Teachers and pupils angry at 'sloppy, unfair' tests

LEAVING CERT MUSIC: Teachers and pupils have slammed the Leaving Cert music morning and afternoon exams as sloppy, unimaginative, unbalanced and unfair.

Mr Arthur Sealey, a teacher in Walton's New School of Music, Dublin, slated the Department of Education for devising a slipshod music composition paper. "In question 1 of section A, the layout extended the given opening line into the second line which threw a lot of students. If the intention was to test the students, then it was unfair, but really it just appears sloppy."

The melody in this question was in the same key and had the same rhythm as last year, he said. "It shows a real lack of imagination on behalf of the Department."

Mr Sealey also noted an error in question 4, which he said the Department had failed to address year after year. "There should be a circle after the Roman numerals ii and vii to indicate diminished chords. It would be nice if the Department could give the correct chord charts. They should make an effort to be accurate."

The morning listening paper was carelessly unbalanced and asked questions not on the syllabus, Ms Kathryn Fitzgerald, a teacher in Loreto Abbey, Dalkey, said. "Every year we talk about getting the balance on the tape right, this year it was very wrong."

Students had less than 40 minutes to answer questions 1 to 4 which were "intense and difficult" and at least 50 minutes to answer questions 5 and 6. "It was very unfair and not balanced."

Her students found question 1 section A, part (iii) too hard to hear. Section B (iv) was also difficult, but section C (ii) was particularly unfair, she said. "It asked students to recognise 7th chords, which aren't even on the course." While most of the other questions were manageable, she said, 7th chords were asked again in question 6, section A (iv). Section B of this question had no printed music and was "extremely difficult".

It was the choice of music in question 6 which particularly angered students. Usually the question is on a song from a musical or a classical piece. This year it was Never Had a Dream Come True by S Club 7 and students were not happy. "Including a song by S Club 7 on the Leaving Cert music course in an absolute joke, it makes a laughing stock of the entire music education system in our country," said one student in Notre Dame des Missions, Dublin.

Mr Sealey also felt it was a bad choice. "The familiarity of a well-known pop song was a distraction," he said.

Ordinary-level students who listened to the same tape also encountered problems with question 6, Ms Fitzgerald said. Sections B (i) and C (i) were very difficult and C (iii) asked about a cadence not on the ordinary-level syllabus. She was also unhappy with the language. "Question 2 part (iv) used the word 'pulse', normally it would be 'beat'. I don't see why they needed to use such yuppie language."