Rights that apply to every worker still stand. Today adds the extra layer that applies while you are still under 18: age categories, hours, night work, and the records your employer must keep.

You will work three workplace scenarios, check where current figures live, and leave with a clear Young Worker Rights note on what protects you and what you would do if those protections were ignored.

Three terms you need before the scenarios. Read the middle column carefully: it is what each one means for a real under-18 job, not a definition to recite.

Exact hour and night-work cut-offs are updated over time. Treat the type of protection as fixed, and the current number as something you look up when you need it.

Part A (about 20 minutes): scenario cards as discussion warm-up only. Work the three cards first. For each one, choose an option, then say out loud (or jot) the first message or conversation you would actually use before treating any option as settled. Argue sequence, not a single tidy letter. Two stronger moves can both be valid depending on order (check the current rules, then refuse; raise it on the floor, then get advice outside). Notice which protections only exist because the person is under 18.

After the three cards, take the whole-class close: the durable moves are check current rules, name the age-based protection, and get advice outside the person who wrote the rota. Absorbing a breach so you seem easy-going is not a plan. Citizens Information and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) are the named next steps when you need today's figure or the breach continues.

Part B (about 3–4 minutes): current-source check. On Citizens Information (or the current summary your teacher projects), capture the types of under-18 limit that apply and today's figures as “checked on [today's date]”. Figures change; do not treat any number as permanent course content.

Part C (about 15 minutes): portfolio write-up. Create (or open if you already have it) a document titled Young Worker Rights in your Strand 1.2 portfolio folder. Use a doc or notes entry: half a page of continuous prose or clear subheadings. This keeps workplace-rights evidence for your Digital Portfolio and later Portfolio in Action work on rights at work.

Write covering:

• the age category that applies to you now (or applied until recently): child worker (usually 14–15) or young person (usually 16–17)
• the main protection types that matter for that category: hours limits, night-work restrictions, term-time rules, and employer record-keeping, plus the current figures you just checked (dated)
• one realistic breach you might see (hours, late finish, missing age records, or pressure to ignore a limit)
• your response plan: who you would ask other than the manager who wrote the rota, the exact first message or conversation you would use, and when you would escalate beyond the workplace (Citizens Information for the current rule; Workplace Relations Commission if the breach continues)

Checklist before you stop: age category · two protection types · realistic breach · first message · who outside the manager · escalate where

Write it as advice you could hand to a friend in the same job. Vague courage does not count; name the first message or conversation.

With the person beside you, spend three or four minutes on one weak line in your Young Worker Rights document. Swap it for a concrete first message, or add a one-sentence push-back script you could use with a supervisor without burning the job on the spot.

Then use the remaining time for a silent edit so every checklist item is present and specific: age category, two protection types, realistic breach, first message, who outside the manager, and where you would escalate.

• Under-18 workers sit in age categories (commonly child workers 14–15 and young persons 16–17) with extra protections beyond universal employment rights
• Those protections cover maximum hours, night-work limits, tighter term-time rules, and employer duties to keep age and working-time records under the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act
• Exact figures change, so you check a current source such as Citizens Information rather than relying on memory or a manager's version
• If a protection is breached, your first move is evidence and advice outside the person who caused the problem; continued breaches can go to the Workplace Relations Commission
• Your portfolio now holds a Young Worker Rights note naming the protection types that apply to you and the response you would use