Research done for the Points Commission indicates that parental stress is a significant factor in the stress levels of students taking the Leaving Certificate examination.
The innovative research survey was carried out by transition-year students in 64 schools, who surveyed the attitudes to the points system of 3,200 of their fellow students studying for the Leaving Certificate.
They concluded that "large numbers found it stressful and felt it might be alleviated by some element of continuous assessment," said Prof Aine Hyland of NUI Cork, the Points Commission's chairwoman.
She said they also found that parental stress at exam time was a significant factor in Leaving Cert students' own stress levels.
Prof Hyland said one of the big issues emerging both from the students' views and other submissions was the desire for the once-off Leaving examination to be tempered by some kind of continuous assessment.
"By its nature, only certain things can be assessed through a terminal exam," said Dr Hyland. "Other kinds of intelligence cannot be as easily assessed by such an exam."
The commission will hold five regional hearings next month, at which members of the public will be invited to make submissions on the points system.
They will begin on September 21st in Cork and continue in Athlone, Galway, Sligo and Dun Laoghaire. In the first week of September the commission will publish an interim report identifying the main issues which have emerged from its work so far. Prof Hyland said this would inform the discussions at the public hearings.
The commission has also undertaken two other pieces of research, described this week by the Minister for Education, Mr Martin, as of high quality.
The first of these, co-ordinated by Dr Kathleen Lynch of UCD, is looking at how good a predictor the Leaving Cert results are of future third-level performance.
The second, by Dr David Tuohy, also of UCD, will consider to what extent students choose their third-level courses according to the points required, rather than because they want to study a particular subject.