More than 93% of Leaving Cert students have Facebook account, survey shows

Leaving Cert students make extensive use of social media such as Facebook and a majority of younger students also have Facebook pages. There is also a resurgence in the numbers of students taking grinds, according to an annual survey of secondary school students.

The 2012/13 survey included 648 students, according to Rory Mulvey of Student Enrichment Services, a company providing study skills courses and other services to schools. The survey involved students who were attending one of the company's courses, he said.

A key finding was confirmation of the significant student use of social media including Twitter and Facebook. More than 93 per cent of Leaving Cert students had a Facebook account and about 48 per cent had a Twitter account, the survey released today found.

Twitter accounts
Girls were almost twice as likely to have Twitter accounts than boys, but Facebook was in much more widespread use, with a near equal use between boys and girls, according to the survey. More than 80 per cent of Junior Cert students had a Facebook account and more than 60 per cent of first and second years had Facebook pages.

Students also spent a considerable amount of time on the service, but with strong divergence between boys and girls with girls spending more time socialising on Facebook.

Leaving Cert girls spent on average eight hours on the service a week and boys of that age spent about three hours.

Junior Cert girls used it for 6.5 hours a week compared to boys who spent about five hours. Girls in first and second year used Facebook for about seven hours a week and boys for 3.6 hours a week.

Another striking feature of the responses was the jump in the use of grinds by students, particularly those at Leaving Cert level. About 60 per cent of Leaving Cert students said they had attended grinds last year, but this rose to 71 per cent, the current survey reported.

More than 50 per cent of Junior Certs students attended grinds during the year and just over 33 per cent of first and second year students. The 18 per cent jump in use of grinds could be a reflection of a strengthening economy or perhaps greater student concern to achieve higher marks in light of the recession, Mr Mulvey said.

Cyber bullying
Relatively few of those who took part in the survey reported problems with bullying. None of the Leaving Cert girls and 6 per cent of boys had experienced cyber bullying. Of the Junior Certs, 3 per cent of girls and 6 per cent of boys reported bullying while among the first and second years, 9 per cent of girls had experienced it and just 3 per cent of boys.

Students would like to see changes when it comes to the provision of education and examinations with a clear majority, 89 per cent, arguing in favour of continuous assessment in preference to the present external examination system.

Student response to Project Maths was highly mixed, however, with 28 per cent of girls and 46 per cent of Leaving Cert boys finding the new maths syllabus interesting, though 69 per cent of Junior Cert girls and 51 per cent of boys at this level found it interesting.