Teen-friendly papers with lots of space for creativity

Junior Cert English: post-mortemThere was a mixed reaction to yesterday's Junior Cert English papers at all levels. While the papers were seen as teen-friendly with plenty of scope for creativity, the questions lacked focus in some sections and were regarded as excessively technical in others.

Overall, examiners concentrated on the themes of tolerance and inclusiveness, and the environment was a pet topic.

The honours level paper opened gently with a comprehension on the joys of eating ice cream. The personal writing, or essay section, favoured readers of fantasy fiction, offering such titles as "The Time Machine" and "It's a weird and wonderful world".

Themes of tolerance and friendship featured in options that included a speech on making foreigners in Ireland feel welcome and a dialogue between two friends settling an argument.

Anne Gormley, an expert with the education website skoool.ie, felt that the paper struck just the right balance between accessibility and challenge. "The paper succeeded in relating to a teenage audience without dumbing down." The trickiest section was possibly the spoof advertisement in Section 4. Students were asked to deconstruct a mock advertisement that looked like a mobile-phone ad but in fact featured seashells and tin cans.

Ordinary Level English had a "right-on" feel, with a heavy focus on the environment and a nod to multiculturalism. The TUI's expert, John McGabhann, was pleased to see plenty of variety and topicality in the essay section. Choices included a personal account of being a refugee in Ireland and a highly imaginative conversation-style composition between two pieces of rubbish in a rubbish dump.

"The Ordinary Level comprehension was uplifting in tone - a lot of the set material on the Leaving Cert will be chosen by middle-aged people contemplating their own mortality - it's good to see that at Junior Cert level the content retains a light touch," Mr MacGabhann said.

Foundation Level English was described as a "very decent paper", brightened up with plenty of lively pictorial content and an inductive approach that started gently and became more challenging as the paper progressed.

Honours students returned in the afternoon to an unexciting paper that set no traps but didn't light any fires either. "The only surprising thing about this paper was the tone," said Ms Gormley. "The questions had a media rather than a literary feel."

Prescribed texts on the honours paper are not specified - students are asked general questions and can answer employing any texts that they have studied, so it's hard to get caught out.

Women were nowhere to be seen on English Paper II. "This paper, and especially the poetry, was far more suited to boys than girls," Mr MacGabhann noted.

Most commentators felt that in an attempt to make the paper accessible some of the questions lacked focus - not a helpful approach under stressed conditions. "Poetry can tell us what human beings are. Discuss." It's a rare student who can wax philosophical under these circumstances.