Dept backs engineering exam

A claim that Leaving Cert engineering students are unjustly questioned in their exam with material that is not on the syllabus has been rejected by the Department of Education and Science.

The issue is a matter of contention among teachers, according to Padraig Kirk, chairman of the Engineering and Technology Teachers Association, who cites a gap between the syllabus and the exam. "The subject became exam driven rather than syllabus driven," he explains. "Teachers took it in hand themselves and moved it on rather than wait for the syllabus to be changed. It has been a bone of contention for many years, but the NCCA has moved on it now and a revised syllabus is due out in mid-February for consultation." Liam Hennessy, co-author with Lawrence Smyth of the subject's only textbook, points out that "the book does not cover what could be on the exam papers" because "when we were asked to do the book we took the view that it should address the syllabus. If we attempted to address the exam papers you might get into a situation where you had no control."

Teachers, he says, "have moved their subject into the present century quite admirably. As a group they have done marvellously."

According to Kirk, "the exam problem exists. If we were to teach the old syllabus we would be very much behind the times. It's out of date. It's a problem with Junior Cert metalwork also. Many things that are not on the syllabus are being examined. We are pushing as an association for a revision of the metalwork syllabus." One parent, whose son is studying Leaving Cert engineering, says students are being treated unfairly. "I cannot believe that this has happened for over a decade without anything being done about it," he says. "I would have been fulminating if I was teaching this subject. I would not object if this material was an option on the paper, but it's often asked as a compulsory question.

He cites exam questions on pneumatics and electronics, "quite frequently in the compulsory section"; there is nothing about these areas in the textbook used by the majority of teachers. "Consequently the teachers may or may not teach them, depending on their knowledge or confidence. "It seems to me to be both unfair and probably illegal to examine material which is not in the syllabus and which many students cannot prepare for properly," he says.

According to the Department of Education and Science, there are 13 short questions in the compulsory section of paper one, and the candidate is only obliged to answer 10 of the 13. "It's in the compulsory section but it is not compulsory," says a spokesman.

Michael Cregan, an engineering and metalwork teacher at Community School, Drumcollogher, Co Limerick, who is on the NCCA syllabus course committee, says that this alleged discrepancy has not been an issue for teachers over the years. "There's an addendum to the syllabus which allows for areas to come in." Teachers are given three years' notification by the Department on what special topics are going to come up in this section, he says.

If there were a problem with the exam, he says, "I'd be the first to complain."