CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background To The Study

Part time work is increasing among students. In many communities’ students are involved in part time employment during their school years. This increase of student’s part time employment has caused many educators, as well as parents to investigate on this matter. Educators and parents often ask themselves if part time work adversely affect academic performance.

The diversification of students profiles as a result of educational expansion over the last decades is translated to both the socio demographic characteristics of the students and to the strategies they adopt to meet the challenges of the university experience. Some studies point to characteristics like gender, age, the socioeconomic background of the family and ethnicity as the factors that contribute most to this heterogeneities of student profiles on an individual level (Ariño,2008) Some of these characteristics translate to new ways of understanding the university experience and, as a consequence, to new ways of articulating and combining academic studies with other experiences or responsibilities. One of the most characteristic of these student’s responsibilities of working while studying.

It is important to know why students decide to work and study at the same time and whether or not certain specific groups with more difficulties are most affected or if this is a general practice among all university students (Bean & Metzner, 1985). One of the principal explanations for this phenomenon is that students need to combine work and study to meet the expense of a university degree and therefore, those with less financial resources are most affected. Thus, young people from less privileged backgrounds work more hours and they do so out of financial need and poverty, while those from more privileged backgrounds work but less intensely, and they do so because they choose to and because they are seeking financial independence (Hovdhaugen, 2013; Triventi, 2014).

There are several reasons that drive tertiary students to have part time employment. Most of the students think that their study costs are higher than that they expected. Parents feel stressful to pay the expensive tuition fees and other living costs. Thus, they try to find ways to finance their own studies and to save money. They are mainly employed in the hospitality or retail industries which have high staff turnover. Part time work for students has advantages as well as disadvantages. Understanding the positive and negative consequences of taking a part time job is important for students.

Studies show that students who have study time employment do better in study and score better academic results than other students who do not work. Part time job could bring extra income and help university students to gain working experience. The most important part is skillset, such as working in an industry is a good way to improve communication skills, teamwork skills and learn about time management.

Students also have chance to meet new friends. But students may feel sleepy and reduce time from study, thus it is a real challenge to balance between part time job and study. Some students may feel hard to complete assessment and be absent from class. It is essential that students should have a reasonable number of working hours and try their best to balance between work and study related responsibilities.

The reason of what prompted students to take on a part-time job while they are still at school has been investigated in numbers of previous research studies and have revealed various overlapping reasons. The wish to earned money was the most widely cited reason (Bentley & O’Neil,1984).

The second reason was the desire for independence, this could be seen as financial independence has been a target to many students, although it could also mean from a student perspective as increase personal autonomy, gain as a result of spending time away from the normal constrains of family and school.

The third reason for working and schooling by students was the long-term effect that they aspire to get. Students who pick up part-time jobs together with studies are anxious to gain experience that will help them in the future, particularly in getting a job (Nolan & Haen, 1989). Such experience only rarely involves specific technical skills pertaining to the job, provided them with the opportunity to develop a range of social and personal skills, such as communication skills and self-confidence through working, dealing with other people, a sense of competence, responsibility of going to work on time and carrying out designated task (Coventry et al1984).

The kind of jobs that students do while studying are: Library Assistant, library jobs are one of the most convenient jobs to have as a student because of their relatively high pay and no-campus location, dorm receptionist/security monitor, research assistant, campus tour guide, research study participant, resident advisor in the dorms, cafeteria worker, boutique sales associate, customer service in a book shop, bike shop mechanic and riding of bike, photographer, after school teacher/tutor, ice cream scooper, sales associate at a gourmet food shop, host or server at a restaurant, juice maker, bar attender, catering staff, food truck staff, cashier, social media manager, administrative assistant, marketing and sales intern, blogger, graphic designer, software engineering intern, artisan, child and senior care, errands and cleaning, fast food attendant, retail sales associate, car washer, temporary staffing work.

There are reasons why students get a part time job: Poverty is one of the major reasons while students pick up part time jobs. Young people from less privileged backgrounds work more hours and they do so out of financial need and poverty this is to meet the expense of a university degree. Students do take part time work because it fosters an appreciation of money and a growing independence, it helps students to learn new or improve on their skills, it teaches self-discipline, it improves self-confidence, it is good for self-esteem, it opens up opportunities

1.2 Statement Of The Problem

Students involve in part time jobs for various reasons. The reason of what prompted students to take on a part-time job while they are still at school has been investigated in numbers of previous research studies and have revealed various overlapping reasons: Poverty is one of the major reasons while students pick up part time jobs.

Young people from less privileged backgrounds work more hours and they do so out of financial need and poverty this is to meet the expense of a university degree. The wish to earned money was the most widely cited reason (Bentley & O’Neil,1984). The second reason was the desire for independence, this could be seen as financial independence has been a target to many students, although it could also mean from a student perspective as increase personal autonomy, gain as a result of spending time away from the normal constrains of family and school.

The third reason for working and schooling by students was the long-term effect that they aspire to get. Students who pick up part-time jobs together with studies are anxious to gain experience that will help them in the future, particularly in getting a job (Nolan & Haen, 1989).

Based on the research of Manthei and Gilmore (2005), for instance, considered that working part-time leaves less desired time to study. Also Jogaratnam and Buchanan (2004), specified that students who choose to do part-time job while having full-time academic work load were most likely to suffer from stress, sleep deprivation and sthey have little or no time for leisure.

As many studies suggested, indeed a combination of full-time studying and part-time working can cause a damaging effect on the physical and mental health of students. It can create a negative impact on academic performance (Hovdhaugen, 2015). In the study of Curtis and shani (2002), they believed that students who are working part-time will most likely miss lectures with a lot of lessons to catch and feel that they could achieve higher grades had they not been working.

Such experience only rarely involves specific technical skills pertaining to the job, provided them with the opportunity to develop a range of social and personal skills, such as communication skills and self-confidence through working, dealing with other people, a sense of competence, responsibility of going to work on time and carrying out designated task (Coventry et al1984)

According to Steinberg et al. (1981), engaging students in part-time and some full-time employment is progressively a common phenomenon everywhere. Working while studying provides students with quite naturally an indication of the requirements that will be needed to function effectively in one’s later career (Schill, 1985). In recent years, further studies found that students who are working part-time can easily develop team cooperation, customer care, communication and skills (Lucas, 1998). Students can have the prospect to directly relate the experiences of working part-time to enhance and refine their academic knowledge, motivation and employment prospects (Curtis & Shani, 2002).

From the perspective of students themselves, part-time work is often an introduction to the real world which will assist them both in personal and career development especially in the higher education sector (Tymon 2013). Part time job most at times affect the performance of students. Notwithstanding benefits of part time work often means cuts in hours of study. This study therefore Seeks To Examine The Effects Of Part Time Work On Students’ Academic Performance.

1.3 Objectives Of The Study

This study therefore seeks to examine the effects of part time work on students’ academic performance.

1.3.1 General Objective

The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of part time work on students’ academic performance in the University of Buea.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of this study include the following:

1. To identify the demographic characteristics of respondents
2. To examine motives or reasons for students’ involvement in part time work.
3. To identify the types of part-time work done by students
4. To examine the challenges that students face as a result of merging part-time work and their studies
5. To examine the benefits of part-time work to students, their parents and the community
6. To examine the implication of part-time work on students’ academic performance.

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