But John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh said having a part-time job was acceptable only if students limited the number of hours they worked.
"Some of our students are working more than 25 hours a week which impacts the commitment they have to their study."
Mr Walsh said students should not work more than 10 hours a week and should be at least 16 before they considered getting a part-time job. "There are some employers who put pressure on students to work, even when they are studying for NCEA. It is short-sighted of students and their parents to put a part-time job ahead of their education.
"Parents need to set restrictions as to how much their child works while at school to ensure their education remains the first priority."
Rotorua Lakes High School principal Bruce Walker said it was common for his students to have part-time jobs. "I agree with the study released as long as the students are not working too many hours."
Mr Walker said some students were trying to work close to fulltime hours and it was up to parents to monitor how much their child worked. "There are a lot of benefits for students to have part-time jobs because they learn real-world lessons, but this needs to be in moderation."
Chamber chief executive Darrin Walsh said several Rotorua employers hired school students for part-time work.
"I think it's great. It gives them a sense of earning some money and working for their money, and instills some discipline for when they do leave school and go out and work."
Juggling work commitments with school commitments taught students valuable skills about how to manage a work-life balance, he said.
Secondary Principals' Association president Tom Parsons said a part-time job was not always a positive move for a student. "Many of the kids that do the part-time work, do the part-time work not to put butter on the bread, but to put bread in the house."
Secondary school students were not allowed to do paid work during school hours, he said. "Principals like myself have enforced this before where kids have been caught - sometimes at the parents' behest - trying to leave school early [for work] or come late because they've slept in because they've been working until 10 or 11 o'clock at night.
"But it's pretty rare."
Most parents recognised children needed education to get a good job later in life, rather than cut school for a part-time job.
The Dunedin study, which appears in the Journal of Adolescent Health, tracked the participants up to age 32.
Out of the participants, just over 5 per cent did part-time work at age 11, while 26 per cent and 42 per cent worked part-time at ages 13 and 15, respectively.
The study's lead author, Dr Ella Iosua, said participants who had part-time jobs between 11 and 15 years were not more likely to suffer negative outcomes in psychological well-being or academic qualifications by age 32. Part-time work did not make them more likely to smoke, drink alcohol excessively, or regularly use cannabis in adulthood.
The study findings supported the Government's position that children were adequately protected by current legislation, she said. "Our findings can help provide reassurance that moderate part-time work is unlikely to be detrimental in countries like New Zealand."
However, she cautioned that might not apply to long hours of work or unsafe working conditions in societies with lower levels of child protection.
