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Employed students were asked to rate, on a four point scale, how supportive their current employer had been in helping them do their course. Encouragingly, the majority of students reported that their employer had been very (46%) or quite (32%) supportive. Nevertheless, 12 per cent of students reported that their employer had been not very supportive, and the remaining 9 per cent not at all supportive (Figure 6.5).

Table 6.4 shows the factors associated with students’ rating their employer as very or quite supportive. They are again broadly similar to those factors that determined the level of employer support. Thus, students who rated their employers as very or quite supportive were starters, single students with no children, white, full-time employees, from high or medium income households, studying for a foundation degree or higher national qualification, studying engineering or technology, and not studying at the Open University.

Interestingly, starters were more likely to rate their employers as quite or very supportive than completers, even though there was no evidence from Table 5.3 that employers were more likely to contribute to their fees and no evidence from Table 6.2 that their employers offered them more of other kinds of support.

Table 6.4 Factors associated with having a very or quite supportive employer Factors associated with having a very or

quite supportive employer

Factors associated with having a not very or not at all supportive employer

Starter Completer

Single students with no children Part of couple with children

White Not White

Full-time employee Part-time employee or voluntary worker

Student from high or medium income household

Student from low-income household

Foundation degree or Higher National students

First degree students

Students studying Engineering or technology Students studying Law

Not studying at the Open University Studying at the Open University

Figure 6.5 shows how students’ ratings of their employers vary by some of these key characteristics. Higher National students were the most likely to have reported that their current employer had been very supportive (66%) followed by engineering or technology students (60%). Law students were the least likely to have reported that their current employer had been very supportive (29%) followed by part-time employees (34%).

Figure 6.5 How supportive students rated their current employer, by current economic status, qualification aim and subject

46 49 43 48 34 41 53 66 60 37 29 52 43 32 32 33 32 33 34 31 24 28 37 35 29 34 12 10 15 11 18 14 11 5 7 13 21 11 15 9 9 10 8 16 11 6 5 6 13 15 8 8 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% All Starter Completer Full-time employee Part-time employee First degree Foundation degree Higher National Engineering/technology Social sciences Law Business Education

Per cent of students (N=3067)

Very supportive Quite supportive Not very supportive Not all supportive Base: Students employed full-time, part-time or voluntarily while studying and whose employer knew that they were undertaking a part-time course, excluding missing cases

The relationship between students’ ratings of the supportiveness of their employers and the financial help they received towards their fees and other aid in kind, can be clearly seen in Figures 6.6 and 6.7. Nearly all students who received full employer fee support rated their employers as either very supportive (64%) or quite supportive (28%), with just 2% reporting they were not at all supportive. Ratings for employers providing partial fee support were also high. Again nearly all students’ rated their employers either very supportive (46%) or quite supportive (40%), with just 5% reporting that they were not at all supportive. Even when students received no employer fee support, the majority of students rated their employers either very supportive (31%) or quite supportive (35%). In this case, roughly one-in-six employers (16%) were rated as not at all supportive.

Figure 6.6 How supportive students rated their current employer, by level of employer fee support received 64 46 31 35 7 9 18 2 5 16 28 40 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Full employer fee support Partial employer fee support No employer fee support

Per cent of students (N=3000)

Very supportive Quite supportive Not very supportive Not all supportive Base: Students employed full-time, part-time or voluntarily while studying and whose employer knew that they were undertaking a part-time course, excluding missing cases and students who did not report the sources of funding used to pay for their fees

Source: Futuretrack Part time, 2008

Turning to situations where other forms of employer support were received (Figure 6.7), students who received at least one other form of employer support were much more likely to have reported that their employer was very supportive (63%) than students who received no other forms of employer support (20%). Where other forms of support were available only 2% of students reported that their employers were not at all supportive compared with 19% where no other support was offered.

All forms of other support were valued highly. More than 80% of students who received each of the three forms of other support (paid or unpaid time off work and help with course costs) rated their employers very or quite supportive. Not surprisingly paid time off work to study and money towards course related expenses were related to a higher percentage of students who reported that their employers were very supportive compared with students who received unpaid time off work to study. Students were most likely to have reported that their employer was very supportive when they received money towards course-related expenses (74%) followed by paid time off work to study (68%) and then unpaid time off work to study (45%).

