Students with part-time jobs could suffer academically, the Minister of State for Education and Science, Mr Willie O'Dea, has warned.
He said he had been concerned for a long time about the possible detrimental impact of part-time work, and international research had confirmed his worst fears. "It shows that even jobs such as mowing the lawn, babysitting and doing a paper round can lower maths and science results."
The study of teenagers in 41 countries, which was presented to the annual conference of the American Sociological Association, had found that both paid and unpaid work lowered children's educational achievements, said Mr O'Dea.
"The findings showed that boys who did not work performed 10 per cent better than those who did regular manual or clerical work and 5 per cent better than those who did occasional work such as babysitting.
"Girls doing odd jobs performed 2 per cent below those who had no part-time employment."
He said some students had to get part-time jobs for financial reasons, but many teenagers were working to acquire the latest CD or fashion accessory. Meanwhile, IBEC's assistant director of social policy, Mr Padraig O'Grady, has expressed concern at the drop-out rate in third-level colleges which, he said, was running at an average of 21 per cent. Non-completion rates in universities was 9 per cent and 33 per cent in institutes of technology.
"This haemorrhage of one in five dropouts - some 6,500 of last year's first-year students will not complete their course - has major consequences for maximising the capacity of the education institutions, the economy and, not least, the individuals who unnecessarily endure the personal stigma of failure at the threshold of their lives."
Mr O'Grady said lack of knowledge about the course undertaken and a poor appreciation of what third-level study involved were key reasons for the high drop-out rate.
He added that the "forced hothouse" approach and cramming-type mentality of the Leaving Certificate culture militated against the cultivation of attitudes which promoted quality of work and pride in a job well done.
