A new survey of almost 900 teenagers reveals they are reluctant to tell teachers their problems and are also unlikely to speak with a school counsellor — because they are often teachers.

One of Ireland’s longest-serving Catholic bishops said he would have no difficulty if the Church allowed priests to marry.

Nearly 58,500 students will receive their Leaving Certificate results today, up more than 500 since last year.

The wait ends tomorrow for around 59,000 students who are due to receive their Leaving Certificate results.

The vast majority of young Irish people studying overseas are based in Britain, and they face an uncertain future

The importance of keeping exams in perspective has been emphasised as 120,000 students prepare to begin Junior and Leaving Certificate papers today.

With the first Junior and Leaving Certificate exams a little over a week away, Institute of Guidance Counsellors president Betty McLaughlin offers tips and advice for students and parents.

Education Minister Richard Bruton will set out in the budget how he plans to improve guidance counselling services whose reductions have been found to affect students who may need them most.

Concern is growing about the career guidance secondary school students receive.

Guidance counselling is “on its knees”, with secondary school students missing out on crucial support services as a result, practitioners have warned.

For students the period between their Leaving Certificate results and choosing a route to the next stage of their lives is exciting but for many it is an anxious time.

Áilín Quinlan talks to two experts and asks their views on the Leaving Certificate. Betty McLaughlin believes that the level of training of teachers and broad range of subjects make it a great system but Dr Raymond Lynch argues that all the good work done by these teachers doesn’t show when the exam season starts. Let us know your opinion by taking our poll below.

Students have been advised to keep things in perspective, get plenty of rest, and eat well during the State exams.

The importance of rest, diet, and parental support have been underlined as close to 120,000 students countdown to the start of Junior and Leaving Certificate exams next Wednesday.

Students at religious-owned schools that do not charge fees have lost out most from cuts to guidance counselling, according to research.

Most schools have been forced to offer less one-to-one counselling for students and almost half give less guidance to junior cycle classes since a cut imposed by the Department of Education three years ago.

Schools with higher numbers of disadvantaged students should be prioritised if guidance counselling provision is restored, says the Royal Irish Academy.

Latest figures on CAO entry-level courses show the slow pace of change, but should not come as a shock.

Children’s creativity and imagination are being stifled by an education system that is enslaved to producing people for economic growth, according to the abbot of Glenstal Abbey.

ABBOTT Mark Patrick Hederman, who was principal at Glenstal Abbey until 1991, is the latest in a long line of admirable commentators to point out that our educational system can hardly be described as such.

Yesterday thousands of Leaving Cert students got their results. Here are some of the stories that filtered through to us.

Teachers have called for the immediate reversal of cuts to guidance counselling in the wake of the ESRI report that showed almost half of young people regretted their college or career choices.

Students and parents should stay calm and remember there are a range of options if Leaving Certificate results next week do not match their expectations, guidance counsellors have advised.

A successful mental health promotion initiative for schools and clubs which was launched in Cork earlier this year is going nationwide.

More than one in 10 college courses did not have enough applicants to fill all their places in this week’s first round of CAO offers.

Students have been snapping up college places after almost 50,000 received an offer on a third-level course yesterday.

Almost 50,000 people have been offered the chance to study on a third-level college course.

Guidance counsellors were busy yesterday dealing with queries about appealing grades and calculating college points as parents and students summed up their results.

Guidance counsellors say disappointment with today’s results should not mean an end to further study or career aspirations.

The first exams for almost 117,000 Junior and Leaving Certificate students beginat hundreds of schools, colleges and other centres this morning.

Students in disadvantaged schools are half as likely to go straight to college, statistics reveal.

Students are continuing to turn to science courses and are avoiding the uncertainties of teaching careers, latest college application figures suggest.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has admitted the cutback in guidance for second-level students is even worse than counsellors themselves have claimed.

School groups and mental health agencies say new guidelines to help schools promote positive mental health and prevent suicide will only be effective if they are backed up with proper training and resources.

Depressed or suicidal teens are just as likely to confide in the school caretaker as they are a guidance counsellor, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has claimed today.

Guidance counsellors said “it should be no surprise that the problem of cyberbullying is exploding” when vulnerable children cannot access counselling sessions in school due to government cutbacks.

Guidance counsellors have rejected Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s suggestion that the impact of cuts to their service can be eased with greater monitoring of teenagers in class.

Guidance counsellors say the loss of up to 11 hours per week of one-to-one supports for students due to cutbacks must be addressed following a number of suicides and incidents of self-harm.

Medical schools have delayed making changes to the controversial aptitude test used to select entrants but acknowledge that its use is causing a number of distortions for young people who wish to become doctors.

The Institute of Guidance Counsellors has called for medical schools to stop using an aptitude test to help select incoming students.

Trinity College Dublin is to consider written applications from students and the schools they have attended, in addition to Leaving Cert results, when choosing entrants to its degrees.

The additional 25 college entry points for Leaving Certificate maths only boosted the performance of one in every 11 of the 37,500 students offered places on degree courses yesterday.

Extra bonus points in honour Leaving Certificate maths has only benefited 3,000 students seeking a college place, it has emerged.