Teachers have heavily criticised a new Junior Cycle common-level history paper which offered students no choices and did not give any indication as to how many marks would be allocated to each question.
In addition, teachers said the exam took little account of the challenges and disruption students have faced in the past few years in trying to cover course content.
Niall Westman, TUI subject representative and a teacher at Mountmellick Community School in Laois, said that the lack of choice was “ridiculous”.
“Students had to answer all eight questions on the paper. If you had missed any topic because you were off for any reason – including Covid – you had no chance of answering the questions. I have no idea why there was no choice.”
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Philip Irwin, Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland subject representative and a teacher at The High School in Rathgar, said that the paper was “ungenerous”.
“In the context of the pandemic, the State Examinations Commission could have been more generous in giving more choice to students. On the sample paper, students had to answer 10 questions; here, it was eight.”
Mr Westman and Mr Irwin pointed out that there was no idea of the marking scheme on the paper.
“There was no guidance on the paper about how the marks would be distributed,” said Mr Irwin. “I am presuming it is 45 marks for each of the eight questions, but we don’t know, and students were left to guess how much effort should go into each question. It was further complicated by the provision of over three pages of additional writing space – are they going to give extra marks if you write more on each question? It was not clear what they were looking for. This all lacked rigour.”
Mr Westman said that some of the questions would have thrown students.
“This was an exam that may have thrown the average common level student. While those with good literacy skills will do well, there was no acknowledgment that literacy levels have fallen for some students on account of missing school during the pandemic,” he said.
Both teachers were critical of the heavy focus on pre-1900 history, with the Holocaust as the only post-1900 topic.
“The other teachers in my school are disappointed that a lot of effort went into covering the World Wars and the cold war, but they did not come up,” said Mr Westman.
Mr Irwin was critical of the framing of some questions.
“The paper focused heavily on the process of history and sources – but was the story being lost here?” he asked.
On a positive note, however, Mr Irwin said that a question on the Renaissance was good, as was one on the great explorers and another on the Holocaust.
Try this one at home:
Junior Cycle history, common level
From your study of the Holocaust, explain why Kristallnacht was a turning point in Nazi persecution of Jewish people.
What were two consequences of the Holocaust?
