Leaving Cert uncertainty had negative impact on students' mental health, says Trinity College study

The study also reported only a third of students agreed with predictive grading for the Leaving Cert. File picture. 

School closures have had a negative impact on the mental health of secondary students in disadvantaged areas.

A new Trinity College Dublin survey shows 4 out of 5 students in these areas felt their workload increased during the lockdown.

Dr. Aibhín Bray from Trinity's School of Education said there has been a drop in their wellbeing this year. 

Dr Bray said: "What we found was that there was generally a decline in student's level of mental wellbeing in 2020 with respect to 2019. 

"Which seems to have been influenced by the quality of student-teacher relationships and by the level of workload. 

"With 80% of students reporting that they actually had higher workloads during the lockdown and then of course for senior cycle students there was also uncertainty around state examinations and the predictive grades which would have had an impact as well." 

The study also reported only a third of students agreed with predictive grading for the Leaving Cert.

This comes ahead of the results of the exams being released on September 7th.

Dr. Bray said the uncertainty around predictive grades and the organisation of exams had a major impact. 

"50% of the students reported that they agreed or strongly agreed with the Leaving Cert. 

"I think the impact of not knowing what was going on was really having a significant negative effect on their wellbeing and level of stress."