JUNIOR CERT CSPE:A TOPICAL paper that dealt with social networking, mobile phone scams and Barack Obama's electioneering tactics was broadly welcomed by students as they came out of the Civil Social and Political Education (CSPE) exam yesterday.

CSPE is a common-level Junior Cert subject meaning that there is no higher, ordinary or foundation level exam. The exam drew on a broad range of knowledge and topics, but teachers commented that certain parts were more challenging than previous years.

Brendan O’Regan of the Association of CSPE Teachers welcomed the paper, but noted that the short question section held some challenges for students. “Students were asked to identify Jose Manuel Barroso who we thought was less recognisable to students,” he said.

“That was demanding on a common-level paper,” agreed ASTI subject representative Jeanne Barrett. A question asking students what the numbered parts of the Irish Constitution are called would have posed a challenge to all but the very best students, according to Mr O’Regan.

Overall however, the paper was, “ well presented and extremely topical,” Ms Barrett said. The second section included questions on Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as one on mobile phone scam websites as they apply to EU consumer law. “That was a very clever question,” Ms Barrett said. “It managed to ask about EU legislation while keeping the topic relevant to the students.”

The longer questions in the third section were also greeted favourably by teachers. Issues like the environment, democracy – including a section on Barack Obama’s use of text messaging in his election campaign – and social networking sites all appeared.

“The social networking question would have been excellent if it had taken a different approach,” Mr O’Regan said. The question, which dealt with online privacy and safety fell more into the remit of social, personal and health education according to teachers.

“If the question had dealt with internet bullying it would have fallen under the CSPE banner much more,” Ms Barrett said. “Bullying is a denial of human rights and students could have discussed social networking from that perspective.”

Overall however, reaction to the paper was largely positive. “It was topical, and appropriate for the students’ age level,” Ms Barrett said. “Despite the few minor issues we were very happy with it.”