There was a time when it was reasonable to expect that pupils who had reached fifth year and were following a Higher Course would know how to write an essay. Some would be good at it and others less good, which is what one would expect of any skill but, for whatever reason, this is now something that cannot be taken for granted.

One solution would be to provide a template. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this solution. It would undoubtedly help the weaker pupils but it also constrains the more able and suggests there is only one way to answer an essay question. The specimen question paper marking instructions state the criteria that will be used when marking essays. If the teacher, as a skilled professional in charge of their class, believes a template is the best way of helping their particular group of pupils achieve what is required then they should be encouraged to prepare a template just as they would prepare any other learning and teaching materials.

However, a significant difficulty in devising an effective template is that there is not only more than one way of answering an essay question but in Higher Philosophy there is more than one kind of essay. A candidate can expect to come across the following:

In Knowledge and Doubt

  • an essay focused on a particular part of the text.
  • a theme based essay which has to be answered by drawing on the text.

In Moral Philosophy

  • a scenario based question.
  • an general evaluation of the theory
  • a comparison between Bentham and Mill
  • an essay that focuses in on one particular issue associated with the theory, etc.

It is not obvious that a single essay template will work for all these different possibilities.

Perhaps a better way of helping pupils to understand what is required is to let them see examples of good quality essays. When preparing candidates for a music exam I assume teachers don’t just expose their candidates to pieces that are just good enough to gain a pass. In a similar way, if philosophy students are exposed to enough high quality essays they may gain a better understanding of what they should be doing.

See exemplar essays

There is a pupil sheet on tackling scenario questions along with some notes for the teacher.

Last modified: Sunday, October 21, 2018, 3:46 PM