Junior Cycle Irish: 20 schools get correct papers after last-minute scramble

The build-up to the Junior Cycle Irish exam was marked by confusion in about 20 schools after it emerged that they received the wrong exam papers in advance.

Candidates in Irish and English medium schools sat different Junior Cycle Irish papers for the first time on Thursday as part of a reform to provide a more challenging exam for students attending gaelcholáistí.

The Teanga 1 (T1) exam is designed for schools in Gaeltacht areas and Irish medium schools while Teanga 2 (T2) is designed for pupils attending English medium schools.

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) said it was alerted to a discrepancy which resulted in about 20 schools receiving T2 exam papers for students who were expected to take Irish T1 by their school.

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A spokesman said the commission had been alerted to the discrepancy in advance and arrangements were made to provide the schools with the correct exam papers in advance of this morning’s sitting.

The issues appear to have arisen after schools were required to enter their students for either the T1 or T2 exam through the post-primary pupils online database of the Department of Education.

This initial information was taken by the commission and confirmed with schools through an exams entry confirmation process, a SEC spokesman said.

“In confirming the Junior Cycle entries for the 2022 examinations, the SEC specifically highlighted this issue to schools and asked that particular attention be paid to correctly identifying the correct subject code and name for each student taking Irish at the 2022 Junior Cycle,” the spokesman added.

“The SEC’s concern at all times is ensuring that all candidates have the opportunity to take their examinations and we are satisfied that this was the case with this morning’s Junior Cycle Irish examinations for all candidates whether they were taking the Teanga 1 or Teanga 2 variant,” the spokesman said.

Despite the aim of creating a more challenging exam for students attending gaelcholáistí, teachers say the T2 paper aimed at English-medium schools was the more demanding of the two in some respects.

Claire Markey, TUI subject representative for Irish and a teacher at Firhouse Community College in Dublin, said the questions that appeared on the sample paper for the new subject were quite different to those that appeared on the 2022 exam.

“Students were asked to take a poem or song that they would use on a special occasion and write an email about it. While they were still asked to write about the themes and imagery, the format of the question may have thrown them,” Ms Markey said.

“The grammar question was also quite different to what appeared on the sample paper, but if students read the paper and did not panic they would have been able to do it.”

Ms Markey said that the State Examinations Commission should provide a greater number of sample papers for the new subject.

“Students have been through a challenging few years with Covid, and many have missed out on going to the Gaeltacht. With this in mind, the SEC should be showing the different style of questions that could appear on the paper, so students are not thrown on the day,” Ms Markey said.

Linda Dolan, Studyclix.ie subject expert and a teacher at Mercy College in Sligo, said that the T2 paper for students in English-speaking schools was challenging and offered an unusual style of questions.

“”The litríocht/ literature is a broad area on the course that often consumes a large part of the students’ time while studying. A diary entry appeared on the úrscéal/ novel question which may have panicked some students. Also, the language in email in the poetry section was very difficult and out of the blue.

“The dreaded cluastuiscint/ listening comprehension offered very manageable questions on topics that students would be familiar with from first year - spórt i mo shaol / sport in my life, ceol/music, tuairisc scoile/ scoil report and so on.”

The new T1 paper for Irish-medium schools, meanwhile, provided its own challenges, said Ms Dolan.

“Students with an interest in History would have welcomed the léamhthuiscint/ reading comprehension which was based on the megalithic burial site “Brú na Bóinne” in Newgrange. However, the questions asked were quite difficult - for example part d) demanded students to give an example of the “sofaisticiúlacht” (sophistication) of the tomb.

“The litríocht/literature questions were straightforward - covering topics such as an carachtar is fearr leat /favourite character, léirmheas / review, cur síos ar dhá eachtra/ description of two events etc.

“The language in part b) of the gearrscannán/ short film question may have posed some difficulties as students were asked to rate the acting out of 10,” Ms Dolan said.

Ms Dolan said that the ordinary level junior cycle paper was practical and student-friendly.

“A ríomhphost/ email and teachtaireacht/ message appeared in the written section as would have been expected. The topical issue of climate change emerged in the léamhthuiscint/ reading comprehension which, at first glance, may have been off putting for students but the questions were very straightforward.

“Overall, this was a very up-to-date and manageable paper with no surprises,” Ms Dolan said.