The Leaving Cert English course changed dramatically in 2001. Amongst many changes the biggest one was the introduction of a comparative element. From a list of thirty-nine texts the students (really the teachers) had to pick three texts to compare under various headings. The list consisted of novels, plays and six films; Much Ado About Nothing, Dances with Wolves, A Room with a View, The Third Man, My Left Foot and Cinema Paradiso.
The students (really the teachers) could only pick one film but there were no restrictions on the number of plays or novels. This rule is still in place. You can study three novels if you like, three plays but not three films.
This reflects a feeling that persists amongst a small cohort of English teachers, the feeling that think film is just a break, an exhale, from the more serious work of
reading and writing. The problem is a bit more complex than that, of course, but the position of film as mere entertainment persists.
This year’s list of texts has recently been published. The students taking their Leaving Cert in 2020 have a selection of thirty-seven texts from which to choose. The number has been reduced by removing some of Shakespeare’s plays (there were four on the first list).
The 2020 list has twenty novels/memoirs/graphic novels, nine plays and eight films.
Whereas the original list of films had the whiff of ‘I’ve seen this wonderful foreign film recently’ about it, the new list has a more rounded look.
Words: Conor Murphy
EDUCATION COLUMN
14 CinÉireann / May 2018