Teachers of civic, social and political education (CSPE) say that the Minister for Education and Science Dr Michael Woods is downgrading their subject by allowing university students to correct this year's Junior Cert papers. Yesterday Mr Woods told RTE's Rodney Rice that because of the explosion in the numbers taking the CSPE exam this year (up to 60,000 against 16,000 last year), it was necessary to draw up a panel of reserve examiners. This, he said, would consist of final year students and graduates.

CSPE teachers say that in his RTE interview the Minister implied that marking the CSPE papers was straightforward. They say, however, that along with the exam paper, examiners must also correct an action project or course work assessment project completed by students during the school year. Mr Brendan O'Regan, who is PRO for the Association of CSPE Teachers, said that the projects were very detailed and required assessment by practising teachers. The shortage of qualified examiners was due to poor remuneration, he said.