Junior Cert optional oral a popular choice in 2013
September 12, 2013
Yesterday, the 2013 Junior Cert results were announced and much of the discussion in the media focussed on the changes to be made to the new Junior Cert over the next few years.
Gaelport.com have taken a close look at this year’s figures to see if any emerging trends or other interesting information can be gleaned from them, from an Irish language perspective.
Exemptions
With Irish being a core subject of the Junior Certificate syllabus, one would imagine that each year roughly the same number of people would sit Irish, English and Maths, the three core-subjects.
In 2013, 7,261 more students sat English than Irish in their Junior Cert exams.
There could be two reasons for a Junior Cert student not to be included in the number of students sitting the Irish exam, either they have an exemption from studying the subject, or they did not turn up on the day of the exam.
Exemptions from studying Irish can be offered to students for a number of reasons:
• Pupils whose primary education up to 11 years of age was received outside of the Republic of Ireland (RoI)
• Pupils who were previously enrolled in a RoI school but spent a period of at least three years abroad and were at least 11 years of age on re-enrolment;
• Pupils with a Learning Disability or Intellectual Impairment
• Pupils from abroad, who have no understanding of English
The most common cause giving rise to a exemption from studying Irish is one of a learning disability. When the number of students studying other European languages (besides English or Irish) are inspected, it is obvious that more students are studying other languages than Irish. It is difficult to imagine what learning difficulty could prevent you learning Irish but would provide no obstacle to learning a different language. Are exemptions from Irish being used in a cynical manner by principals or students to avoid the study of a core subject?
Optional Oral
A large increase in the number of students choosing the optional oral examination was observed again this year. In 2013, 10,486 pupils (20.15%) chose the optional oral examination, up from 7,388 (14.5%) in 2012. As depicted below, over the past number of years, the number of schools offering the optional Irish oral has increased dramatically.
While at Leaving Certificate level the State Examinations Commission administers all aspects of the oral examination, schools opting to provide the optional oral examination for Junior Cert students assume this responsibility themselves. While both the ASTI and TUI have urged Irish teachers not to take on extra work or responsibility in this regard the number of schools providing this service has risen substantially, which can be attributed to the rise in marks allocated to the oral at Leaving Cert level.
Other subjects through Irish
Consistent with other years, in 2013 approximately 2% of examination candidates took their examinations through Irish in subjects other than Gaeilge.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
