Days off school, courtesy of the ASTI, are not a holiday, so parents need to remind their offspring it's still term time.
Leaving and Junior Certificate students should be treating their days at home as "normal school days as far as possible", according to guidance counsellor Mr Vivian Cassells. It's an opportunity for them to make sure their notes are up to date, to read ahead and to revise completed material, he says. They should work alone, rather than with friends. "At this stage, students working in groups may simply be swapping mutual ignorances. They don't have enough of the course complete to do group study sessions," he warns parents.
Exam students should try to organise their day, with a proper programme and adequate breaks. They should get up at a reasonable time, says Mr Cassells, and go to bed at the time they normally would if they had school the next day.
"Exam students should plan ahead. The strike may continue after Christmas. They need to have a pattern in their lives during term time so they should work at managing their time."
However, it's quite different for first and second years, he says. They could reasonably be expected to spend about two hours a day on school work.
"It's a question of negotiating with them to make sure they get some work done. Almost all students will have Christmas exams coming up soon, so that should give them a focus."
Parents of Transition Year and fifth-year students need to be particularly vigilant, he warns, as they may take up part-time work on their days off. "There's a danger that students who are not that motivated will get a feel for a part-time job, get out of the study habit and not return to school," he says. Parents should try to encourage these students to do two hours' school-related work in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, he suggests. Transition Year students may have projects they can work on.
Clinical psychologist Ms Marie Murray says a commonsense approach should prevail. "There's no point in forcing students into a rigid structure, but it's important they don't regard these days as a holiday."
She believes students should stick to a term-time pattern, not staying up late to watch videos and waking late.