This year’s Leaving Certificate higher-level history paper was very challenging, teachers have said.
Stephen Tonge, a history teacher at the Institute of Education, said students would have looked at previous papers to help guide their revision.
“This paper lacked some of the staples that many had come to expect: no Anglo-Irish relations, no Eucharistic Congress, no treaty negotiations, no Irish economy,” he said.
Tonge said that the examiner plumbed the nooks and niches of the course.
RM Block
“The question of the contribution of Patrick Pearse and/or Countess Markievicz will challenge students to fully contextualise these figures rather than reverting to biography,” he explained.
“Topic five on Northern Ireland diverges from previous papers by inquiring about the Troubles in three of the questions, up from the normal two.”
Mary McGrath, Studyclix.ie subject expert and a history teacher at Presentation de La Salle, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, said students will have appreciated the paper rewarded understanding and interpretation over rote learning.
“While there were no major shocks, there were also very few questions that could be described as highly predictable,” McGrath said.
“Students who focused too heavily on a narrow range of anticipated topics may have found themselves under pressure when making their selections.”
McGrath said the paper was balanced, with students having opportunities to answer questions focused on political change, cultural identity, war, nationalism and social developments.
Patrick Hickey, a teacher with TheTuitionCentre.ie, described the exam as “very challenging.”
“It did, however, start well,” he said.
“The GAA to 1891 was probably one of the more welcome case studies to appear in the documents-based question, even though many had predicted that the 1885 and 1886 elections would come up instead.”
Philip Irwin, Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (Asti) subject representative and a teacher at The High School in Dublin, said there were many interesting questions on the paper, but some were quite specific.
“Fascism was examined through the lens of church and state relations under Mussolini and Hitler,” Irwin said.
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“There was also an interesting question on whether the United States was more impacted by the Cold War in Europe or the Cold War in Asia. You could argue the case for both, but I would think the Korean War and Vietnam War had a much bigger impact for the US.”
Hickey said that some of the Northern Ireland questions were pitched narrowly.
“This included a very specific question on Gerry Adams, which gave students fewer easy choices than they might have hoped,” he said.
The happiest students, he felt, will be those who took on the topic of nation states.
“Here, a lot of the reliable, anticipated questions turned up, including the classic Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm II comparison and the expected emphasis on anti-Semitism and on women. That topic ran closest to form.”
Overall, Hickey said well-prepared, adaptable students will have done well.
“There is no doubt, though, that this exam consistently closed off the rehearsed answer and rewarded, above all, the student who knew the course in depth and could adapt on the spot,” he said.
On the ordinary-level paper, McGrath said that it was a fair, balanced and accessible examination that rewarded students who had engaged consistently with the course over the two years.
“There were very few surprises and the paper reflected many of the core themes and personalities that teachers would traditionally emphasise in revision,” she said. “Students were presented with a broad range of options across both the Irish and European sections, ensuring that candidates with different strengths could find questions that suited them.
“The documents-based question on the GAA was particularly approachable, dealing with a familiar topic in Irish social history and featuring straightforward comprehension and source evaluation questions,” McGrath said.
Try these at home: Leaving Cert History, higher level
Politics and society in Northern Ireland, 1949‐1993
What influence did Gerry Adams have on the affairs of Northern Ireland?
Division and realignment in Europe, 1945‐1992
How effective a leader was Margaret Thatcher at home and abroad?
