Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 17 Apr 2002

Vol. 552 No. 1

Written Answers. - State Examinations.

Brian O'Shea

Ceist:

725 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science if he has satisfied himself with the quality of the examination questions of the leaving certificate ordinary level Irish paper (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11445/02]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

The correspondence referred to by the Deputy was received in my Department and a reply was issued on 27 March 2002. I have had the specific sample questions referred to in the correspondence examined by a member of the inspectorate of my Department. It appears the sample question paper used by the correspondent was produced by a commercial publisher and not the examinations branch of my Department. While commercial publishers may produce materials in formats similar to that in use in the State examinations, my Department can only be responsible for official State Examination papers.

The Deputy may also be interested to know that the most recently produced chief examiner's report on leaving certificate Irish demonstrates that in the 2001 examination, examiners reported that the questions in prose and poetry on the ordinary level paper gave candidates very good opportunities to demonstrate their competence and knowledge in these aspects of the course, that questions were answered very satisfactorily, and that high marks were awarded. It is also interesting to note that the percentages of students achieving A, B and C grades on the ordinary level paper has been rising consistently in the period 1997 to 2001.