Leaving Cert Home Economics: ‘Curve ball’ question may have caught some out

Home economics students faced a topical paper which reflected life in modern Ireland — but there was a twist, according to Sandra Cleary, a home economics teacher at the Institute of Education.

“A curve ball in the compulsory part of Question 4A may have caught some students out. Two topics, vegetables and food preservation, that have appeared on the paper in very recent years, came up again.

“Mortgages, veganism and Vitamin D all appeared, making this a topical paper that reflects life in Ireland in 2022,” Ms Cleary said.

Mairead Tomkins, TUI subject representative and a teacher at Coláiste Eoin in Hacketstown, Co Carlow, said the questions asked on the higher level paper were very current, with a section on home offices and a question concerning the eating habits of teenagers as the compulsory section B bar chart question.

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Ms Cleary said there was a good choice in the short questions, and the long questions were clear and well phrased, but that students will have been disappointed to see Vitamin D as the only nutrient examined in the long questions.

“Students spend so much time and effort on nutrients and they will be annoyed that this was the only reference to a specific nutrient to appear in this section,” she said.

Margaret Kinsella, subject representative for the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland and a teacher at Bunclody Vocational College in Wexford, said while some students may have expected carbohydrates to appear on the paper, most should have been prepared for the question on Vitamin D that appeared instead.

Overall, however, Ms Kinsella said that students were happy with the choice and time on the paper.

Ms Cleary said that students welcomed the choice and range of topics in the short questions, while they were also glad to see the return of a more familiar question in part A.

“Students were presented with a table which they had to interpret. If they had practised with previous tables, they would have had no difficulty here. Students will have been happy to see mould and enzymes come up here, as both topics have not appeared on the paper since 2015 and 2013.”

Ms Tomkins said that students had to answer fewer questions than the pre-Covid home economics paper.

“This [left] time to engage with the questions and answer them as thoroughly as possible,” said Ms Tomkins.

The ordinary level paper also had a wide range of questions across a broad number of topics, according to Linda Dolan, Studyclix.ie subject expert and a home economics teacher at Mercy College Sligo.

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“Short questions included types of sauces, lipids, meal planning guidelines for a person recovering from an illness and buying on credit,” Ms Dolan said.

“The topical issue of food waste reared its head in question three with a fairly tricky question on home food preservation. ‘Athleisure wear’ was investigated in elective two — an area that came up in last year’s Higher Level paper. Overall, the paper was fair and very doable.”

Ms Tomkins agreed that the paper would not have thrown any well-prepared student.

Try this one at home:

Leaving Cert home economics, higher level

Vegan diets are increasing in popularity; however, these diets require careful planning.

(a) Identify three nutrients that could be deficient in a vegan diet and outline a strategy to prevent the deficiency of each nutrient. (18 marks)

(b) Set out details of an alternative protein food you have studied. Refer to: name; stages in manufacture.