Obscure, challenging topics were unpopular with some

The Leaving Certificate Irish Higher Level Paper 1 was unpopular with some teachers yesterday.

It was 'more difficult than other years', according to Robbie Cronin of the ASTI and Marian College, Ballsbridge, Dublin.

Another teacher, Clare Grealy of the Institute of Education, Dublin, criticised it for being 'obscure in topic, choice and focus'.

'Unusually, the paper did not reflect the current status of the country, and was not particularly topical,' she said.

Mr Cronin did not like the wording of the essay title, What's in store for Ireland as a member of the EU?, nor did he like the speech/debate choice.

He regarded the comprehension piece on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela as 'very challenging and unfairly difficult' and criticised the lack of a glossary to explain certain words.

The second comprehension, on Ted Kennedy, was more balanced, 'but this does not mean it was easy' and he believes question 5 would have caused a problem. He again bemoaned the absence of a glossary.

Ms Grealy said economic and political language skills were required for one of the essay questions and the debate question, while she felt the essay question, The importance of Good News was very vague.

However, she felt the comprehension section was straightforward.

'The language was clear and the layout was straightforward.'

At ordinary level, Mr Cronin felt the paper overall was okay, but said the second comprehension was difficult.

Ms Grealy said it was generally a good paper, although a piece on the Future of Digital Broadcasting for Irish radio may have caused some anxiety as the title of the piece used the terms 'craoladh' (broadcast) and 'todhchaí' (future) -- terms which ordinary level candidates may not be accustomed to.

- Katherine Donnelly

Irish Independent