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Leaving Cert History: Early Modern course

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  • 12-07-2020 7:59pm
    #1
    bobbyss
    Registered Users Posts: 5,195 ✭✭✭


    Very few students, perhaps less that 3%, follow the Early Modern course in the LC. A teacher would be handicapped by the lack of available texts for this period. Outside of this very serious drawback, would any teacher be interested in teaching this period for the LC?

    Does anyone know anything about this very small percentage who actually do the course? There must be a school somewhere with a very dedicated/interested teacher ploughing this furrow?

    I haven't actually looked anywhere, but does anyone know the success rate for this course?


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    #2
    Random sample
    Registered Users Posts: 1,001 ✭✭✭Random sample


    Interesting question. When the new course started I don’t recall it even getting a mention at inservice. I don’t know anyone who teaches it.

    I’ve had a look at the examinations.ie stats and they don’t seem to record the stats separately, or at least I can’t find them.


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    #3
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,138 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    I think it is popular in some Adult Centres.


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    #4
    gaiscioch
    Registered Users Posts: 1,530 ✭✭✭gaiscioch


    I rang up the Department about this two years ago as I was going to change to the Early Modern course. About 105 students were doing it across Ireland in whatever was their latest statistics. St Wolstons in Celbridge used to teach it and there was a good number doing it in a school in Waterford, if I recall.

    The Dept will probably give you more details if you ring them and you could follow up with the relevant schools. It's a bit of a catch 22 with books; there are no books because there are not enough students, and this discourages teachers from choosing it as it increases their workload.


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    #5
    bobbyss
    Registered Users Posts: 5,195 ✭✭✭bobbyss


    gaiscioch wrote: »
    I rang up the Department about this two years ago as I was going to change to the Early Modern course. About 105 students were doing it across Ireland in whatever was their latest statistics. St Wolstons in Celbridge used to teach it and there was a good number doing it in a school in Waterford, if I recall.

    The Dept will probably give you more details if you ring them and you could follow up with the relevant schools. It's a bit of a catch 22 with books; there are no books because there are not enough students, and this discourages teachers from choosing it as it increases their workload.

    I see, thanks. I don't teach the LC anymore.

    Why were you thinking of changing courses and what stopped you in the end? (I am presuming the lack of texts/resources?) I wonder how your students would have responded to that? Would that have been a consideration in changing? You would wonder about the correcting of those exam papers. If so few follow that course there wouldn't be many teachers with experience as examiners.

    Regarding the lack of texts and resources, what a tsunami of change there has been over the years. I remember doing the LC way back pre-internet days. The only resource our history teacher used outside of the book was a one week period every year when he used to write up reams and reams of 'notes' on the blackboard and we would all copy them down in our copies.

    I have no idea what they were about. I certainly never used them. He would just read the book or ask someone to read and move on. That pretty much was it. Sometimes he would come in with a copy of Hibernia and start reading it and give us a free class. We were never taught how to approach a question or how to think about answering one. Nothing. It was no wonder that my very first essay in college was thrown back at me. I copied something about Frederick Barbarossa verbatim from Encyclopaedia Britannica. But in fairness the whole class had theirs returned similarly.

    I can't remember the name of the Irish history book (the European text was by Stokes and Stokes) but I recall in the exam a nifty enough and regular question was to write (was it an essay?) about the development of the railways in Ireland in the 19th century. You could really set yourself up with that but the Irish history textbook I recall had about ten lines on this subject. Absolutely useless. How were we meant to cope?

    Nowadays. What a change.


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    #6
    TheValeyard
    Registered Users Posts: 12,227 ✭✭✭✭TheValeyard


    I've taught that course in a private school many years ago.


    Can I just say it was absolute torture to teach.
    Take second year plantations topic and put it on steroids. While there was a wide availability of primary documents for study, there was very little 'fun' clips, documents, to actually make the course work.


    Love the modern course though, get a real buzz teaching that.

    Fcuk Putin. Glory to Ukraine!



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    #7
    rainbowtrout
    Registered Users Posts: 15,381 ✭✭✭✭rainbowtrout


    My school used to teach it years ago, but that was largely down to the teacher in question having a greater interest in the early course rather than the modern. When the schools in the town that I work in amalgamated management decided that modern was the only one to be offered at LC.

    I'd imagine it's the path of least resistance everywhere else, plenty of books and resources for the modern, no books for early is going to make it difficult to change. And I'm sure parents/students would be asking why a school would be offering the early syllabus if no books were available.


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