Time to move on from navel-gazing

Leaving Cert Irish: post-mortem Yesterday's Irish paper 1 was deemed utterly irrelevant to the interests of 18-year-old Irish students, and more importantly, did not give them any opportunity to use Irish in a contemporary or natural way, according to some sources.

TUI teacher expert Mr John MacGabhann was furious at what he described as a backward-looking, navel-gazing exercise that limited students rather than giving them a chance to shine.

Composition choices included an essay on the absence of fairness in society today - critics queried the use of the convoluted term "absence of fairness" where a more straightforward term could have been used.

Teacher expert Mr Donal Ó Loinsigh predicts that many students will have attempted the second essay option, on religion in society, but may have misunderstood the real meaning of the title, which alluded to the role of politics in people's belief systems.

"Students shouldn't panic if they didn't get the exact meaning of the title - examiners will look favourably on essays that deal with religion in Ireland more generally," Mr O Loinsigh said.

All the essay choices were heavy in content and left students with little choice. The short story section featured the one word title, Caimileireacht (Corruption), a term many students may have had trouble with.

Luckily, students had the option to ignore essays and short stories and opt instead for an article or debate speech. The options in these sections were considered fairer, although students were asked to tackle an "absurdly reflexive" article on whether or not the subject of the Irish language is too often discussed in Irish-language magazines.

"This kind of navel-gazing makes the teaching and learning of Irish a burden," Mr MacGabhann said. "This subject of the Irish language is an itch that must be scratched year after year in the higher-level exam and it's time we moved on."

The comprehension section also touched on the topic of language itself and the second passage was a heavy treatise on road carnage. On the whole the paper was thought to make little connection with its audience, unlike the Junior cycle and ordinary level papers.

Ordinary-level Irish was straightforward and students had plenty of time to find their way around the paper. Students felt the choices were open-ended and fair. The essay topics reflected the kind of material students might have studied for their oral, and this thematic linkage was praised. The Junior Certificate ordinary level aural exam was not difficult, but at times a little hard to hear.