Proposed changes to English LC exam could 'level the playing field', says Cork teacher 

Proposed changes to the senior cycle English curriculum and examination process are exciting, but will have to be implemented very carefully, a Cork secondary school teacher has said.

Reforms to the Leaving Certificate English could see only one sit-down paper instead of the current two, with an oral examination replacing the comparative essay, where students discuss novels, plays or books they have studied with an external examiner similar to other language subjects.

The creative essay that once formed part of paper one will now be composed before the written exam, with both of these elements reportedly taking place at the end of fifth year and each being worth 20% of the student’s final grade.

Cork English teacher Conor Murphy said that both options could potentially improve the exam, but that there are some dangers.

“I’m very positive about the oral, I’ve taught students who are really good at expressing themselves and their opinion but they might not be as good at getting it down on paper.

“We’re trying to teach some critical thinking. Not everything has to be written, and students with dyslexia or ADD who are grappling with the letters moving around the page or struggling to concentrate for a large period of time can understand a text as well as the next person, but because of these barriers they might struggle to write it down.

“The oral could level the playing field and make the exam far more equitable, and AI can’t do it for you, which is great.”

However, he said: “The consequences are that some of the main elements of the English course, films and novels, will not be as important as they once were.

“Students will likely still study Shakespeare as their main text, then they’ll do poems, they could do a novel as the main text instead but likely they will never write about film at all – that’s the downside.

“Some kids like Shakespeare, some don’t, we’re there to educate and open a variety of worlds, but I love films too and I’m distraught at the idea they might never write about film at all - so I love the idea of the oral, it’s just about where the elements go.”

In terms of the creative essay, Mr Murphy said: “I hope they have to write it in class, the assessment needs to be very carefully designed, because if they can bring it home then that’s going to be AI straight away.

“They’re both good ideas, but they have to be enacted very carefully,” he concluded.