Dismay at 'unfair' Irish questions

Leaving Cert Irish Paper II:A challenging paper provoked concern for ordinary-level students yesterday. Teachers were dismayed at certain questions that were described as "very, very unfair".

While the paper opened well with a standard prose question, things deteriorated when students were asked to give a short account of the use of onomatopoeia in the poem Níl Aon Ní. "Ordinary-level English students would have a problem answering a question like that. To expect students to answer a question like that in Irish is just unfair," said ASTI subject representative and teacher in the Marian College, Ballsbridge, Robbie Cronin.

Clare Grealy of the Institute of Education agreed. "The very same poem was on the higher-level paper and those students were asked about colours and sounds," she said. "Onomatopoeia would have been much more suitable for higher-level students."

Another problem arose in poetry when students were asked about repetition in a different poem, Gealt?. Since that poem has few good examples of repetition, another poem would have been more appropriate for the question, Ms Grealy said.

On a more positive note for ordinary-level students, teachers praised the layout of the paper and described the other questions as straightforward.

At higher level, students were in bright spirits after an occasionally challenging but "very doable" Paper II, according to ASTI subject representative and teacher in the Mercy College in Sligo, Maria Hyland.

The paper was both predictable and unpredictable in what came up, according to teachers. Many expected topics came up, but the poetry and prose pieces were identical to those on last year's paper. "That wouldn't have been expected," said Ms Grealy. "But the questions were okay so it shouldn't have been a problem."

Poetry gave no cause for complaint. Study guide expert for The Irish Times, Éamonn Maguire, commented that the questions were not easy but the poems that came up were predictable.

Stair na Gaeilge caused some disagreement. Ms Grealy described the questions as "fairly okay". Mr Cronin, however, said some students may have been caught out by the selection of topics. "When it comes to Stair na Gaeilge, teachers have to rely on certain 'bankers'. The course is far too big to teach absolutely everything," he said. "A lot of those 'bankers' didn't come up this year."

He expressed concern at a question on Pearse and his role in the revival of Irish. While students could write about the revival of Irish, the inclusion of Pearse might have made the question too specific for some, he said.

Feedback from students was positive and, overall, the paper was welcomed as well balanced and of a good standard. "Most students coming out of that higher-level paper would have been ecstatic," Mr Maguire said.