conception of skill based on appropriate social dispositions on schools and colleges (CCCS 1981:145). Whilst SLS training does not play a major part in the curriculum of Australian schools, conventional work experience is frequently used to introduce students to the 'realities' of the workplace. Work experience, both paid and sponsored, is seen by teachers, students, parents and employers as a good preparation for life. In this, they are similar to SLS and various life skills and survival courses designed to make schooling more relevant. How then do students experience the realities of work during their exposure to paid and sponsored work experience?
Students and the Realities of the Workplace
"Work-experience conveys the ideology that through certain rational and 'scientific' procedures, taken for granted and natural in the workplace, students will achieve their best possible life outcomes" (Watkins 1982:275). The reality of menial work in many jobs was put by a number of employers in the present thesis:
"Kids who won't clean floors are sent back to school" (Theatre manager). "(Kids) should work and don't play games....because if they wanna play games they can do that at school" (car wrecker manager).
Students accept these realities without question:
What does it take to be successful on work experience?
"...being punctual, showing that you're interested in what you're doing and asking questions" (Rita, Year 12).
"Willing to take orders and listening to what they ask you to do....you're trying to impress them for a job...." (Sue, Year 12).
Students quickly learn the right way to behave:
"If the boss tells me to do something, then I have to get it right the first time" (Kim, shop assistant).
"...you have to do the job right, otherwise you get the sack" (James, video interviews).
Watkins points out that students on work experience "take on the posture of ideahsed workers who do not question (the way things are)"( 1982:262). The main effect was therefore to reinforce the dominant hegemony of the workplace (Watkins:1982;252) or in simple
language, the 'realities of the workplace'. As Stronach has argued in Britain, work experience under the MSG represents "a massive state intervention in (youth) socialization" (1984:60).
Students and 'Job Skills'
A second reason for the push behind school-work programs according to Simon is the need to have students develop 'general work attitudes and skills appropriate to the realities of the workplace. Simon argues that these general skills are part of the new vocationahsm which, in the face of widespread deskilling, has given new meaning to the concept of 'social skills'. These have been variously termed 'life skills', 'job skills', 'human relations skills' 'coping' or 'life management skills' and 'social and life skills'. They include 'skills' like the ability to get along with one another, the ability to keep smiling in adversity and other
behaviours required of workers in the personality market (see Chapter 4). What is disturbing about these meanings argues Simon, is the way they have been mystified into the realm of 'skills'. He refers to the work of Gintes and Bowles (1975), who identified five personal attributes that enhanced an individual's abihty to gain employment. These included 'productive affective personality traits', 'proper self-presentation' as well as a number of ascriptive traits. These were said to be part of the hidden curriculum of schools; Simon notes that a decade later schools have become responsible for inculcating 'productive affective personality traits' and 'proper self-presentation' (1983:239). Such traits are no longer hidden and are seen as part of the preparation of students for the 'realities of the workplace', for work in the new teenage workplace of the personality market.
Gleeson has also argued that behavioural objectives associated with life skills training, once part of the hidden curriculum, have now surfaced as the curriculum (1986:382). He