Student Stress and the Leaving Certificate. ESRI Research Bulletin 2015/2/7

Banks, Joanne and Smyth, Emer (2015) Student Stress and the Leaving Certificate. ESRI Research Bulletin 2015/2/7. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

We examined academic stress among Irish sixth year students in the months leading up to the Leaving Certificate exam. The research was based on survey and interview data from the Post-Primary Longitudinal Study, involving 900 students across 12 case-study schools. We found that students themselves placed enormous weight on their performance in the exam and that stress was often linked to fears of not achieving academic goals. The role of Leaving Certificate results in deciding entry to higher education means that students see it as a crucial influence on subsequent life chances, with some believing that ‘their whole life depends on it’.

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