"It was great!... I worked in different departments helping the lab assistants."
Did it help you decide on a career?
"Yes. I found out what uni subjects I'd need to do... To do a science degree I'd need to be in the top 40 per cent."
One can only speculate if working in the botany laboratory did actually make any difference to Rita's school work. She did say her chemistry made more sense although her grades remained the same. More importandy, her final Year 12 tertiary score of 562 (top 37 per cent) will qualify her for a place in the ANU's science faculty. Work experience may have contributed the crucial three per cent needed for tertiary entrance but there is no evidence, except in the geography course, that her grades improved in the second year following work experience. What can be safely concluded about students like Mandy and Rita is that work experience in school-related disciplines made a difference to the way they perceived their school work. Social-educational values were also mentioned explicitly as the most important outcome by two students, and by several others as secondary outcomes. Some examples:
"I sort of had doubts that I could do a job like that (youth worker)...doing the camp proved that I could... "(Ann)
"I never realised how many motorbikes were involved in accidents. It made me think, being a bike rider myself (James, video interviews).
Work experience in good jobs with career prospects generally gave students useful vocational knowledge; motivational and social-educational outcomes were less important for work experience students. For part-time workers, however, it was often the social-
educational and'motivational outcomes that were most important; for example, learning about adult practices, the difference between good and bad jobs, stigma and conflict were mentioned more frequendy, than vocational concepts. Much of what students learn in the secondary labour market is incidental since they do not expect to get anything other than money out of the work. Virtually all of the students discussed their part-time jobs in terms of extrinsic satisfactions, while their unpaid work experience placements were described as intrinsically satisfying. Several students explained how they enjoyed working through their lunch hours and the idea of payment was never mentioned by any of the 21 students. On the other hand, it is rare to find a part-time worker who would be prepared to do the job for nothing. It is clear that the paid jobs available to school students are typically deadend, while in Canberra at least, the jobs provided by work experience employers are in the main
desirable ones in the primary labour market.
Not surprisingly, student evaluations reflect these differences between good and bad jobs. As mentioned earlier, students are typically positive in their evaluations of their work experience placements. When negative comments are made, they usually refer to jobs in the secondary labour market. In a recent study by Shilling (1987), for example, of the 24 fourth
year students on a week's work experience, half were negative while of the remaining half, seven were positive and five neutral. Negative comments related to either unsatisfactory social relations at work or the labour process itself. The examples quoted by Shilling as representative of negative experiences were in retail, a butchery, a hotel and catering firm, and a carpet fitting and laying business. Positive evaluations, on the other hand, came from students working in more up-market placements which included a nursery, a computer store, a secretary's office and a building maintenance firm. Evaluations in the present sample confirm that when the jobs are perceived as good and when the quality of contact they have with adults is high, the students' evaluations are positive.
Herein lies the potential for work experience programs to provide the basis for critical reflection by students of the world of work. Watkins accepts that while work experience has become part of the conservative educational mainstream, "...it still involves contradictory elements through which contestation might develop" (1982:ii) Similarly, Simon (1983) in Canada and Shilling (1987) in the UK have suggested the counter-hegemonic potential of work experience. Shilling argues that the unsatisfactory conditions encountered by several students in his sample during work experience are likely to be the same conditions they will experience as full-time workers in the secondary labour market (1987:417). Of the 24 students in Shilling's sample, eight rejected the area of work they had previously considered for a full-time job after their exposure to the jobs during work experience. Shilling points out that the students did not reject the validity of work experience as an extracurricular activity. Indeed, for these students, the insights gained during their placements were probably the most useful knowledge they acquired during their secondary schooling.
In the present sample, only four students changed their minds as a result of the week's work experience; none had done so because of any bad experiences they had during the placement. The absence of conflict for the Stirling College students does not mean that their work experience was unproblematic or that they would not benefit from the 'critical
reflection' advocated by Cole (1981), Simon (1983), Shilling (1987) and Watkins (1982, 1987). The fact that work experience is recognised as a legitimate educational activity and has been domesticated as part of the conservative mainstream is itself problematic. For Stirling College students, work experience has these characteristics. As work experience placements are predominantly in the primary labour market, the question must be posed as to whether the students are being 'prepared' for work quite different from that which they are likely to experience as full-time workers. It is true that the majority of these 21 students aspire to careers related to their work experience placements in the primary labour market. It is equally true as shown in Chapter 7 with the class of '82, that school leavers with a Year 12 certificate are not guaranteed jobs in the primary labour market unless they are prepared to continue their education at tertiary level. The alternative is underemployment in deadend jobs or unemployment.