asked the Minister for Education if he will state (a) who prepares the examination papers for the primary schools certificate, and (b) whether national teachers are consulted in order to ascertain the standard of the average pupil presented for this examination.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Primary Schools Certificate.
The question papers set for the primary schools certificate examination are prepared by inspectors of my Department, all of whom are in the closest touch with the work of the schools. The answer to the second part of the Deputy's question is in the negative.
asked the Minister for Education if he has seen the A paper in arithmetic for this year's primary certificate, and if he is satisfied that pupils of 12, 13 and 14 years should be expected to answer, with any degree of accuracy, all of the 20 questions on the paper in the 30 minutes allotted.
I have seen the arithmetic paper — A — set at the primary school certificate examination, 1955, and I am satisfied that the paper was suitable for pupils of Standard VI and higher standards, for whom the test is intended.
Both the number of questions and the time allowed for answering in the case of this paper are the same as in the past 13 years.
In each of the years 1952, 1953 and 1954 over 75 per cent. of the candidates who sat for this examination qualified for the award of the primary school certificate, having passed in the three examination subjects, including arithmetic.
As a matter of fact, the percentage of passes in 1952 was 81.9; in 1953, it was 79.8; and in 1954, it was 72.2.
Would the Minister himself be able to answer these 20 questions in 30 minutes?
That is surely a separate question.
Is he aware that several teachers throughout the country have expressed amazement and horror with this year's paper? Could the Minister work out this sum: .2 multiplied by .2 over .02?
I could in 20 seconds.
The Minister probably prepared them.
A simpler approach for the Deputy or any of the teachers to whom she has referred would be to point out to which particular sums objection is taken. There are 20 questions to be answered in 30 minutes, a minute and a half for each question. I would like the Deputy to suggest which one of these 20 questions could not be answered, say, by her, in half a minute. I know the Deputy has any amount of experience in regard to figures.
For the Minister's information, I tried them and it took me 20 minutes to answer 19 questions — I could not answer the 20th — by mental arithmetic.
Would the Minister consider substituting grocers' bills for the present type of examination paper?
The 20th question comes very near to grocery, at any rate: it is to express 7 st. as a decimal of 1 cwt.