Engineering paper 'testing in parts'

Furniture designer Eileen Gray and waste incineration were just two of the subjects featured on today’s higher level engineering paper, which counted or half of the overall mark in the subject.

Students had already designed a snow plough and manufactured a mechanism earlier in the year.

Over 5,000 students take engineering for the Leaving Certificate, but it has a proportionately lower female participation than any other subject, at just one in 25.

A new syllabus has been in the pipeline for a number of years but despite the delivery of in-service training for engineering teachers, the course has yet to be replaced.

“There were no major challenges on yesterday’s paper and the inclusion of Eileen Gray was a new and welcome nod to the aesthetic side of this subject,” said Kenny Donagher, a teacher in Summerhill College in Sligo.

Eamonn Dennehy of Asti gave a cautious welcome to the higher paper, which he regarded as quite testing in places.

“The special topic on incineration, which the students would have been well-prepared for, would have required tnem to think on their feet. This was not a paper that rewarded learning off-by-heart.”

Although the paper followed the usual format, it was “searching enough”.

“Students would have had to have worked hard to do well. It’s usually a student-friendly enough paper, but it required students to apply their minds.

The current curriculum has been examined since the 1980s. Numbers taking the subject have remained steady but the subject has failed to attract significant numbers of female students.

“Not a single girls’ school offers the subject at Leaving Cert,” said Kenny Donagher. “This is a pity because girls who take the subject tend to do well. I think more gilrs would opt for engineering if the choice was there, and the practical element has been fine-tuned in recent years to make it more attractive to both boys and girls. The inclusion of a designer like Eileen Gray is a step in the right direction.”

One in five students take the subject at ordinary level. Today’s paper was described as “predictable”.