Students 'happy out' with Leaving and Junior Cert English papers 

Students from the Institute of Education on St Stephens Green, Dublin, Jack Springael and Weronkia Mickiewicz review English paper one. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

“Happy out” is how some students described their reactions to this year’s English exam at both higher and ordinary levels.

English was also the first State exam in Junior Cycle on Wednesday.

All English papers were described as ‘fair and positive’ by teachers and students.

Nessa O'Meara, English and history teacher at Coláiste Eoin, Hacketstown, Carlow and Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) representative said prepared students would be comfortable with this year's Leaving Cert English paper one.

And students she spoke to were “happy out” following the exams.

“The theme of the ordinary paper was friendship, with comprehension texts that discussed Greta Thunberg , artificial intelligence and aliens,” she said.

The higher level paper had a theme called powerful voices, again very fitting and it is lovely to see an exam that allows students express themselves creatively.” 

Being invited to discuss topics that are of interest to students, like music, elicited particularly positive feedback from students, she said.

The option to write the text of a podcast also proved very popular with students, she said.

English paper one may in future be examined at the end of fifth year, rather than sixth. But Ms O’Meara said allowing students one extra year to mature was of huge benefit to their writing and critical thinking skills which are being assessed in that paper.

“By the end of sixth year, students have a better sense of self and have developed their unique voice and English paper one really allowed that to shine through,” she said.

“English paper one settles the nerves of the students and also helps set the tone for the students as they work their way through their exams. However, one would then wonder that if English paper one is being proposed to be examined at the end of fifth year in two years’ time, will students have fully developed their unique voice by then?” 

Kate O'Toole and Isobel Conlon from Loretto College, St Stephens Green, review English paper one. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Siobhan O’Donovan, who teaches at the Patrician Academy, Mallow, Cork, and is the English exam representative for the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland, also said students’ writing improved and matured significantly between fifth and sixth year.

And as the composition section of the paper is now worth 36% of all available marks across both papers, this section was now “extremely important”.

“I work with the State exams, I’ve been working as an examiner for 20 years, and this section is always a joy to correct. It’s very rewarding to mark candidates who really engage with their genre and demonstrate that they have fine-tuned their critical thinking skills and have matured as writers over the two-year senior cycle," she said.

Ms O'Donovan said Wednesday’s English papers gave students opportunities to demonstrate their creativity, critical thinking and knowledge, but noted the time allowed to do so was tight, particularly at junior level.

Covid disruption

But due to the huge disruption Covid wrought on students and their education, at Leaving Cert level, students had fewer questions to do on paper one but retained the same amount of time to do them as other years — almost three hours.

In the higher level paper, candidates engaged with two questions under the theme of ‘Powerful Voices’.

“In the composing section, a keen awareness of genre and the relevant features of the different types of writing will be rewarded following today’s exam,” she said.

“The titles were varied and provided plenty of choice for candidates. There were two personal essays, two short stories, a speech, a discursive essay and a feature article, although some students may have been disappointed with the lack of a descriptive essay. That wasn’t there this year.

“In the comprehension sections, students could choose to do either part A or part B. Normally, they do both, but because of Covid, they can do either part A or part B. Again, an awareness of genre and the features of each type of writing will be available here.

“Texts included a feature article by Maedhbh McGrath entitled, Poet, Fashion Icon, Future President? And a lovely excerpt from Hugo Hamilton’s The Pages.

“And for students who opted for question B, there was another opportunity for them to demonstrate their imagination and critical thinking. Questions included writing an editor’s response following a book burning event; the text of a podcast reflecting on the importance of music which will be a popular choice I imagine; and interestingly an open letter reflecting on the value, if any, of poetry in the Leaving Cert — I’m sure some of mine will have done that. 

"This was a lovely option because it allowed students to use their knowledge of poetry from paper 2 to enhance their position on this.

“The only difficulty with this section, B, was to include all elements of the task, because there can often be up to four tasks embedded in the one question, that’s the only pitfall,” she said.

“Overall, it was a very positive paper.”

Ms O'Donovan said the theme of the ordinary level paper ‘Exploring Friendships’ was also student friendly.

“Like the higher level paper, students at ordinary level had plenty of choice when it came to the essay titles — seven.

“The question Bs gave great scope to students again to demonstrate their skills. They could write the text of a radio ad, a letter or a report."

She said students were positive leaving this paper today.

Jamie Dockery, an English and history teacher at Tyndall College in Co Carlow and Studyclix subject expert also said students would be "relatively pleased" with this year’s Leaving Cert English paper one.

“Students will be relatively pleased with the higher level paper one English exam which, under the theme of 'Powerful Voices' offered them the opportunity to explore and discuss the significance of poetry, music and books. Overall, it was a fair exam with plenty of choice and stimulating material for the stronger candidates in particular to sink their teeth into," he said.

The English and Communications exam for the Leaving Cert Applied was the last before the new revised module descriptors (introduced in September 2021) will be examined from next year on. And while that newer course now has sections on the digital world, the final exam paper for the older course which has been around since before the turn of century showed it could also reflect students' lived experience with two detailed sections on Facebook and Zoom, teacher Shane Curtin said.

T.U.I spokesperson and Teacher of English and Communications in Colaiste Ide agus Iosef, Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick, Mr Curtin, believed that Leaving Cert Applied English was a fair paper which took account of the changed circumstances over the last two years which saw many of the students possibly lose out on large sections of work experience due to Covid.

"Instead the Communications and working world section of the paper focused on digital communication in the modern workplace and skills needed for job seeking," he said. 

"The exam which stretched to over 36 pages had as its introduction an audio visual section which used an extract from the documentary 'O'Casey in the Estate'."

He said that the documentary's setting in East Wall in Dublin with questions on the Plough and the Star's modern day relevance and the nature of community were more challenging but he welcomed it as an extract that centred working class voices and experience in the paper.

Time pressure a challenge

Ms O’Donovan also said time pressure at Junior Cycle could be a challenge.

“Familiarity with texts studied was crucial for this year’s English paper because students were under pressure to use all of their skills acquired in order to adapt their knowledge to the questions asked in the required amount of time,” she said.

“The poetry question was demanding, asking students if they believed that 'poets offer readers hope through poetry'. 

“The question was lovely but it required at least three poems to be used in the response, which is a lot for a Junior Cycle student.

“Question 2 saw students writing a diary entry, reflecting on a day that filled the, hope, which was nice. While choice between the studied novel or play featured in question 10.

“Thankfully, students were delighted to see that the film option appeared in the paper this year, marking the first time that the film option has appeared in the new Junior Cycle since it began in 2017.

“It was a lovely question about camera angles and shot types and the students were asked to reflect on the use of camera shots in key moments of their studied film.

All in all it was a fair paper, but as in previous years, students felt they would have benefitted from a little more time to complete what is an extremely busy paper. It’s a lovely paper but it is extremely busy. They just have two hours to do it.

The ordinary paper was again described as “lovely” by students at Junior Cycle, she said.

“They were tested on their comprehension skills and creative abilities. There was a film and a play.

“Question 8 was interesting, they were asked to reflect on the world of their chosen text in either their film, play or novel.”