PERSPECTIVES ON CHILD WORK
3.2 SELECTED MEASUREMENT ISSUES
To best be able to provide a measure of child work requires the discussion of an internationally accepted defmition of labour force activity and its implications, hazardous and other worse forms of child work and connecting the domains school, learning, and work.
3.%.1 Work-Force Activities
Defining work-force activities is important since official child work estimates are based on this definition. According to an internationally accepted definition, work-force consists of unemployed and all persons of both sexes who furnish the supply of labour for the production of economic goods and services. Goods and services include all production and processing of primary products, whether for the market, for barter, or for own consumption.
Work-force activity includes self-employment and family work as well as unpaid work. Though children are included in labour activity as they help in family work, there is under-reporting of both child work-force and female work-force (Levison, 1991). A reason is that they are more likely to work part-time and as unpaid family workers.
3.%.% Hazardous and Worse Forms of Child Work
This includes the following types of work: work which exposes children to physical, psychological, or sexual abuse; work underground, under water, at dangerous heights, or in confined spaces; work with dangerous machinery, equipment, and tools, or which involves the manual handling or the transport of heavy loads; work in an unhealthy environment, which for example, exposes children to hazardous substances, agents, or processes or temperatures, noise level, or vibrations damaging to their health; work under particularly difficult conditions such as long hours and during the night or work where the child is unreasonably confined to the premises of the employer (ILO, 1999).
3.%.3 School, Learning, and Work
According Weiner (1991), school is the main alternative to child work. In the rapidly changing technological environment and globalised economy, literacy and
basic mathematics skills are now more important than ever. If one looks at the relationships between school and learning, two contradictions emerge. Firstly, it is usually assumed that school attendance and learning are synonymous. One need not forget the fact that learning in school depends greatly on the quality of the school. Secondly, the returns of education for poor children are often relatively low. The reasons for this are the poor quality of available schools, as well as labour market discriminations.
The issue of poor quality of education is best explained by developmental theories of education. According to reformist theories, many problems are the result of the syllabi that are irrelevant to the specific needs of the poor. There is a paradox created by the shortage of skilled professionals and an increase in the number of educated unemployed (Dejene, 1980). For neoclassical theorists, primary and secondary school systems of developing countries are based on those of wealthy and highly industrialised countries. They often create the expectation that school leavers will be able to get work in the formal sector and yet at the same time the economic system is failing to keep pace with the demands of the formal sector opportunities. According to Bock (1983), formal education is unable to contribute to upward mobility of the poor. There is a low employment rate in the formal sector since labour absorption is low and it has dwindled since 1980 (Mahadea, 2003).
One of the most urgent areas with regard to human capacity building is entrepreneurship. Studies have shown that entrepreneurship in all provinces of South Africa is significantly related to the number of economically active people (Faull, 1990). Schools and other educational institutions should, it is argued, include courses in their syllabi that introduce the culture of entrepreneurship from an early age. This, it is believed, would make education more responsive to the local needs, diversification of supply, including private suppliers to promote competition. This efficiency and diversification of educational practice will enhance individual choice. In the South African context this requires a major
change in the role of the authorities responsible for education (World Bank, 1996).
In developing countries large numbers of school children spend relatively little time in school because they help out on the family business. This phenomenon is not only found in low-income countries. It is also common for children from high- income countries to mix school and work. In the United States, a majority of children have experienced some type of paid work by ages 14 to 15 (Lavallette &
Pratt, 2005). Whether mixing school and work is bad or good depends on the perspective from which one is looking. Two models, the zero-sum perspective (Coleman, 1961) and the developmental perspective (Holland & Andrew, 1987) are offered.
The zero-sum perspective emphasises that work and school do not go together.
Time spent working is time taken away from activities such as homework (Coleman, 1961). The developmental model stresses that working, particularly in the "right" kinds of jobs, may have positive effects on academic achievement.
Increased involvement in the world of work leads to the transmission of academically related skills and knowledge, and that work also teaches and reinforces desirable adult-like traits such as responsibility and maturity that enhance academic outcomes (Holland & Andrew, 1987). When children work, they acquire skills and knowledge to become productive adults and citizens. But when they work excessive hours, their development is impaired since it interferes with school attendance and performance.