For many Irish teenagers, sitting the Leaving Cert is just about the most pressured and stressful thing they'll do in their lives.

But if it's pressured for students, what about their teachers? Do the exams bring any stresses and strains for them? There are mixed views on this one. Some teachers deny any pressure, while others argue that it has grown a lot greater in the last few years, particularly in subjects where practicals and project work are involved. Practicals and projects may have broadened the exams in some subjects, but they have also added to the pressure, teachers say. "The project is worth 25 per cent of the marks," explains Dr Lawrence Smyth, who teaches engineering at Falcarragh Community School, Co Donegal. "Students wish to do as well as they can and they're looking at their grades more than anything else. They're asking `what will I get?'

"The pressure to deliver has increased considerably over the last six years and education has suffered. We are exam driven and the topics have to be covered with exam questions in mind. We should be able to do the work and let the exam come along. Nowadays, we're always saying `What will they be asking and what should we be covering?' "

All of Smyth's 20 engineering students are hoping to go to third level. "They're all expecting enough to get them to college. They're all looking for Bs."

Smyth says exam pressures mean that subjects are less enjoyable for students than they were in the past. When it comes to projects, most students will be doings different things. Even finding the materials to be used can be difficult, he says.

"They have to be sourced and ordered in advance. They may not be easily available." A major difficulty for teachers of subjects involving projects is that of storage. "The Junior Cert students start their projects on October 19th," says Natasha Evans, who teaches at Deansrath Community College, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. "They're not allowed to take their work home, so they have to leave it in the school and you need space to store it. The flat work is kept in folders but you have to leave the pottery out to dry and you have the problem of keeping the fiddly fingers of younger students off it so that it doesn't get broken." Evans describes work in the art room as "relentless". You have to be extremely organised, she says, to get the art room cleaned up before the next class comes in. "The workload can be quite heavy." The fact that project work is highly visible creates its own pressures and encourages teachers to put a lot of work into their students' projects, one teacher says. "There's too much competition between teachers," this teacher says.

"Some people are afraid to be seen not having perfect work. But the reality is that not every child is going to perform well. If they haven't done the work in class they learn an important lesson if the teacher refuses to give them extra help."

It's vital that teachers remain cool and avoid showing signs of pressure, says Dermot McCarthy, who teaches economics at Abbey Vocational School in Donegal Town. "If I showed pressure I would pass it on. Life is full of pressure and we have to deal with it. It's part of growing up." However, McCarthy argues that the pressures were greater when he was growing up. "When I was doing the Leaving Cert up to 70,000 people were emigrating every year. There were very few jobs here and only a minority stayed at home.

You didn't know whether your qualifications would be recognised in another country. There's too much made about pressure nowadays," he says.

Teachers do worry about their students, though. "You hope that they will do their best. Sometimes the phraseology of the questions can be vague. Students have the knowledge, but they could be put off by the question." According to Lawrence Smyth, "when you're teaching the same group for five years, you become attached to them. You do worry about them on the day. You love to see them getting what they want." Like their students, if teachers have done the work and planned their courses well, they have little need to worry - their students will perform well on the day.

Margaret le Lu, who teaches French at Old Bawn Community School, Tallaght, Dublin, recalls her first exam class - she was teaching English at the time. "I normally sleep extremely well, but that night I just couldn't get to sleep. I found myself worrying about whether I had revised this and that with them. Finally, I said `catch yourself on'. Since then, although I'm concerned about my students, I don't worry."

She does, though, admit to feelings of frustration when she sees students wasting time. Students who are putting pressure on themselves to work also put pressures on teachers, she says. "You may have to give them extra exam questions and this puts pressure on your own time."