THE full colour photograph of Fungie, the Dingle dolphin, which accompanied yesterday morning's Junior Cert ordinary level English paper was somewhat overshadowed by the appearance a Honda Marlin (the car not the fish), a cute, nameless dog advertising a cough mixture, and a series of Telecom call cards on the higher and foundation papers.
Pat Larkin, spokesman for the Teachers' Association of Media Education, was less than happy with the splash made by advertising in the media studies section.
"At higher level, the question requires the candidate to deal with advertising techniques, so a precise technical type answer is required. Last year I applauded the Department of Education for moving on from the predictable advertising question and dealing with a live issue. The 1995 questions compared the front page of the Star and The Irish Times. Advertising is certainly relevant however, it is overexposed and lends to a staid approach from a large section of students. A retrograde step," Mr Larkin said.
He noted that the media studies question at ordinary level was also an advertisement, followed by comprehension questions. "Young people's exposure to and experience of the media is wide and all inclusive. Let us not be afraid to open the shutters on the media studies section of the junior Cert," Mr Larkin said.
At foundation level, he was happy with the range of media studies questions, though he said the number of call cards featuring advertisements outnumbered those commemorating events.
However, Ms Fiona de Buis, TUI subject representative, was less than pleased with the content of the foundation level paper. The content seemed to "imply that foundation level students are intellectually inferior because they have literacy problems", she said.
In particular, Ms de Buis referred to the Robert Louis Stevenson poem The Moon, which includes the word "birdies". The use of the puppet show in the drama section was an "implied condescension", Ms de Buis added. The content could have been more sophisticated and aimed at the level of interest of the students, she said, though she recognised the problem with balancing language and content.
Mr John McGabhann, TUI subject representative, also found the foundation level paper condescending in parts, he said. He mentioned a question in the media studies section asking students if they would prefer a five unit call card or a 50 unit one. The paper was quite restrictive, with no choice offered in the functional writing section, he said rather unfair compared to the choice offered in the ordinary and higher level papers, he added.
Mr McGabhann criticised the media studies section as having little to do with media studies. "In some respects it was no more than a vision test," he said.
The ordinary level paper was fair, he said, although the reading passage, from Ireland's Friendly Dolphin by Sean Mannion, was "a little thin. It was topical and highly accessible but stylistically "there wasn't a great deal to it." "The personal writing was quite fair and a reasonable effort Was made to contextualise it, he said. The poetry was accessible with a wide range of questions while the drama passage was age appropriate without being condescending, Mr McGabhann said. He noted the absence of female contributors in the texts used.
He praised the choice of reading passage in the higher level paper, an extract from a travel book by Dervla Murphy, but added that the questions were jaded and formulaic. "The drama was excellent, an inspired choice with a superb contrast between Henry VIII and Patience, the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Mr McGabhann commented. The poetry, by Paul Simon and John Donne, was also "excellently chosen", while the fiction, an excerpt from a Walter Macken novel, was strong, he said.
"Generally, the higher level paper was very well modulated with a good variety of material.
In CBS Youghal, Co Cork, students were also pleased with the higher level papers, though some found the afternoon paper a little long. Their teacher, Mr Kevin Clerkin, said that students should have no complaints with a generally straightforward paper. He said the choice of Patience was unusual but the two characters were easy to manage". The poetry was a good choice and the questions were easy. The Macken passage was, however, very long at the end of a long paper, he added.
Ms Sheila Parsons, ASTI subject representative, said that all in all, the papers were very satisfactory. The usual high standard with regard to layout and presentation has been maintained since the Junior Cert began." The foundation level paper was "fine quite challenging", she said. The higher level papers were quite difficult but fair. "Overall, I felt that all of the Junior Cert English papers were user friendly but challenging," she said.