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

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From Leaving Certificate to Leaving School
students, who generally view sixth year as ‘about the same’ as fifth year.
The time spent on homework is significant among sixth years, with four
in ten female students and three in ten males spending four or more
hours per night. The majority of sixth years report finding it difficult to
balance time spent on homework and study. Homework and study are
not the only investment of time, with just under half of sixth year students
taking private tuition (‘grinds’) outside school, a pattern which is
sharply differentiated by social class background.
Sixth year students see the Leaving Certificate as a very high stakes
exam for them, with significant implications for the pathways open to
them upon leaving school. As a result, students reported significant levels
of stress at the time of the survey (January of sixth year), with many
feeling ‘constantly under strain’; stress levels were much higher among
female than male students, a result in keeping with previous Irish research
in the 1990s (Hannan et al., 1996). Students saw stress as reflecting
the constant reminders from teachers about the impending exams,
their parents’ expectations and, most importantly, their own desire to do
well in the exams. The detailed content of many Leaving Certificate subjects
and the concern that they had not ‘finished’ the course in all subjects
fuelled this feeling that there was ‘too little time’ in which to prepare.
Feeling under pressure to combine studying with a significant
amount of homework, many students reported curtailing extracurricular
and social activities in sixth year, further exacerbating the ‘hot-house’
climate of exam preparation. Sixth year involves not only preparation for
the Leaving Certificate exam but being faced with making decisions
about post-school pathways. The decision-making process itself appears
to influence stress levels, with students who consider it too early to decide
what to do with the rest of their lives reporting greater strain.
While stress levels undoubtedly reflect the myriad factors at play in
individual students’ lives, certain aspects of the school context are found
to exacerbate or ameliorate stress. Student stress levels are lower where
students experience positive interaction with teachers, where they are
happier about the subjects they have chosen and where they participate
in extracurricular sports. Conversely, their stress levels are higher where
they were being bullied by their peers, where they have been in serious
trouble for misbehaviour (being suspended), and when they would like