Ms Andrea Feeney:

We will try to deal with the questions between us. There have been occurrences in the past, where students have gone into an examination and found it was difficult and challenging. We have had situations where the feedback was that the standard was demanding. There was certainly such feedback in June. We take that on board and listen to it. However, students generally find those issues are then resolved in the marking process. If it was feedback across the board that it was a challenging examination, that can be addressed in the marking process.

With regard to the exam paper not being compliant with the sample paper and the topics or content not being as expected, I hope Ms Sheridan has given an outline already of why that is the case. It is a sample paper; therefore, it is a guide. Anybody who is looking at the sample paper and the exam paper from 2022 could still not have an expectation that what he or she would see in 2023 would be absolutely the same as that, because this can only ever be guidance. We are assessing the broadest ranges of the specification and trying to make sure the examination has something for students at all levels of ability. It is certainly not our intention to disillusion students or teachers in the Irish language or another subject. What we set out to do in the SEC is very much focused on students and their parents. They might not always feel that because, at the end of the day, we are delivering an examination. We have an information note which I will ask Ms Sheridan to talk to.

With regard to the question on technical or complicated topics such as emojis or climate, they were not designed to be technical or complicated. They were designed to elicit information from students that they would be able to respond to.

There is an issue in that there are not topics, themes and content as there might have been previously. Instead, there is the everyday learning and interaction between students and their teachers in the classroom and the vocabulary students pick up in association with that, which we are trying to assess. I will ask my colleague, Ms Sheridan, to talk about information or guidance for teachers.