Madam, - Civic Social and Political Education (CSPE) has been an important development in Irish second-level education in the past five years. It has provided a modest foothold for citizenship education in the Junior Certificate curriculum.
The course emphasises active citizenship and encourages teamwork and collaboration among students. This has led to a variety of activities in schools: mock elections, surveys, fundraising, guest speakers, designated days, student council activities, etc.
The model of student assessment in the course has meant less emphasis on a terminal exam and more on work completed during the course (40 per cent of marks are given for the exam and 60 per cent for an action project report). This model of assessment has been achieved without the necessity for teachers to assess their own students for State exam purposes.
Sean Flynn's comment (The Irish Times, September 10th) that CSPE is one of the "easiest" Junior Certificate subjects misses the point of it all. CSPE is the only common level paper in the Junior Certificate - there are not meant to be higher and ordinary level citizens. An important purpose of the assessment in this case is to support the worthwhile work being done in schools by students and their teachers.
Mr Flynn's further comment that "results are regularly withheld in this subject" needs to be balanced by pointing out that the numbers concerned in this problem (126) are very small in the context of close to 60,000 students taking the subject.
The evident innovation of teachers and the achievements of students involved in Junior Certificate CSPE need to be acknowledged and celebrated. - Yours, etc.,
PHILIP IRWIN,
Chairperson,
Association of CSPE Teachers,
Woodstock Park,
Dublin 16.