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Abstract
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International standards on children's work generally assume that work is incompatible with schooling and hinders human capital formation. These standards are based on ideals which have matured in high-income countries, and are not necessarily appropriate for children everywhere.
This article challenges the dichotomy between work and learning in children's lives. In practice, many children successfully combine work and school. Their work often comprises an important contribution to their families, and contributes to children's status within them; in some cases, work contributes to schooling by improving nutrition and meeting school-related expenses. More important is the contribution of work to a child's development: children learn life skills through work; such learning can sometimes be more important than the learning provided by available schooling, which is often of poor quality and has limited relevance to their situation. Exclusive attention to protection from exploitative work can damage opportunities for deprived children, and can denigrate the efforts of children to improve their lives and those of their families. For international agreements on child protection to be effective, they should be applied on the basis of children's best interests, understood in the context of local resources and conditions, particularly in the light of children's experiences. Academic research should place priority on learning from the children themselves how to understand and improve their lives. |