Figure 6.7 How supportive students rated their current employer, by whether other forms of employer support were received and the type of other forms of employer support

63 20 68 46 74 26 36 21 6 21 5 13 4 2 19 2 5 1 39 28 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Received other forms of support No other forms of support

Paid time off work to study Unpaid time off work to study Money towards course-

related expenses

Per cent of students (N=3063)

Very supportive Quite supportive Not very supportive Not all supportive Base: Students employed full-time, part-time or voluntarily while studying and whose employer knew that they were undertaking a part-time course

Source: Futuretrack Part time, 2008

6.6 Conclusions and summary

Employers were fairly supportive of part-time students in their studies. Just under a half (46%) of employed students thought their employer was very supportive in helping them do their course. Nearly a half of them have been given paid time off work to study by their employer, and one in six had received financial help towards their course-related costs. However, just like employers’ financial contributions towards employees’ tuition fees, employers were very selective in terms of in which employees they were willing to invest, and to support both financially and in kind so that their employees could successfully complete their course of study. Those employees most likely to be given paid time off work and help with course-related costs were also the employees most likely to have had their fees paid in full by their employer. For instance, nearly three times as many students whose employer had paid their full tuition fees as students receiving no tuition fee support at all, were also given paid time off work. Consequently, the employees most likely to receive this additional support were some of the most privileged in the labour market – individuals working full-time with high or medium household incomes studying towards vocational qualifications, especially in engineering. Conversely those missing out included some of the most vulnerable in the labour force, part-time employees or those working voluntarily from low-income households taking a First degree and studying education and the Law.

Not surprisingly, the employees most appreciative of their employer, who rated them as very supportive in their studies, were those who had received financial and practical help in the form of: contributions towards their course-related expenses; paid time off work to study, and who had their tuition fees paid in full by their employer.

Detailed findings

Employer awareness of whether their employees were studying

• The vast majority (95%) of students who were working either in paid employment or voluntarily had informed their employer that they were studying part-time.

• The main reasons students had not informed their employer were because - they believed that part-time study was a personal endeavour (26%); and - their course was not relevant to their current work (21%).

Whether study was a job requirement

• For a quarter of students, their current study was a job requirement.

• Those students most likely to say this were younger students, who were male, single, from an ethnic minority, employed full-time or a voluntary worker, aiming for a vocational qualification – a Foundation Degree or Higher National and studying engineering or technology, social sciences and education not at the Open University, once other characteristics were controlled for.

Other forms of employer support

• Over and above financial help with tuition fees, some employers gave their

employees other types of support. The most common form of support was paid time off to study, received by nearly a half of students (47%).

• Students whose employer paid for all their tuition fees also were most likely to be given other forms of employer support.

• The students most likely to get this additional support were single, white, full-time employees, from households with medium and high incomes, studying vocational qualification in Engineering or technology not at the Open University, after taking into account other student characteristics.

• 41% of employees received no other forms of support.

Students’ views on their employers’ support

• 46% of employees thought their employers were very supportive of their studies, and a further 32% thought they were quite supportive.

• Unsurprisingly, students whose employer paid for all their tuition fees were more than twice as likely as those receiving no such help to rate their employers as very supportive.

7 THE BENEFITS OF PART-TIME STUDY 7.1 Introduction

The limited number of existing studies about the economic benefits of part-time study such as an increase in personal income, promotion, and employment opportunities, tend to focus on students once they have graduated and gained their qualification (e.g. Woodley and Simpson 2001; Woodley and Wilson, 2002; Feinstein et al, 2007; Jamieson et al, 2009).  Brennan et al, (1999), however, examined both students and graduates. They found that only a few part-time students saw an increase in their income during their course while others experienced some career progression. These changes were associated with students’ socio- economic characteristics, their reasons for study, employer support, and their subject of study. It is clear from Brennan’s study that the relationship between career improvements of any kind, students’ characteristics and motivations is complex. However, career improvement as a motivation for study was positively associated with career outcomes.

In this chapter, we look at changes that have taken place during the course and as a direct result of studying and expected changes as a direct result of studying, and finally consider student attitudes their course and employers.