Peer-reviewed article
Links Between Education and Child Labour
Anna Orrnert ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This report examines the relationship between child labour and education globally, noting that approximately 152 million children were engaged in child labour in 2016. It explores different perspectives on whether child labour and education are compatible, including how work can interfere with schooling but also potentially enable learning. The report reviews evidence on education as a prevention and exit tool for child labour, as well as how poor quality education may push children into work. It is part of a two-part series examining both the links between education and child labour and the impacts of education interventions for working children.
Key points
- Approximately 152 million children were engaged in child labour globally in 2016
- Child labour is defined by the ILO as work detrimental to children that deprives them of childhood, potential and dignity
- Work often interferes with formal education by preventing school attendance, causing dropout, or creating competing pressures
- There is debate over whether all children's work is harmful; some argue certain work can be compatible with education and learning
- The report examines education as both a tool for preventing child labour and a factor that, when poor quality, may push children into work
Limitations
The document is a literature review abstract and does not present primary data or specific research findings on intervention effectiveness. It explicitly notes it is part of a two-part series, so detailed evidence on education intervention impacts is deferred to the second report.
Abstract
According to recent estimates, approximately 152 million children were engaged in child labour globally in 2016 (ILO 2017a: 5). There are many forms of children's work, involving different levels of demand and danger. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines child labour as work that is detrimental to children, by depriving them of their childhood, their potential and their dignity. Children's work is sometimes distinguished as being hazardous or more benign (e.g., safe and does not undermine schooling), although this distinction is not relevant in all contexts. In some cases, children's work has the potential for both benefit and harm, and assessing harm and benefit in each context may be more useful than applying generalised standards. The worst forms of child labour (as defined by ILO Convention No. 182) are out of scope for this review. In many cases, work interferes with children's formal education by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; forcing them to drop out prematurely; or requiring them to balance the competing pressures of schooling and work. Since the launch of the global Education for All (EFA) movement, education is often understood to mean formal schooling. However, this definition excludes non-traditional and informal spaces of learning, as well as significant forms of learning that happen in the workplace. Many children's rights organisations and anti-child labour campaigns believe that child labour and education are incompatible, that children's work is an obstacle to EFA, that child labour should be abolished and that education is a key element in its prevention. With regards to hazardous child labour, this view is widely accepted. However, there is a counterview which argues that not all children's work is bad, that children's labour can be compatible with education and learning and that work can actually enable education. This study examines evidence on the links between child labour and education, including the use of education as a tool to bring children out of child labour, poor quality education pushing children out of the classroom and into work, as well as on children who combine work and school. It is one of a two-part series of reports. The second report examines the evidence on short- and long-term impacts of education interventions targeting working children.