The new Leaving Cert English syllabus represents one of the most exciting and fundamental changes at second-level in recent years. It will be introduced to all fifth-year classes in September 1999 and will be examined in 2001.
"It's a very exciting challenge," says Tom Mullins, an NCCA education officer in English for the Leaving Cert programme. "The world has changed so much. Traditional approaches are not going to work any more. We have to give due recognition to the power of the media."
There's lots of drafting and redrafting, he says. "A syllabus is an aspirational document. The key is that teachers need very thorough in-service training."
Mullins, a lecturer at UCC's education department, says that drawing up a new syllabus is "arduous, challenging and exciting. We have concluded our work and we're just awaiting news about the in-service training plans.
"I started on this work in 1991. It took about four years. You meet about once a month for up to seven months of the year. It's very arduous work. There's a lot of research. Each view has to be taken into account and we are given pretty clear guidelines about the general outlines."
The old syllabus emphasised literacy, says Mullins. The new one will too - "but it focuses a lot more sharply on how it should be taught. There are very specific directions." Grammar and punctuation have also been developed.
New concepts have been introduced, such as language awareness and critical literacy. "There are a lot more sophisticated ways of looking at teaching of English," says Mullins. "The Minister is very ambitious and enthusiastic to include an oral dimension to this syllabus. It's difficult in the context of the Leaving Cert because it's a final exam. It would be introduced at Junior Cert level first. This has to be thought about very carefully. It's being worked on. We're very much in favour of that - it would liberate the students from the printed page."
The literacy area has been totally revamped. "We always attempt to be traditional and contemporary so that students would have the double appeal," says Mullins. "The new course will include up to 30 texts. You have a range of the old and the new - from Shakespeare up to Colm Toibin."
