Fair paper with range of hot topics

Junior Cert: Civil, social and political education post-mortem:All Junior Certificate students sat the common Civil, Social and Political Education (CSPE) paper yesterday afternoon. They were treated to a range of hot topics including the Special Olympics, the Sellafield threat, cuts in health spending and the debate over incinerators.

Students and teachers felt that the paper was fair in most respects although some questions would have posed a challenge to weaker students.

"Section three, part four asked students to write the text of a motion that they would put forward in the Dáil on the subject of Famine in Africa - honours English students may have been able for this task but it would have been hard for the rest," said TUI teacher expert Ms Anne O'Shea.

The four year old CSPE exam has to strike a very fine balance each year as it is a common paper to all levels. The course focuses on seven central course concepts including democracy, human dignity, stewardship (the environment) and interdependence. The Junior Cert CSPE exam only counts for 40 per cent of students' overall marks - the rest are earned on action projects such as fundraising drives, surveys or mock elections during the year.

This year students selected a range of action projects including surveys on student attitudes to the war in Iraq and Amnesty International awareness campaigns.

This year's paper looked a lot better than in previous years and has finally developed a suitable level of environmental content, Mr Brendan O'Regan of the CSPE Teachers Association noted.

"This year's paper was wonderfully topical and most students should have had a perspective on the issues covered. We welcome the more attractive layout of the paper - it's a great help to all students to have quality graphics to refer to."

Students were questioned on the pros and cons of last year's Irish postcard campaign on Sellafield, which featured a lobbying letter to the British Prime Minster, Mr Tony Blair. A challenging question on State control of Internet traffic may have scared off weaker students but it only counted for two marks out of a possible 14 in the section.