ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the rise of the student-worker within the context of British higher education (HE). The full-time students may undertake casual work or agency work. The key point is that the student-worker is a full-time student. These students may be following complex work patterns: combining term-time, with vacation and forms of casual/agency work. The chapter outlines the forces making for an increase in research and writing on student labour over the last 10 years. It presents a research that points to the rise of the student-worker over a slightly longer time period. The chapter explores some of the tensions created in the lives of student-workers. For those students who have to work to get through their HE courses, the levels of risk, stress and role conflict can be severe. A compact for higher education attempts to reconcile the diverse interests involved in HE.
