This was the first year that the new Junior Cycle English specification was examined. Here are some examples of questions, all designed to provoke higher order thinking and to prevent regurgitation.
“Identify a news story that captured your attention in the last 12 months. Comment on the ways in which various forms of the media, like online, broadcast, print, etc, helped you to learn more about your chosen story.”
‘Do you think that this extract from Sean, the Fool, the Devil and the Cats by Ted Hughes would work well on stage? Give reasons for your answer with close reference to the extract.”
“Imagine you are the costume or stage designer for a production of this play. Describe how you would like to see the characters costumed or the stage set. Give reasons for your answer with close reference to the extract.”
Except, of course, all of those questions were from old Junior Cert English exams.
This year’s questions
Here’s some of this year’s questions. “Based on your reading of the above extract from The Tempest, explain two things that a director could do to stage this extract from the play in an imaginative way.”
“Select one character from a Shakespearean play that you have studied and list five adjectives that identify this character’s essential qualities.” The next question was: “Choose one of the qualities identified in the list above. Explain how at least two key moments from the play highlight this quality in your chosen character.”
Although perhaps slightly easier, they are not too different from the old Junior Cert.
In contrast, look at this question on Romeo and Juliet from 1971, the old Intermediate Certificate. “Few of the characters in Romeo and Juliet are fully drawn as real persons. Nurse and Mercutio are quite fully developed. Most of the others are types.” The student then had to pick either Nurse or Mercutio and discuss how accurate the statement is in relation to them and then contrast how another character is portrayed.
This is an entirely different order of question.
Tick the box
This year, students had to tick a box indicating whether the use of an apostrophe was correct. In 1971, you had to write out the clauses into which you would separate a sentence, indicate the subject and predicate of each clause, and state the function of the subordinate clause.
There seems to be no room for an extended piece of creative writing in the new exam, probably because the entire exam is now two hours long
There seems to be no room for an extended piece of creative writing in the new exam, probably because the entire exam is now two hours long, whereas the old Junior Cert had two papers, totalling five hours.
Although two sample papers were published for the new Junior Cycle English specification, no marking schemes were provided. Was the lack of marking schemes designed to emphasise how low the stakes are in the new Junior Cycle?
In England, new specifications for GCSEs in English Language and English Literature were also examined for the first time this year.
Opposite direction
England is going in entirely the opposite direction to Ireland because of grave concern about grade inflation. English at GCSE level is now being examined in two separate examinations – English Language and English Literature. Most students will take both.
Eight hours in total seems extreme for people in their mid-teens
OCR, one of the best-known examining boards, now sets two two-hour examinations in English Language, and the same in English Literature, eight hours in total, which seems extreme for people in their mid-teens. There is one only tier – no equivalent of higher or ordinary.
In English Literature, students must study at least one play by Shakespeare, at least one 19th-century novel and no fewer than 15 poems since 1789, including representative Romantic poetry. The final element is fiction or drama from the British Isles from 1914 onwards.
Teachers in England are very worried about how weaker students will deal with these demanding courses, particularly as there is only one level of paper. In fairness, the new Irish specification for English has a minimum of 16 poems. One of Shakespeare’s plays and at least two novels are also mandatory along with a film. There is no equivalent, however, of the new GCSE requirement to be able to engage with texts, both seen and unseen, from the 19th, 20th and 21st century.
Coursework
Schools and parents gave so much help to students that coursework became virtually meaningless
England has virtually abolished coursework, that is, work that was not part of terminal exams but still counted towards grades. Schools and parents, especially in middle-class areas, gave so much help to students that coursework became virtually meaningless.
Ireland has just introduced a coursework component in all the new Junior Cycle courses, but it is worth only 10 per cent of the terminal exam.
In terms of academic achievement, our expectations of young Irish people are definitely lower than they were 50 years ago. We pride ourselves on our educational innovation, but will it produce the kind of critical thinkers we need in an increasingly complex world?
The reform in England is an over-reaction, probably due to fears of a loss of a distinctively English culture. However, our Junior Cycle reform, especially when our young people still have to sit a gruelling Leaving Cert, is probably not serving our young people as well as we would hope, either, but for very different reasons.