Leaving Cert art: ‘Many students will have felt a wave of calm reading the titles’

The higher level Leaving Cert art and visual studies exam was a “positive debut” for the new format and allowed student a good opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge.

Declan Kelly, art and visual studies teacher at the Institute of Education, said students might have felt especially nervous heading into the hall given that there was only one sample paper to work from.

“While the paper opened with the most novel section, the following two parts were the most traditional and many students will have felt a wave of calm reading the titles,” he said.

He said the fhe focus of section A was to get students thinking on their feet and to “reassess and react” rather than “regurgitate”.

‘We’re moving with the times’: Private all-girls’ school in south Dublin to admit boys for first time

---

Anyone can teach anything in schools – just like they did a century ago

---

Sharp rise in first-class degrees may be linked to student expectations and competition among universities

---

‘Fionn is fluent in Irish. It would be a shame to lose it.’ The boy who can’t access a secondary Gaelscoil

---

“The first question on David Booth was lovely. As a well-known contemporary Irish artist, Booth’s style and how to discuss it would have been well known to those that are alert to the current art world. Question 5′s topical issue of galleries and their funding offered students a chance to say so much that getting it all to fit in the given spaces posed the bigger challenge,” he said.

Mr Kelly said these straightforward questions were mingled with moments that might cause students looking for a rigid approach to falter.

“What qualifies as ‘mood’ in Question 2′s Wolfwalkers still gives students more freedom to interrogate their reactions, which is liberating but harder to prepare before the exam. The lateral use of ideas was essential to Questions 6 and 7,” he said.

“The image of the Nike runner would have appealed to those with an interest in fashion, but even those who prefer the more traditional painting or sculpture would still have the vocabulary for a strong answer. Again, very approachable, but the stress of the exam hall can make things appear trickier.”

He said section B – Europe and the wider world – and section C – Ireland and its place in the wider world – were “both lovely”.

“Rather than asking the students to perform a complex reimagining of the material, they sought to test a solid grasp of the fundamentals,” he said.

“All the questions, whether on pre-Christian, the Baroque, or Impressionism, were fair and generous opportunities for students to show what they have studied. There was clarity and simplicity across the board, so those who found their confidence knocked in Section A had a chance to end the paper on a more assured footing,” he said.

Mr Kelly said this was a positive first step for the new paper.

“While students might not have had the same bank of past papers to draw upon in preparing, it is also important to remember that marking schemes will also have to adapt and react to this debut,” he added.