asked the Minister for Education if he considers that the printing of the Irish and English versions of the leaving certificate examinations on the same paper this year is sound pedagogic practice inasmuch that it rendered the paper overcrowded and confusing to examinees.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Examination Papers in Irish and English.
42.
Mr. Barrett
Mr. O'Malley
The practice pursued in the printing of the leaving certificate examination papers in general for the last six years has been to print the Irish and English versions on one paper back to back. This is exactly the same as printing separate Irish and English papers and cannot possibly cause confusion.
As regards the leaving certificate papers in Latin, on account of the wide range of material to be covered, the printing of Irish and English versions back to back led to a format which was objected to by some schools and teachers.
In order to obviate this, in 1966 and 1967 in the case of Latin, the Irish and English versions were incorporated in one paper. This format was introduced in 1967 for Greek for which, on account of the wide range of material to be covered, separate Irish and English versions had previously been provided.
As is inevitable when any change is made this has led to some objections, but the utmost care is taken to ensure that the printed matter is clear and legible and there is no evidence to suggest that candidates suffered confusion because of the new format.