Question

My daughter returned to school last week to discover that a number of her classmates had left and are now studying for the Leaving Cert in a popular grind school. She is now pressuring us to allow her to join them.

I don’t want to diminish her academic progression opportunities, but as a former past pupil of her current school myself, I value the lifelong friendships and past pupils’ union involvement I still enjoy. So, I wonder about the wisdom of the move.

I contacted the grind school in question to ask about the cost, but it turns out they have been fully subscribed for incoming fifth-year students since June.

Answer

Grind schools have grown to become a significant presence in many of our cities. The Irish Times recently highlighted the profitability of one particular school as having risen from €3 million to €9 million over the past three years. Therefore, their presence and growth is definitely market driven.

Many parents struggle with the question you pose, that of academic achievement. Do grind schools improve on the results that students would have achieved if they had stayed in their original school?

When we in the Irish Times seek and secure data annually for our academic progression charts for schools, grind-school data is never provided. Marketing on behalf of grind schools tends to involve photos of very happy, high-achieving students after receiving their Leaving Cert results. However, some of these institutions have over 1,000 registered students. This is why such photos, though accurate, can be deceptive.

Last week, some of this year’s Leaving Certs failed to secure the grades required for their top CAO course choice. The fear of this happening to your child is one of the drivers of grind school enrolment.

What students and parents often don’t factor in is that thousands of those who did not secure their dream course last week are now starting one-year post leaving cert (PLC) courses. Over 6,500 Leaving Cert students who took the PLC option last year are now starting university, having been offered their dream course in round zero of the CAO process three weeks ago.

Up to 20 per cent of places on most CAO programmes are offered to such applicants in round zero annually. Progression through their degree programmes in university is often equal to, if not better than, those who went directly from the Leaving Cert.

There are also cultural and social reasons for why grind schools have blossomed. My generation of school leavers entered university at 17 and graduated before their 21st birthday. Given the growth of early childhood education and the near-universal participation in transition year (TY), many students enter fifth year approaching their 17th birthday and complete their schooling as 19-year-olds.

Our senior cycle students are full adults in the eyes of the law, free to drive cars, vote in elections and marry if they wish. In our schools, though, they must still wear the school uniform and follow rules and regulations designed for another era.

Surely our senior cycle students should be facilitated in taking their final two years of schooling in an environment appropriate to their level of maturity? Other jurisdictions have addressed this issue through the formal separation of middle and high school.

Maybe the growth in demand for grind school by people such as your daughter and some of her classmates is an indication that we need to consciously treat our senior cycle as an adult environment.

askbrian@irishtimes.com