Teachers criticise overlapping of themes

Junior Certificate Irish: Junior Certificate students sitting yesterday's final Irish instalment answered comprehension questions on celebrities Scarlett Johannson and Hector Ó hEochagáin in a paper celebrated by teachers for its topicality and accessibility.

However, the overlapping of skills and themes in the first and second paper was criticised yesterday by teachers, who questioned the point of having comprehension texts in both papers and letter-writing exercises in the second paper when paper one had already tested writing skills.

Only higher level students had to undertake a second paper yesterday, while foundation level students sat their first and final paper yesterday morning.

A passage from a novel entitled Fuadach, meaning "kidnap", may have posed difficulties for many students unfamiliar with the terminology surrounding terrorism, according to Bernadette Nic Gearailt, a TUI subject representative.

The excerpt based on terrorists kidnapping the child of a rich family contained new and complex terms, leaving students struggling to comprehend the comprehension questions. In terms of the prescribed novels and plays, the choice was perceived as narrower than previous years. "The problem with this paper is that it is too long and has changed in recent years," Ms Nic Gearailt said. "It tends to test the same skills as the first paper and really needs to be shortened."

Robbie Cronin, an ASTI subject representative and teacher in Marian College, Ballsbridge, Dublin, said the second paper remained "all over the place".