Leaving Cert history: ‘Greatest hits’ give students a chance to shine

Today’s higher level Leaving Cert history exam contained expected topics with enough choice to allow students to play to their strengths, according to teachers.

Susan Cashell, a history teacher at the Institute of Education, said students who prepared material in every section were well-served, but those hoping to take two questions from “sovereignty Irish history” might have found it more challenging.

“The history paper is one that always requires students to write with time constraints in mind,” she said.

“Generally, the questions were straightforward. Occasionally a term might be unfamiliar but after a moment of composure and reflection the context of the question would provide the key.”

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Jamie Dockery, history teacher at Tyndall College, Co Carlow and Studyclix subject expert, said it is an exam which “very much played the ‘greatest hits’.”

“Students sitting this year’s exam had the option of completing three essays from any two topics on offer – in other words, were able to focus their revision in way that gave them a chance to be much more successful in this exam than would have been possible pre-Covid. Perhaps this could be adopted as normal practice going forward,” he said.

Philip Irwin, a history teacher at The High School, Dublin 6, and ASTI subject representative said that while there was good choice overall, there may have been some disappointment that the Civil War didn’t come up.

“They might have expected that, whereas power sharing coming up 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, I’d say that wouldn’t have been unexpected.”

Section 1

Mr Dockery said the inclusion of the Sunningdale Agreement as the documents-based question was both expected and welcome considering its upcoming 50-year anniversary.

“The two source documents from Robert Fisk and Olivia O’Leary respectively were interesting. They both captured the tempestuousness of the time. These documents and the accompanying questions offered the ‘tuned-in’ student the opportunity to interact with them in interesting ways,” he said.

With reference to the source documents, Philip Irwin added: “We often say that journalists write the first draft of history and that was a good example of that.  The context question – why did power sharing prove so divisive. I think it is the conundrum of Northern Ireland and is as relevant today as it was then.”

Ms Cashell said many students would have been well-prepared for this question and, thus, well-equipped to tackle the first three questions.

“Some might have paused before question 4′s contextualisation, which asked why the Agreement was so ‘divisive’, but ultimately this would have been manageable by adapting prepared material and reworking link sentences to fit the question,” she said,

Section 2

On the Irish history topics, he said most students should have been delighted with the appearance of Charles Stewart Parnell, Edward Carson, the 1913 Strike and Lockout, the Gaelic League and the GAA.

“These are topics that will most likely have been covered well in class,” he said.

Ms Cashell said the broad scope of a question on how Cosgrave and De Valera handled Anglo-Irish relations would really allow the practised student to show off their knowledge.

“Those looking to write another essay on the most popular area, sovereignty, might have been stretched to find another question with the same flexibility. The question on the Northern Ireland government and its challenges, or the question on the impact of the Eucharistic Congress and the Irish language, were options but were much less generous in their scope,” she said.

Section 3

Mr Dockery said the “dictatorship and democracy” topic which focuses on European history between 1920 and 1945 featured the familiar Stalin – much to the delight of many.

However, the lack of a Hitler-specific question on the paper and the inclusion of a question about France between the wars might have limited some students’ options.

Mr Irwin also said the question on Stalin and how he transformed the Soviet economy and/or his use of show trials to consolidate power was a good question because it allowed students to range across that area or to do one or the other.

But he added: “When the question on France in Peace and War, 1920 – 1945 is a really long question and you could be writing for three days on it.”

In the question on the problems in Britain 1920-1945, he said students were asked to write about two of the following John Maynard Keynes the economist, the Jarrow march in 1936 and Winston Churchill.

“It think it would have been tricky to combine those,” Mr Irwin said.

Two of the ‘case studies’ – topics that students study in detail – from the US history section were included: the civil rights movement and the Moon landing.

Mr Dockery said: “While the question which asked how the US was affected by McCarthyism, the military-industrial complex and/or the anti-war movement would only have been tackled by the most confident of students, overall there was enough choice within the topic for the prepared student to achieve good marks.”

Ms Cashell said the question on the characteristics of fascism, which would have been covered at the beginning of fifth Year in many cases, will have been widely welcomed.

“Students who knew the specific examples of fascism could easily refine them into a response for the characteristics in general. Those wishing to focus on specifics were greeted by a very accessible question on Stalin,” she said.

“Many students would have anticipated and prepared for this and been relieved. For those looking to stand out from the crowd by taking the road less travelled, there was a rewarding question on France. While not appealing to everyone, if you had prepared that topic you really had a chance to shine,” she said.

Ordinary level

The ordinary level paper, meanwhile, covered many of the major bases with limited surprises, said Mr Dockery.

“Students will be happy to see topics such as the Sunningdale Agreement, Parnell and the Eucharistic Congress included. Interestingly there was a good bit of commonalities between the ordinary level and higher level exam which would have benefited students in mixed ability history classes where both levels are taught together.,” he said.

“Intriguingly, prominent women in Irish gistory such as Isabella Tod, Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington and Evie Hone made an appearance at ordinary level, but not in the higher level paper.”

Philip Irwin said that while the Civil War did come up as a short paragraph in the ordinary level paper, it dealt with many of the same topics as higher level, but “in a more straightforward fashion, as it should be.”