JUNIOR CERT CIVIL, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION:IN CONTRAST to last year's CSPE exam, which was criticised for failing to address topical issues, the 2009 paper was received warmly by teachers and students.

Bernadine O’Sullivan, press officer with the Association of Civics Teachers (ACT) was “reasonably happy” with the paper, but had reservations about the opening questions.

This featured four human rights activists (Bono, Aung San Suu Kyi, Adi Roche and Nelson Mandela) and students were asked to link them to their causes. Ms O’Sullivan suggested that the mix of current and historical figures might confuse students.

Question 2 invited students to list issues or topics related to CSPE’s seven core concepts.

This was the most difficult section of the paper, she said: “Some students didn’t understand the question as the phrasing made it very unclear.” This lack of clarity may have led some students to answer incorrectly, she feared.

However, these proved to be the only stumbling blocks in an exam otherwise straightforward and student-friendly.

In section 2, students were asked to discuss the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

This was followed in section 3 by a timely one on local elections. This link was singled out for praise by Ms O’Sullivan: “It was good to see more topical subjects tackled in the paper, particularly given Friday’s elections,” she said.

More everyday concerns were also examined, with a question on mobile phone text bullying, one of the “hot-button” issues that many students will be familiar with, Ms O’Sullivan said.

Overall, according to Ms O’Sullivan, it seemed the department had listened to the criticisms of previous years, delivering a much more “current” exam that would satisfy students of all levels, with few areas of complaint.