Woodwork ‘fair’ but technical graphics ‘long’

There were examinations of technical and vocational skills in both of yesterday’s set of Junior Certificate exams.

The afternoon required almost 18,000 students to follow up on practical projects completed earlier this year for material technology (wood). The higher level written woodwork exam was one of the nicest and fairest in many years, said Patrick Curley, Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) subject spokesman.

He commended the excellent graphics and emphasis on skills and techniques typically used by students in woodwork rooms and in preparing their projects. A higher-level question about the intarsia technique of making pictures from contrasting solid woods would have been very popular, he predicted, as would an ordinary level option to answer about wood-turning in the making of a tea-light holder.