TESTING TEACHERS:We asked six teachers to take this year's Leaving Cert exam papers. Here are their thoughts on the exercise - and their results, as determined by experienced correctors
IRISH
Áine Nic Cionnaith
ARE YOU OUT of your mind? You’re crazy! What if you don’t get an A? You’ll have to get an A1 or you’ll be seen as a bad teacher! All of these things were said as I took the challenge of sitting my Leaving Cert Irish paper one exam. I wasn’t out to prove them wrong.
However, after teaching the Leaving Certificate Irish Higher Level course for the past two years, it would have been strange to let my students go through the experience on their own after months of preparation and months of listening to me. And I believe it is not enough that the students study teachers’ notes.
For the essay, I give my students a structure of a number of issues that can be talked about using specific vocabulary, phrases and old Irish “seanfhocail” that lend a natural flair for the language to the essay in paper one. Although I wrote a reasonably good essay, it was too long. I did the essay that I felt the majority of the country would have chosen – “Daoine i mbéal an phobail” – literally, “People in the mouth of the public”. I deliberately went overboard talking about the people who have brought this country into the state of emergency that it is in. I had heard that if you go over three pages you get penalised – as a teacher, I wanted to see whether this was true.
The final section on this paper involves two fairly long and tedious reading comprehensions. For many students, the difficulty lies in translating the text into their own words – a requirement at higher level. The second comprehension was easy to translate – my students agreed with me on this. The other comprehension is usually harder. I rushed this and didn’t translate two or three of the 10 questions. This was to allow time at the end to go over the essay – 17 per cent of the entire course.
Professional development is about teachers enquiring into their own practice. I feel the need for this, especially with the new, much-debated syllabus starting in September.
RESULT
THE ESSAY WAS of a very high linguistic standard, though grammatical errors were made and marks were deducted. Marks for composition are awarded out of 100 – 80 for the quality of the Irish and 20 for content. In the latter part, the candidate seemed to want to show off their ability in Irish and tried to use rich language at the expense of progressing the theme of the essay. At five pages, it was a little long-winded and lost direction. I gave the following marks: Irish 74/80; content 13/20.
The standard of the comprehension pieces was very high, though it was clear that some concepts were not fully understood. The candidate scored 30/35 in the first comprehension, and 28/35 in the second.
Result: 145/170 = 85 per cent (A2)
HOME ECONOMICS
Jeanne Dowling
WHEN ASKED to sit the Leaving Cert Home Economics paper this year I agreed immediately. I really only started thinking about it when I was telling a few friends about it the day before the exam. They asked had I done much study. Didn’t really. Was I nervous? Not until now!
I opened the envelope and everything I preach about reading the paper thoroughly came to mind. I followed every teacher’s advice; marked off the questions I intended answering and highlighted key points.
I started with the short questions which took surprisingly long. They were specific in the information required, and I wondered how my students had struggled to fit the answers into the spaces provided.
Then I answered the compulsory question one in Section B: “Comment and elaborate on the distribution of Irish Food and drink exports” as shown in a pie chart which displayed the exports in percentage form. A very open-ended question! The other parts of the question referred to iron and purchasing of meat and were straight forward. There was so much information required in this question I had little time to think.
Unbelievably, I did what I warn every student not to do: I ignored the time limit for the question and continued writing.
The next question was question four on “planning family budgets to ensure effective management of financial resources”. It also asked for information regarding choice of savings scheme and on the Money Advice Budgeting Service (Mabs).
My third and final question in Section B was question five: ‘State the four main functions of the family in modern society, discuss the merits of good child-parent communication, and outline the procedure and merits of making a will. A well-structured question.
As time passed, I had an overwhelming wish to write everything I knew in the answers but the time didn’t allow it. The ache in my fingers, wrist, elbow and shoulder was getting to me. I write very little and it was certainly beginning to show. I could hardly re-read my own scrawl even if I had had the time to do so.
Last question – the elective. As I teach the social studies elective, this was without question my choice. Poverty was the main theme of part (a) – it was quite topical as the question asked how the recession was a contributing factor.
I also answered part (b) of this question which examined the intrinsic and extrinsic factors contributing to attitudes to work and the changes in work patterns and work availability in Ireland. It was nice to see that the SEC was focusing the questions on up-to-date affairs, examining the students’ ability to adapt information to the current situation.
