During the tribulations of examination season there are many headlines on themes such as “Students happy with as-expected Leaving Cert Mathematics paper” or “Teachers and parents angered by surprises in Junior Cert English paper”.

By popular criteria, a paper is “fair” if it features questions teachers can anticipate and prepare their students for. That those caught up in the points race should cherish predictability is understandable.

Educationalists and examiners should, however, work to a different imperative: that the outcome of any given examination can be interpreted as a genuine reflection of the candidate’s ability.

This year’s Leaving Cert Irish examinations yet again fail to meet that most fundamental requirement.

What, for example, can be deduced from students’ response to a productive writing section which is an open invitation to regurgitate rote-learned content?

Anyone who doubts the ability of students to do so need only read posts on social media. There, students even talk about sample essays given to them by teachers and how they can easily tailor them to fit one of the nine topics on the paper.

Early indications are that the 2015 favourite will be “The big stories of the day”, which allows scope for a virtual medley of recycled content on subjects from terrorism to drugs to water charges.

Aural component

Perhaps even less challenging is the aural component, where the difference between ordinary and higher level is so subtle as to escape detection. The same recording is used for both levels, with different sets of questions for each.

“I had to check the front page to make sure I actually got the higher level set of questions,” observed one candidate on social media, and with reason.

For the best part, the questions demand nothing more than low-level information processing: to reproduce names, dates, times or phone numbers. Worse are the questions that can be answered without reference to the recording.

Can there be anyone on the island who doesn’t know the answer to “What will be commemorated next year?” And woe to any candidate in Donegal who failed to pick up points in response to “In which county is Gleann Cholm Cille?”

The general knowledge theme continues in reading comprehension (ordinary) where students are asked to name the two main political parties in the US.

In the oral exam candidates are asked to describe a series of pictures – a perfectly valid testing activity rendered meaningless by the fact that the picture sequences, which are identical at higher and ordinary levels, are distributed to schools 18 months before the exam.

Overall, 50 per cent of marks for the oral at both levels are allocated to tasks that can be learned off prior to the exam.

Admirable models

These and other flaws in testing methodology are easily rectifiable – there are admirable models in other language subjects tested by the State Examination Commission.

Indeed, it seems mystifying that such glaring bad practice remains unaddressed. A cynic might conclude pressure to facilitate the desired number of passes in Irish will always win over accurate and meaningful testing.

Perhaps no reworking of the exam papers is possible without a more fundamental reassessment of the curriculum.

Such reassessment must address the needs of the different populations of Irish language learners and move away from the indefensible position of native and non-native speakers following the same curriculum.

There is, in fact, some cause for optimism. The recent Policy Proposals for Educational Provision in Gaeltacht Areas published by the Department of Education and Skills may prove to be a vehicle to drive reform.

Any reform must create a meaningful link between the teaching of Irish at primary and secondary levels and establish systematically defined levels for primary level and for Junior Cert and Leaving Cert students. Such developments would prove the basis for valid, reliable examinations that would allow us to interpret meaningfully the outcomes of the tests.

Siuán Ní Mhaonaigh is a language testing consultant to the Language Centre, Maynooth University.