Abstract thinking needed to answer a tough challenge

Verdict: Junior Cert Religious Education: Junior Certificate students were tested today with a "tough" religious education paper. This is the second year that students have been examined in religion and the majority found the experience challenging.

Some students expressed surprise at the paper's "heavy stress on morality, demanding a high level of abstract thinking," said ASTI subject expert David Martyn, who also noted that students were disappointed not to see a Bible extract on the paper.

"Section five was a problem for many students who were thrown by the context of questions," said Ms Una Killoran, TUI subject expert. Students were asked to deliver a talk to a bible meeting on the subject of the Gospels. Other questions in this section required students to discuss "the effect of an inspiring vision on a community of faith" and to examine the role of forgiveness, freedom or stewardship in the work of any religious organisation.

The ordinary level paper - taken by 3,869 students yesterday - was deemed fair, but too similar to the higher exam.

"Students were asked to provide shorter answers to many of the same questions that appeared on the higher paper," one teacher remarked.

Religious education, which has only been an examinable elective for two years, has had a relatively high uptake, with almost 15,000 students opting to take it this year.

The objective of the syllabus is to provide students with a broad education in all the major world religions, as well as looking a morality and spirituality as concepts distinct from religious adherence.

Some schools are offering the subject as an elective, whereas others have made it a core subject in the Junior cycle.

The idea of offering a state exam in religious education was first touted in the 1970s, but it took more than 20 years for the syllabus to become available. Pressure for the establishment of a religion syllabus came from religion teachers themselves, who were finding their subject deprioritised in schools.

"Qualified religion teachers were losing class time to other subjects. People who had spent four years studying in Mater Dei and Maynooth were not getting the same status as other teachers," said Ms Una Killoran, an NCCA committee member who has spent ten years working on the new course.

The syllabus is proving popular with students and currently has a higher uptake than electives such as Spanish, German, Technology and Music.

While the syllabus places a lot of emphasis on Christianity, there is plenty of scope for students who are better acquainted with other world religions and those who have no religious adherence.

Teachers working in areas where there is a high concentration of Muslim families have expressed satisfaction with the range of the syllabus. One superintendent remarked on the high number of students from Irish backgrounds who opted to answer questions on Islam on yesterday's paper.