A year of living dangerously?

Dermot Curran, the principal of Kilkenny CBS, sees a difficult year ahead for his Leaving Cert students. They have already lost eight days of school as a result of the ASTI's industrial action.

"It has been hard to maintain continuity this year. The boys have been left to their own devices a lot of the time," he says.

The sixth years have been very supportive of the teachers' claims, says Curran, but he is "very aware" of the difficulties of unsupervised home study. "Lads have a threshold of study time and beyond that they find it very difficult to motivate themselves to do the extra."

The boys in Kilkenny CBS have really felt the impact of the ASTI action and have strong opinions on how it has affected their school work and relationships with their teachers.

"At first it was a novelty, now it's a disaster," says Niall Bergan. "You're never going to do the same amount at home as you would in school."

"It has spiralled out of control," says John Loughman, "and if it keeps going, we're going to be in real trouble because if you're at home and you don't understand something you can't ask the book." Niall agrees: "You definitely learn more in class than on your own."

Niall is becoming increasingly worried about missing out on particular subjects. "I haven't had double French in two weeks, and the way it's looking, I might not have a maths class for the next month."

The boys feel there is a danger of the students loosing respect for the teachers. "When you see your geography teacher standing outside the school holding a placard, it's demeaning," says Peter Ryan.

Toby Tallent is frustrated by the lack of talks between the ASTI and the Government and the irregular format the strike has taken. "I would rather an all-out strike it would be less disruptive than having a weekend in the middle of the week." Toby aims to study electrical engineering in UCC and knows he will have to work hard. "At the moment, I'm doing about two-and-a-half hours' study every night, but I know that will have to increase." Dermot Cantwell wants to study either agricultural science or forestry in Waterford or UCD. His points target is "manageable" he says - and it is up to himself to get there. "Your teachers can help you along, but it's your choice to do homework and to study."

Andrew Malone is keeping his options open. Ultimately he wants to be a town planner, but has yet to decide the route he will take. "DIT has a direct course or I could do an arts degree and then do a post grad."

John thinks people put too much emphasis on the length of time they spend studying. "You have people who come in saying they did five hours' study the night before when they could be looking at the wall for half of that time."

Despite the added pressure on this year's exam students, Curran encourages them to keep up extra-curricular activities, especially sport.

"I believe there is a direct correlation between academic achievement and sporting achievement."

John isn't convinced however. "If you are hurling for a club, you're also expected to hurl for the school and between matches and training, it takes up too much time."

Peter and Niall both work part-time but don't feel it interferes with study. "I work in a sports shop on Saturday, but I wouldn't study on a Saturday anyway," says Niall. Peter is giving up working on Saturday after Christmas, but is will continue to work on Sunday. All the boys agree that you need to go out at the weekend to preserve your sanity. "You need to wind down, so you don't crack up," says Dermot. "It's tough to find the balance," says Andrew, "but you need an outlet."

In the nearby Loreto girls' school, the sixth-years also feel that free time is important.

Sarah O'Gorman plays a lot of sport and says having this diversion is vital. "If I just sat in my room all the time, the walls would close in on me." Sarah says she needs about 470 points to get her first choice of law and European studies in UL, but is not getting too worked-up about the points race. "If I don't get my first choice, there'll be something else. It's not the be-all and end-all." Sinead Lee's main extra curricular activity is dancing, which she hopes to pursue at third level. "At the moment I probably spend more time on dancing than on studying. I go every evening, but it helps me a lot, it relaxes me and then I can get down to studying."

Although the Loreto girls don't seem to be suffering from Leaving Cert stress, career guidance teacher Mary Ita Walsh says that the pressure is building. "Sometimes stress is hidden and doesn't manifest itself until after the mocks," she says.

The girls do see the mocks as a major watershed during the year. "The mocks will tell you if you're just fooling yourself or if you are really capable of getting the points you need," says Olivia Crotty, who is hoping to do primary teaching.

Jane Galway says she did more study for the Junior Cert than she has for the Leaving. "I'm not worried at all and I don't want to get stressed: I know I'll be fine." However she agrees with Olivia that the mock exams might reveal a lot. "The mocks could give me a land and get me doing more."

"Sometimes I feel that I'm not in control and that I'm going to do badly," says Lisa Ryan. Lisa feels these insecurities have much to do with the strike. "I'm really annoyed at the Government. They're playing with us when they should be doing something about this strike."

Sarah also blames Government inaction. "The teachers are as frustrated as us. They want to get the course done. They all care, but the Government knows people won't back the teachers."

Sinead supports the right to strike, but is worried about the impact it's having on her. "It's hard to get into study and hard to gauge how much I'm doing. I know I'm missing out."