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

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226 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
Conclusions 227 (but do not receive) additional help with their schoolwork. While interviews with key school personnel indicate an awareness of exam-related stress, teachers are not perhaps aware of the high levels of stress among some students and of the potential for schools to help reduce these levels. 7.2.4 Leaving Certificate Performance The case-study schools are found to differ significantly in their Leaving Certificate exam performance, with students attending working-class schools achieving lower grades than those in mixed or middle-class schools. While prior differences in terms of social class and reading/numeracy levels at intake are predictive of longer term performance, certain aspects of school organisation and process emerge as crucial in shaping student outcomes. Leaving Certificate performance reflects engagement over the span of second-level education, with junior cycle experiences having a key influence on later achievement. In particular, second year experiences are found to set the tone for student engagement with learning. Many students find the new subjects in first year demanding and the transition process involves a certain degree of turbulence for most. Those who still have difficulties coping with their schoolwork in second year go on to achieve lower grades subsequently. At this stage in the schooling career, certain students, particularly male and working-class students, appear to disengage from school, with a cycle emerging of negative teacherstudent interaction and student misbehaviour. These students underperform academically at Junior Certificate level and do not regain the ground lost when they reach senior cycle. Earlier findings from the Post-Primary Longitudinal Study have shown the significant effects of ability grouping on student outcomes (Smyth et al., 2006, 2007; Byrne and Smyth, 2010). Students allocated to lower stream classes on entry to first year become more disengaged with school than other students and achieve lower Junior Certificate exam grades, even controlling for their initial ability levels. Students from lower stream classes are also more likely to drop out of school than other students, all else being equal. Furthermore, being allocated to a higher stream class is found to have no net benefit to students in terms of
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The Economic and Social Research In
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FROM LEAVING CERTIFICATE TO LEAVING
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CONTENTS List of Tables and Figures
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Contents vii 5.3.3 Always Wanted to
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x From Leaving Certificate to Leavi
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xii From Leaving Certificate to Lea
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction Curr
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Executive Summary xvii centrate on
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Executive Summary xix to higher edu
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Executive Summary xxi Such a focus
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2 From Leaving Certificate to Leavi
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10 From Leaving Certificate to Leav
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Chapter Two CURRICULUM, TEACHING AN
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Chapter Four LEAVING CERTIFICATE EX
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100 From Leaving Certificate to Lea
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Chapter Five GUIDANCE AND DECISION-
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Page 263 and 264: REFERENCES Airasian, P.W. and Madau
Page 265 and 266: References 241 Grodsky, E., Warren,
Page 267 and 268: References 243 Mickelson, R.A. (199
Page 269 and 270: References 245 Smyth, E. and Calver
Page 271: Current debates about senior cycle
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