"ABSOLUTELY furious" is how one father describes his reaction when his 14 year old son was let off school to study at home almost two weeks before the start of the Junior Certificate exams.

"My son came home with a note to say that he was to study five hours a day and that he was to turn up on such and such a day for the exams wearing his uniform - and that was it," the Co Wicklow man says. "I think the school has acted in a totally irresponsible fashion."

Many parents agree about schools sending Junior and Leaving Cert students home to study for between two and four weeks before the exams. Students should at the very least stay on at school until the official end of term and engage in supervised study, they argue. Some teachers and principals are angry that these schools are giving the teaching profession a bad name.

Parents of Junior Certificate students are particularly incensed - and many teachers agree that these students are too young to be left to their own devices for so long.

"Junior Certificate students should remain in school up to the very end, with their noses to the grindstone," says Mary Morgan, vice principal of St Mary's Secondary School, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.

However, other parents and educators view this home study time in a positive light, particularly for older students. Indeed, some families opt to withdraw their children from school prior to the exams.

"The average Leaving Certificate student needs a minimum of two weeks to work on his or her own," says Michael Madigan, principal of Oatlands College, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. "As the exams approach, teachers have to become increasingly selective about what they cover, and classes that will suit one student may not suit another.

"Pupils who structure their time and keep to regular patterns of work, sleep, fresh air and exercise will find these two weeks of tremendous benefit," Madigan adds.

Nonetheless, many educators and parents worry that while extended periods of solitary, unsupervised study may work for able, highly motivated students, the majority of average students will find it difficult to organise their time. According to Pat O'Connor, headmaster of St Enda's Community School, Limerick, students who are suffering from depression or stress and are expected to study at home alone for weeks at a time are particularly vulnerable.

Without doubt, ensuring that Junior and Leaving Cert students settle down to home study just before the exams places an enormous burden on parents. "I've found the whole of Leaving Certificate extremely stressful, and this last month, when my son is supposed to be working at home, has been horrendous," says a distraught Co Dublin mother. "He thinks he's on holiday and doesn't get up till 10 a.m. I've had to reorganise my life so that I can be around to check that he's studying."

The fact that in many families both parents are out at work all day means that many youngsters are totally unsupervised. Some teenagers spend their time dun rig the run up to the exams wandering around the streets or shopping centres.

A Dublin Junior Cert mother has had to devise her own system of supervision. "I'm out at work all day, so we have negotiated a programme which includes time for play and a certain number of hours work each day. In the evening I check his progress - we've promised him money towards a sports jersey if he sticks to the programme.

However, while some schools are guilty of giving their students increasingly lengthy "time off" periods, many schools have successfully devised programmes that keep youngsters in school. At Loreto Secondary School, Bray, Co Wicklow, for example, "block classes" are held for Junior and Leaving Cert students during the last two weeks of term. All students are required to attend the daily, 90 minute revision sessions in all subjects.

"It's a compromise which works," says maths and business teacher Isabelle Hunt. "Attendance is almost 100 per cent, the students maintain a routine, they have time for personal revision and they keep in touch with their friends. They're not working in isolation and their parents are delighted."