IT WAS THE maths and Irish, came the familiar refrain from one father. "My daughter had two awful teachers who were not up to standard. Grinds cost us about £350 in total, between evenings and one week's intensive course.

"The proof of the pudding was that it was not just my daughter but almost every other student in her class who went to the local grind school."

His daughter did fairly well in Leaving Cert maths last year, but the grinds did not get her up to scratch in Irish, he says. "But she actually enjoyed the classes. She knew that she had a job to do as did the other people in the class. There was no messing."

Her week's intensive course opened up new study ideas, he says. He is resigned to the fact that there are always be one or two teachers in each school that are not performing satisfactorily; grinds are a fact of life for most students, he says - and parents have no choice but to pay out.

While grinds are readily available in Dublin and some provincial towns and cities, one Donegal parent told E&L how he paid out for his son to go to Dublin - and stay in a B&B - for a week's revision. He strongly believed his son would do better in such a school - as the teachers allegedly have the inside track on exams. Whatever about the truth of this well publicised urban myth, marking schemes for Leaving Cert subjects have been released to all schools this year, for the first - time, so no school is at a disadvantage.

Other parents agree: it's a worthwhile investment to send children to a grind school at Easter prior to the Leaving Certificate - at least they are doing something!

However, another mother contends that this is a cop out; parents should be prepared to put some time into supervising and helping students over Easter, rather than sending them off to a grind school. Easter is a time for revision - and that can be done at home as well as at an expensive grind school, she adds.

Nick Killian, spokesman for the National Parents Council (Post Primary), says he understands why parents send their children to grinds: the pressure for points. "Overall, it begs the question of teachers who are weak in a particular subject needing further retraining. The NPC is not against grind schools, but it is not particularly in favour either. We feel that the whole system of retraining teachers and in service is not up to scratch."

Nuala Henry, president of the council, says that private grinds for second level students might be considered analogous to the third level system of tutoring. However, she quotes a teacher's view that if more than 10 per cent of students in a class are going to grinds, it suggests that more than 10 per cent are not getting the message - and thus there is a problem in class.

On the other hand, Henry is sympathetic to the plight of teachers who must teach large classes and who rarely get a chance to address small groups. There can also be problems, she adds, where one or two pupils disrupt an entire class.

Many grinds succeed, she says, because of the monetary outlay by parents. "If parents are paying out, maybe kids will sit up and listen. You can imagine if a parent has paid out for a course, they want their children to achieve. Also, some grind schools draw up a contract which students must sign, agreeing that they will behave in a certain way and not disrupt other pupils."

With Easter looming, should parents pay out for grind schools or this too late to improve a student's performance? Ethna Dowling, a guidance counsellor in Loreto College, Crumlin, Dublin, says Easter is not too late.

"In some ways, grinds can be very good for telescoping the mind and getting an overall picture of a subject," she says. "What I think is very dangerous is relying on the grind to get you through, and not studying the subject. In many cases so many notes are given out - and students do not have sufficient knowledge of the text."

Dowling, who teaches English, also cautions that she has found that students attending grinds may not pay attention in school. "They need to know the texts very well, not other people's ideas of them," she cautions. "But, if you're the sort of pupil who is good at organising your own revision, and you opt at Easter for a course in a subject you fell you're floundering in, it might not be a bad idea at all."

Michael Clifford, guidance counsellor and maths teacher in Scoil Mhuire, Clane, Co Kildare, agrees that sending students to grinds offers mixed prospects. "If a student is using a grind as a revision help or a backup, it is difficult to quarrel with it. I'm totally opposed where students say that that they don't have to do any homework as they are doing a grind".

"Some students put all their faith in grinds," Clifford adds. "They may loads of notes but, often, they haven't even read them. A class a week is not a substitute for what they are taught at school."

Henry says that grinds are simply a fact of life now. When the demand is there, it means that people will provide the service - but she wishes that they weren't necessary.