IF YOU'VE ever received a bad school report, the chances are that 10, 20, or even 40 years later you will still remember the dread, guilt or shame you felt when your parents became aware of its contents.

"I always felt sick in my stomach and would disappear for the day, because I knew my father would be furious," recalls one adult.

"In my first year at secondary school I did badly in the exams because I spent my time reading novels when I should have been studying," another adult confesses.

"I felt ashamed when my mother saw my report. I knew she was mad with me, but she simply said `well, if you're not going to do well in school, you'll have to make yourself useful and help more around the house'. I never performed badly in exams again."

On the other hand, if your reports were consistently good, the likelihood is that at this stage of your life, your memories of them are vague. "I was always towards the top of the class, so school reports were never a problem and I really can't remember much about them," confides a 40 year old man.

Traditionally, school reports are based on exam results. The list of subjects examined is accompanied by the percentage marks and grades achieved by the student and comments from the subject teachers.

Nowadays, the report may also include marks for appearance, behaviour, homework presentation and attendance and comments on extra curricular activities. The document usually contains a general assessment by the class teacher or tutor on the whole report and in some instances also includes - as a matter of course - remarks from the principal.

Back in the dim and distant past, school reports invariably came out only once a year. These days they are more likely to appear two or even three times in a 12 month period, but for some parents even this is insufficient. "My boy gets a report each term, but I would prefer to get a weekly report card which would indicate the effort the child is making," says one mother. "It's better for children to have regular targets and that parents are kept abreast with what's happening and can catch a slide before it escalates."

However, the majority of parents are satisfied with their children's school reports, according to Nuala Henry, who is president of the National Parents Council - Post Primary (NPC-PP).

"Generally people are happy and it's not an issue for parents," she says. "It's my experience that the standard of school reports has improved over the years. I've had six children going through the system and I find that the teachers comments are now more specific and accurate than in the past.

The majority of parents may be content with the system, but privately some parents admit to feelings of cynicism when they see their children earning the same type of "fair to satisfactory/could do better" remarks that they themselves were awarded decades before.

"The comments haven't changed in 30 years," grumbles one parent. "They're unimaginative and meaningless." "My children's reports tell me nothing," complains another.

It's all `could do better', `has made progress'. It gives me no real insight into how they are doing.

But schools argue that space demands brevity and that if parents regard comments as meaningless, they certainly have meaning for the teachers who write them. "It is import ant that what you write can be expanded into something more meaningful in a follow up interview," says Pat O'Connor who is headmaster of St Enda's Community School, Limerick.

And it is the subject teachers remarks that are potentially the most contentious part of the report. "It's very difficult to tell the truth about a student," says one teacher in a fee paying school. "Parents can get angry if they don't like what you tell them and they blame the school or the teacher. . . I can't say a child is weak if he or she fails, so I use comments like `making progress at his own pace' which means he's making no progress."

But many schools reject the notion that parents would blame a poor report on either the school or a member of staff. If parents are regularly informed about their children's progress or lack of it, a report however good or bad, will not come as a shock, schools say.

"Communication is important. You need to maintain constant con tact with families," argues Sean O Beachain, principal of Coolmine Community School, Dublin, where reports are issued four times each year. In the case of a poor result, you have to sit down with parents, discuss their child's performance calmly and show them the results of objective tests and the genuine assessments of 10 teachers", he says.

NONETHELESS, the type of language used in school reports is important. Teachers strive to make comments which are fair but positive, says ASTI

president Tommy Francis.

"Mol an og agus tiochfaidh siad - praise the youth and they will succeed" encapsulates the thinking behind teacher comments, he suggests. But while in some cases schools still leave the choice of language to the individual teacher, nowadays many schools go to great lengths to compile lists of appropriate comments that can be used by all teachers. Larger schools that are computerised often have a list of numbered comments - all the teacher has to do is to circle the number of his/her choice and the computer includes the comment in the report.

"We have a list of 99 agreed comments," says Sr Anne Doyle, who is principal of St Mary's College, Naas, Co Kildare, which has an enrolment of 780. "They are evaluated from time to time and changed. They must be just and fair but there is no point trying to couch bad news in good language." If a student is weak, a teacher will say so, but will also recommend a course of action.

If a student were to achieve an exam mark of 25 per cent, depending on the circumstances, the comment "poor work and inattentive in class" would be fair and accurate, she says. However, Sr Anne points out that the school's highly developed tutoring system ensures that parents are alerted to poor exam results long before the reports are issued.

School reports are posted directly to parents and usually form the basis of the annual parent teacher meetings that are now held in many schools throughout the country. But schools too, keep copies of every report they send out and compile report books which track students' progress from the day they enter school until the day they leave.

For teachers, pastoral care personnel and guidance counsellors, these report books are essential tools of the trade. Teachers can pinpoint exactly when a student's work begins to fall off, pastoral care teachers can gain insights into a student's behaviour, while guidance counsellors find it useful to refer to reports when giving career advice.