Five minutes to go and still writing. I didn’t even have time to re-read my answers. So much for telling students to re-read and check everything! Time up. I was a wreck, both physically and mentally.
That was it, as scary as the first time. Probably more so as this time the result was going to be printed in The Irish Times. At least at 18 I could use a Larry Gogan phrase – “the questions just didn’t suit me” – but now for an experienced home economics teacher a poor result could be completely shameful.
For me, the lack of time allocated to the exam – this is an issue for almost every home economics teacher in the country – was a reality as I experienced first-hand the difficulty a student would have completing the questions to an adequate standard.
Cruel is the only word to describe the experience.
RESULT
THE WORK displayed a coherent and accurate account of the overall course. It showed an excellent analysis of the Irish food and export market, career opportunities in same and gained full marks for the mineral question on iron. Questions five and six on budgeting, savings and sociology were equally good.
I note the following: candidates should quote the given percentages in the question B compulsory food analysis question. All information throughout the script should include clear sub-headings. Descriptive examples should always be given, for example, when discussing discretionary income, moist methods of cooking, cooking skills, etc. The contribution of social policy to poverty in Ireland dealt with economic issues only and could have been expanded to include education, jobs, etc.
The compulsory elective question, worth 80 marks, was answered last and the candidate appeared to run out of time compromising the faultless “A” standard throughout the paper. Candidates must allocate time appropriately, having regard to the weighting of the marks.
Result: A1
FRENCH
Dervla Murphy
MY LOVE AFFAIR with the French language has led me to work as an au pair, teach at a French university, complete a Masters in French history and write a Leaving Cert textbook. Yet sitting down about to begin the exam, I can’t help but feel a little nervous. Suddenly, I am not the confident educator – I am simply another apprehensive exam candidate.
When I open the paper, I am eerily transported back to the mid-1990s when I sat my Leaving Cert. I steady myself and follow the advice I give to my students on how to tackle the paper; have a quick glance at the essay titles and start with the reading comprehensions. As I skim through the content of the texts, I undergo another transformation. I take off my student cap and replace it with my teacher’s hat. Who was I trying to fool? I cannot complete this paper as a student; I went over to the dark side years ago.
Like thousands of French students around the country, my sixth-years have put a huge amount of time and effort into preparing for this exam. One glance at this section could easily deflate their confidence. First up, the journalistic comprehension, which centres on reforms in the issuing of driving licences, a tricky enough topic with some rather specific technical vocabulary. The literary comprehension, traditionally the more difficult of the two, lives up to its reputation. The story of a young woman and her encounter with a human trafficker will prove challenging to all candidates.
A full 40 minutes are required to complete each comprehension. This is not due to any difficulties with the text but rather my knowledge of how fastidious the marking scheme can be. The presentation of an answer is crucial; marks are easily deducted here for including too much or too little information.
When I move on to the written section and look through the essay titles I can’t help but notice that the World Cup, a topic many teachers predicted as a bankable question, has not come up, but the eight topics are varied, current and relatively student-friendly.
It is no mean feat trying to keep my writing presentable as I plan, write and proofread three short essays in the space of an hour. I have found a new respect for the pen-wielding abilities of the Irish student. I finish up with the listening comprehension, which comprises five interesting and well-presented sections. While listening to the different extracts, I feel this section best reflects the importance and relevance of modern teaching methodologies. The hard work and practice which takes place in the classroom is clearly rewarded here.
Before I undertook this experience, I prided myself on my ability to empathise with students when it came to exam time. Little did I know how far off the mark I was. Come September, I will try to teach more transferable writing skills, smile more in class and reassure my sixth years that I really do understand the challenge that lies ahead.
RESULT
THIS CANDIDATE managed to combine excellent comprehension skills with a clear understanding of the marking scheme. However, in question 6 of the second comprehension, which requires an answer in English, the candidate reverted to paraphrasing the text rather than structuring the answer around two clear points. Yet the candidate provided a sufficient number of points to warrant full marks.
Questions 1-4 of the written section displayed a good range of vocabulary, tenses and structures.
Result:100 per cent (A1)
This was an independent project undertaken by The Irish Times. The exams were corrected by experienced Leaving Cert markers, but are not endorsed by the SEC and have no official status
