‘Trying to keep up’: The experience of combining full-time VET with work

Author: Michelle Morris: Student Services, TAFE SA Regency Campus

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary: Maintaining a healthy work-life relationship is important for the health and wellbeing of individuals and families. This is also true for students studying in vocational education and training(VET) who face increasing pressure to combine study and work. The intersecting commitments of work, life and study create a range of demands for individuals, which, in turn, impede work-life satisfaction. Time and money have been shown to be the biggest factors affecting people who combine work and VET – particularly for workers in low-income jobs, which constitute the biggest employment source for VET students. Data from a research project at TAFESA indicates that working students experience high levels of stress, time strain and interference with activities outside work/ TAFE. The work life outcomes for full-time students are significantly worse than outcomes for workers in the general population.

Keywords: full-time, work-life, balance, VET, research, TAFESA

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.