{"id":481798,"date":"2026-06-04T00:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T00:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481798\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T00:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T00:45:11","slug":"leaving-cert-home-economics-paper-was-unpredictable-and-will-leave-some-with-mixed-emotions-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/481798\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaving Cert home economics paper was \u2018unpredictable and will leave some with mixed emotions\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leaving Certificate<\/a> home economics candidates were presented with a \u201cchallenging but fair\u201d paper at higher level and a \u201cstudent-friendly\u201d offering at ordinary level, teachers have said. <\/p>\n

Sin\u00e9ad Sweeney, home economics teacher at Loreto Secondary School in Cork<\/a>, said the higher-level paper covered a \u201cwide range of topics\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said section A of the paper was \u201cfully aligned with the syllabus\u201d, section B had a \u201cvaried\u201d level of difficulty that allowed top students to demonstrate their knowledge and section C was \u201cvery broad in nature and covered various topics\u201d, Sweeney added. <\/p>\n

The exam included topics such as housing development, changing shopping patterns, processed foods and protein bars. Sweeney said an area some students may have found difficult was question 3 of section B, which covered artificial sweeteners and processed foods.<\/p>\n

Overall, she said, students will be content with the paper.<\/p>\n

Megan Friel, a teacher at Mercy College in Sligo<\/a>, said the exam was \u201cchallenging but fair\u201d.<\/p>\n

Overall, she said, the paper struck a \u201cgood balance between testing students\u2019 knowledge and allowing well-prepared candidates to demonstrate their understanding\u201d.<\/p>\n

Friel said the particular wording used for section B question 1 may have caused some uncertainty for students, but a corresponding chart was clear and \u201caccessible\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile some questions were more specific than in previous years, the topics were relevant and predictable,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Alice Quinn, a teacher at The Institute of Education in Dublin, described it as a \u201cpredictably unpredictable paper that will leave some students with mixed emotions\u201d. <\/p>\n

Quinn said students who focused on studying the syllabus would have found the paper \u201cvery approachable\u201d but those who tried to \u201cstreamline their work based on past papers\u201d may have been disappointed to \u201cfind themselves pigeonholed\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said students would have been happy with sections A and C, but some may have stumbled over the new wording of questions in section B.<\/p>\n

The ordinary-level paper used \u201cstudent-friendly\u201d language and, overall, had made the questions \u201caccessible\u201d to those who sat the exam, according to Friel.<\/p>\n

The inclusion of \u201cfamiliar topics\u201d in section C\u2019s core question and the familiar format of the nutritional chart question in section B would have brought students confidence, she said.<\/p>\n

Sweeney agreed that students would have been happy to see inclusion of the topic of housing in section C, while one particular question in section B on the microwave may have tripped students up as it had not come up for some time. <\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, the exam featured familiar topics and clear wording, providing students with a valuable opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding,\u201d Friel said.<\/p>\n

Sweeney said the ordinary paper was a nice offering overall with \u201cnothing that was too difficult or that would throw [the students] in any way\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leaving Certificate home economics candidates were presented with a \u201cchallenging but fair\u201d paper at higher level and a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43491,17163,46,61,60,3184,43,28205,14169,2055],"class_list":["post-481798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cao","tag-classroom-to-college","tag-cork","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leaving-certificate","tag-news","tag-second-level","tag-sligo","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}