English Ordinary: 'Smiling faces on the way out is always a good sign'

INCREDIBLE journeys was the theme for Leaving Certificate English, ordinary level, Paper 1, which may have been bumpy in parts for some students.

But teachers and students appeared happy overall. "Smiling faces coming out is always a good sign," said Michael Doherty of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland and Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana, Co Donegal.

Alan Thompson of the Teachers' Union of Ireland and Abbey Vocational School, Donegal town, said the paper was a very good start, presenting no great difficulties.

But Jim Lusby of Dublin's Institute of Education disagreed.

"All three texts in the comprehension were horribly dated; the extract from Dervla Murphy's travel book was published in 1965," he said.

Mr Doherty noted a new format in the comprehension section, with more of a breakdown in the longer questions, offering more structure to students.

He described the choices in the composing section as generally good.

"But the one quibble I would have is that there was only one short story," he added.

"The more creative students would have been okay, but other students might have found that a bit limiting."

Mr Lusby thought candidates should not have had any difficulty selecting a composing task "with a wide range of interesting topics".

- Katherine Donnelly

Irish Independent