Is a 16 year old allowed to miss school for induction days for a part-time job?

saintjammyswine

The difference now is the raising of the participation age from 16 to 17 means it is now compulsory that he is in education. It would be best to speak to the school before anyone else about this to get their take on it. Weekend working at 16 is fine with this but not during the week (AFAIK)

agrinnall

I don't understand why you would need 3 full days training to work weekends in M&S stacking shelves and (maybe) working a till. It's not a high skill job, half a day would be more than enough.

saintjammyswine

agrinnall wrote: »

I don't understand why you would need 3 full days training to work weekends in M&S stacking shelves and (maybe) working a till. It's not a high skill job, half a day would be more than enough.

M&S induction is not about training for stacking shelves, it is more about the legalities (H&S, theft policies etc.), store orientation and the M&S policies, procedures & ethos.

It is very in depth and does take a few days to cover.

Southend1

agrinnall wrote: »

I don't understand why you would need 3 full days training to work weekends in M&S stacking shelves and (maybe) working a till. It's not a high skill job, half a day would be more than enough.

Bet you'd be quick enough to complain if you encountered a poorly trained member of staff in one of their stores though!

rach_k

It wasn't allowed at my college (going back a few years but I can't imagine it'll have changed to be more laid back since then!). It was accepted that students would work but rules stated that we couldn't work more than 9 hours a week and it mustn't affect study. Taking time off for work would probably count as affecting study!

Honestly, do you want your child working for an employer who insists a student takes time off school, for any reason? What will it be next, "You need to work on Wednesday because we're short staffed"? If they're insisting on time off already, I don't think that bodes very well.

Could your son apply somewhere else? At college I worked in WHSmith and it was great. Most of the weekend staff were in college and all training was done at the weekend or evening.

Southend1

rach_k wrote: »

It wasn't allowed at my college (going back a few years but I can't imagine it'll have changed to be more laid back since then!). It was accepted that students would work but rules stated that we couldn't work more than 9 hours a week and it mustn't affect study. Taking time off for work would probably count as affecting study!

Honestly, do you want your child working for an employer who insists a student takes time off school, for any reason? What will it be next, "You need to work on Wednesday because we're short staffed"? If they're insisting on time off already, I don't think that bodes very well.

Could your son apply somewhere else? At college I worked in WHSmith and it was great. Most of the weekend staff were in college and all training was done at the weekend or evening.

But it's not school is it? It's further education.

scooby088

OP I would ask at the school to see if it's ok for your son to attend, I would have thought this was the first thing your son would've asked.

saintjammyswine

Southend1 wrote: »

But it's not school is it? It's further education.

Sort of. Sixth form colleges are different to FE Colleges and the participation age has been raised to 17 from 16, to be 18 from 2015.

Southend1

saintjammyswine wrote: »

Sort of. Sixth form colleges are different to FE Colleges and the participation age has been raised to 17 from 16, to be 18 from 2015.

Seems to me the participation age is only being changed to hide youth unemployment. Post 16 education isn't suitable or necessary for all. The lad is old enough to make a reasoned decision about this by himself and inform the principal if he decides it's more beneficial for him to undergo the three days of training than spend that time in the classroom.

paddedjohn

OP, there are a few people here that are poo pooing the idea that your son should take a couple of days off to get training but even if this job only lasts a few months at least he is getting out into the real world and learning something useful (yes schools useful but how much of it actually gets used in normal day to day life) at the end of the day the 3 days training is a 1 off and he can return to his normal studies the following week knowing he has his foot on the employment ladder. Good luck to him I say.