Hi all

I have a student who has been studying adult nursing and the school is now putting him through fitness to practice proceedings because they discovered he was working more than 15 hours a week externally (for a hospital as a health care assistant).

He’s a mature student, who receives a bursary of just over £650 a month, and supports his family with this.  He is in his second year of study for his diploma.

 

The regulations are contained within a 113 page handbook and say that students should work a maximum of 15 hours a week for bank/agencies and that they should ensure this doesn’t affect his studies.

 

I’m really keen to support this student to be able to continue his studies and wondered if anyone had any thoughts that could help.

 

·         My initial thoughts are that as a mature student he has financial obligations that are different to younger students.

·         The regulations only mention paid work, but unpaid work (either volunteering, or care giving is exempt) – therefore mothers (or fathers) who are caring for four children and working 14 hours a week AND studying are not a subject to fitness to practice, even though they may be actually working more hours than my student.

·         Other students may be more tired than he is – due to social life, other life circumstances – perhaps it’s unfair to consider work as the sole issue to do with ability to complete study (and I presume the safety of the patients he works with in his placements).

·         His studies have not been affected – he has passed everything and even achieved grades of 80% plus occasionally.

·         When he found out in January that he had been overworking, he stopped immediately and has not worked more than 15 hours a week since then.

 

Our school of Health tends not be very flexible about such matters, though I’m hoping they might in this occasion as he is a high achieving student with a lot of experience in his home country of Nigeria.

 

If anyone can suggest any grounds we could contest the regulation on it would be most helpful. I’m wondering whether indirect discrimination on the grounds of age is a way we could go, based on his life situation as a mature student.

 

Kirsteen Coupar

Equality and Diversity Manager

Flat 40B, Catherine of Aragon Court

Southwood Site

Avery Hill Campus

University of Greenwich

Eltham

London SE9 2UG

 

Direct line: 020 8331 8817

 

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