From Leaving CertiFiCate to Leaving SChooL a Longitudinal Study ...

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From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School
They felt that this ‘emotional pressure’ resulted in increased cases of
‘eating disorders … bulimia, anorexia, certainly depression’ at the school
(Fig Lane, staff, coed school, middle-class intake).
Other teachers, however, felt that stress was ‘needed, you know, to
motivate them to achieve’ (Argyle Street, coed school, mixed intake) and
that students would have to learn how to manage stress to prepare for life
after school:
We can’t avoid stress all the time, you know, I think there’s far too
much hype about the stress for Leaving Cert … as I say you have to
learn to take it in your stride. You know there’s going to be a lot
more obstacles and most of them are going to go to university and
they’ll have to do exams as well. (Harris Street, staff, girls’ school,
middle-class intake)
In Lang Street, a working-class school which had used streaming at junior
cycle level, one teacher associated stress with the ‘better students’
and thought that those taking ordinary or foundation subject levels would
be less likely to suffer from stress:
I wouldn’t think now you’d find too many of those students stressed,
especially the lower half … I suppose behind the scenes, with some
of the better students, there could be stress, but it wouldn’t manifest
itself on a daily basis here certainly. (Lang Street, staff, boys’ school,
working-class intake)
One teacher from Park Street, a socially mixed school, felt that some
students, particularly those who ‘wouldn’t have strong social backgrounds’,
can become de-motivated by stress in sixth year and rather
than motivating them, it negatively impacts on their work rate:
Some of them become de-motivated, the stress affects them and they
become de-motivated and instead of actually increasing their work
rate, it tends to go the other way. Kids that are, say, wouldn’t have
strong social backgrounds support at home, it can be a huge problem.
(Park Street, staff, boys’ school, mixed intake)
Similarly in Lang Street, one staff member felt that the pressure of the
exams was getting to some of the students, particularly given the difficult
‘family problems’ at home: