Colman Noctor: Leaving Cert grinds putting students under additional pressure

A timely publication last week in the British Journal of Educational Studies by TCD professor of sociology Selina McCoy and associate professor in education and sociology at Maynooth University Delma Byrne has opened an interesting conversation about grinds and the equity of their role within our education system.

McCoy and Byrne refer to the term ‘shadow education’ to describe fee-paying lessons delivered outside school hours. They observe how grinds and revision courses are a growing presence in education systems in many European countries and discuss how they gained social legitimacy alongside formal educational institutions in Ireland. However, their main concern is the social inequalities this type of educational support produces. They point to research that has consistently found that high socio-economic status, household income, and parental education are critical determinants of the uptake of extra tuition.

McCoy and Byrne’s unique study sought to assess the role of grinds in the lives of Irish secondary school students and highlight their experiences. They wanted to get beyond the narrow academic focus and explore student motivation for engaging in extra tuition and how additional work impacts their wellbeing in preparation for the high-stakes Leaving Cert.

Given that young people in Ireland have higher than average levels of school work-related anxiety relative to other countries and report more stress when sitting state examinations, their study provides important insights.

Grind-related pressures

The burden of attending grinds and revision courses on top of regular schoolwork impacts students’ wellbeing. According to research, attending grinds often reduces students’ time to engage in sports and other leisure activities. Furthermore, if they have attended grinds, young people experience pressure to perform well in the state exam. I regularly hear Leaving Cert students fret about the ‘investment’ their parents made in paying for extra tuition, adding to the already colossal pressure of the state exam.

The growth in the demand for grinds is further evidence of this focus in a society that seems driven to succeed. Our education system is typified by examinations where high Leaving Certificate ‘points’ are exchanged for entry into higher education programmes. This is a key driver for the uptake of grinds, which focus on helping students score highly in exams.

According to the ‘Growing Up in Ireland 2016’ survey, nearly half (49%) of Leaving Certificate students were taking grinds or private tuition, and a further 20% said they were planning to take grinds before they sat their exams.

The ‘grind market’ is conservatively estimated to be worth €60m at the secondary level in Ireland. With so many students engaging in additional tuition, it raises questions about the fairness of the Irish educational system.

The grinds explicitly concern examination preparation, which can be deduced from the sales pitches offering ‘effective strategies’ and ‘tips for exam success’.

By capturing the voices of students, McCoy and Byrne’s study establishes the motivation and expectation of attending grinds. They found that some young people are propelled towards the grinds culture by parents (parental control) and others through social norms (class effects, etc). I know many young people who have booked private revision courses during their holidays simply because other people in their class are doing it.

The grinds culture has become normalised and is seen as a supplement to the mainstream education system.

Competitive advantage 

According to renowned Hong Kong University professor of education Mark Bray, attending grinds is “much less about pupils who are in real need of academic support that they cannot find at school, and much more about maintaining the competitive advantages within schools of the already successful and privileged”.

As in many Western education systems, grinds continue to create educational inequalities. McCoy and Byrne surmise that Ireland’s key challenge involves the need to reform our focus on rote learning at the cost of higher-order thinking and broader skill development.

Recent government announcements aiming to spread assessment throughout the senior cycle in secondary education and introduce greater diversity in assessment approaches may reduce the demand for grinds in the long term, but they show no sign of becoming less popular.

McCoy and Byrne’s study further highlights the importance of support and resources in schools serving socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Persistent achievement gaps between DEIS and non-DEIS schools have been well-documented, and engagement with extra tuition may reinforce these gaps.

In a debate around the academic benefits of doing homework, US educationalist Alfie Kohn commented: “The most reliable predictor for how well children do in school is the size of the houses around the school”.

Financial privilege has always been a determinant of educational outcomes, and while this may continue, switching our focus from the high-stakes Leaving Certificate to ongoing assessment may go some way to levelling the playing field and reducing the inequality that exists.

• Dr Colman Noctor is a child psychotherapist