"I make use of report books in all my career interviews," confirms Dominic Rooney, who is guidance counsellor at Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew, Co Galway. "I find they are a very objective tool in assisting students to be realistic about their ability levels. For students who have an exaggerated view of their capabilities and what they are hoping to achieve, the report book brings them down to earth. Conversely, they can be used to encourage youngsters who are afraid to aim to their true potential," he says.

On another practical level, reports form the basis of the references for employment, that are often requested by past pupils. Schools that are already bursting at the seams must find space to hold on to reports long after pupils have left. "We have students coming hack after 15 years looking for references," says Padraig O Riordain, who is principal of Douglas Community School, Cork. "It's essential that we keep the records and have an entire profile available," he says.

There can be no doubting that issuing reports is a time consuming and costly affair. First teachers mark the exam scripts, then they fill in the reports and choose their comments; finally they discuss the reports with class teachers, tutors and principals.

Sean O Beachain estimates that, even though his school is computerised, it takes one week's manpower to envelope and stamp the reports that are sent to the parents of Coolmine's 1,100 students. Meanwhile, Dr Michael Grady who is principal of Sion Hill College, Dublin, says that the school's postal budget for each report is £250.

But traditional school reports are only the tip of the iceberg, many schools say. Increasingly, schools are introducing weekly report cards day books, diaries or weekly journals which both enable students to keep records of their progress and keep parents informed, since they usually require a parental signature every week. Contents vary from school to school, but records of academic performance, behaviour homework, attendance and sick notes may all be included in the diaries along with comments from reachers, students and parents.

"Our diary is in its second year of operation and it's working well," says Grady. "Parents like it and find it a useful means of communication."

Schools too are examining other methods of monitoring pupil performance. St Mary's College, Dublin, has recently introduced a progress monitoring system in which a file containing the bi annual comments of each subject teacher is kept on each fifth and sixth year student. Students deemed to be academically or behaviourally "at risk" discuss their performances with the pastoral care tutor. "It helps students to obtain an overall picture of their situation in a non confrontational way," notes Doyle.

MEANWHILE, at Mount Sion CBS, Waterford senior students are involved in self assessment on their study habits programme which is run by guidance counsellor Seamus Barry.

"I deal with time management learning style, motivation, effective listening and note taking," he explains. "I give students a detailed study habits questionnaire which they mark themselves. I go through their scores with them and we discuss any problems they have." Self assessment is an effective way of helping students identify their strengths and weaknesses, Barry believes. "I'm not telling them, they are taking responsibility for themselves. . . The more young people are involved in their own education and learning the better," he notes.

Like Barry, many educators are arriving at the view that students should be involved in discussions about their education. "When I started my career, you always met the parents alone," says Pat O'Connor. "But nowadays you bring in the students as much as possible."

In today's world, many parents of 16 or 17 year olds have relatively little influence over their offspring, the influence of the peer group is much greater, he says. Ideally, students should also attend parent teacher meetings (where it is still assumed that the parents of senior level students are the main decision makers), but time and space prevent this, whichever way you look at it, for many schools the annual or biannual report is no longer enough. St Enda's, which sends out two traditional reports each year and operates a weekly journal system, has also introduced a mid term, non academic assessment of every child in the school.

Once a year students are assessed by their teachers on a score from one to 10 on their commitment, effort, behaviour, interest, attention, concentration and on the quality of their homework. "Commitment and effort are the key determinants of success in life and if you can acknowledge and encourage these, regardless of exam scores, then you can help people to grow in terms of their development and ability to defer gratification," O'Connor argues.

The tests can highlight problems faced by academic highfliers and give encouragement to the broad middle band of students who rarely receive any notice. "These tests have nothing to do with academic ability. A lot of able kids can lose out at school because they coast along - they don't learn the discipline of hard graft and they never achieve their potential." Similarly, students who are "pampered through the exam system, who are given pre digested material and countless grinds who lack initiative and independence of mind, are unlikely to make the grade."

After the assessment, O'Connor conducts a short interview with each student. "The fact that the head bothers, that the students Ore recognised on a personal basis, makes them feel important and encourages them to further effort," he says. A report, which has to be signed and returned, is then sent to each set of parents.

Although pressure cooker parents, for whom every word on a report is of vital importance, still exist, a number of schools note changes in parental attitudes.

"There is a vast change in the ambitions of parents in recent years," says Doyle. "Nowadays parents are looking less for high academic points and more for well rounded, well balanced children who can survive in life. And even the most ambitious parents want their children to be happy," she says.

Schools still see the traditional school report as an important home school link, but increasingly schools are forging closer connections with parents via other means, including parent teacher meetings, parents' associations and by the simple but effective use of the student journal.

Schools admit that the information contained in school reports may appear to be minimal and that some parents may be disconcerted by the language. But, schools argue that parents themselves should ensure that they follow up on school reports. The clear message coming out of schools these days is: "Contact us and together let us discuss your concerns".