HOME ECONOMICS ORDINARY LEVEL:THE LEAVING Cert ordinary-level home economics examiners "upped the ante" yesterday afternoon with straightforward questions but a sometimes challenging paper, according to Sandra Cleary, home economics teacher in the Institute of Education.

“A lot of the topics, such as marriage and iron, that came up on the ordinary level paper, were actually tipped for higher level,” said Ms Cleary.

ASTI subject representative and teacher in Loreto College at St Stephen’s Green, Maura McCaul, described the paper as “balanced”, but agreed that some aspects of the paper were challenging for ordinary level students. “Question one in section two related to iron, which might have been difficult for the male candidates. It was probably more suited to female candidates,” Ms McCaul said.

A question on coronary heart disease could have linked in to some students’ journal work, according to Ms McCaul, although question three in section B about the availability of housing could have been difficult if students did not have the relevant figures, she said. Ms McCaul also welcomed the inclusion of a question about female participation in the workforce as “nice to see”.

Like the higher level paper, applied knowledge featured strongly at ordinary level. “You certainly needed to know your work,” Ms Cleary said.

“The first question in section C involved a lot of applied knowledge. It was somewhat unusual for an ordinary level question.”

Home economics is generally regarded as one of the more demanding Leaving Cert subjects. The subject also suffers from the perception that it is old-fashioned and traditional in tone.

In fact, the home economics course is topical and very modern. It explores issues like social policy and consumer rights as well as areas such as nutrition, fashion, design and home maintenance.

The other complaint from students yesterday was that the paper was a little long.

It was especially demanding for students who had also taken English yesterday.