Dates of correcting conferences this year

Based on my subject - French - you count eight days from the exam to day 1 of the Leaving Cert conferences. So this year French will be on Weds 13th June and I expect the conferences to be on Thurs 21st and Friday 22nd. The Junior Cert conferences in French are a week later. They have been reduced to one day in recent years so JC French should be on Friday 29th June.

If your subject is a standalone at Junior Cert, such as CSPE, the turnaround might be faster. The Chief Examiner (Examination and Assessment Manager) has to coordinate the whole thing and for obvious reasons they need to get the Leaving Cert underway first.

rose23 wrote: »

Hi,

I got a letter last week saying I am on the reserve panel for correction of the State Exams. I want to go on holidays in early June however I want to still remain available for correcting of the exams.. Does anybody know the dates that these will be on this year??

You should be ok for the first two weeks of June. It takes at least a week after the first exam for the conferences to get under way. If your subject is one of the later ones the conference might not be until the first week of July.

rose23 wrote: »

Brilliant thanks so much for the information everyone..

Im only on reserve but really hoping that I do get called for the experience and the money.. Does anyone one here know if people on reserve usually get called?? Im sure this year there is a lot of teachers on the reserve list!

People do get called from the reserve list, it's how I started out. It does depend on the subject. The less popular the subject, the less correctors are needed, so the less places crop up for reserves. However, if you give them a ring close to the time, around the start of June and ask if there are any places, they might keep you in mind, i.e. bump you up the list so to speak.

What is your subject?

dno7239 wrote: »

Anyone who has corrected before, would it be possible to correct CSPE exams while working another part time job ( I am willing to work 7 days a week if its only for 3 weeks to get some money together)? ie... working mornings till 1 and then going home to correct/correct at the weekend if necessary.

Also, anyone know the full rate of pay before taxes? Thanks a million!

Full rate of pay before taxes depends on the subject. CSPE is probably in and around €6-7 per student, but you are correcting their project booklet and their paper so essentially it's 2 papers per student for that money. You'll get about 200-250 papers in CSPE i think, each with both components. One of my friends used to correct CSPE and I think that's what the rate was.

I correct OL LC Bio for about €9.50 a paper.
Had 265 papers last year.
1st year correcting.
Was the reserve corrector at the conference the year before.
Am doing it again this year.

Our cinference will be a 2 day one towards the end of June so you'd be safe enough on holidays until at least 15th June I'd say.

Specifically on the part time work question. The forms state that you are required to give your full attention to the job. In the case of French which is all I can comment on in detail, it would not be feasible to do something else. If you haven't corrected before you need to know a little more about the dynamics of the process to understand it.

1) Examiners go to the conference. You get plenty of eejits saying that all teachers should have to correct. This is nonsense. You will go through the draft marking scheme, have reasonable opportunities to comment and raise questions and mark sample scripts. When you mark the sample scripts you will realise the tough calls between full, partial and no marks when the draft scheme transfers into what kids these days actually write. It can be an eye opener into our literacy problem but I digress! You have to be physically in that room to know what the standard is.

2) After you mark your sample 20 over the first couple of days, you will send some of these to your advising examiner and await news from the follow-up conference. You will have a day or two off at this point. Then they will phone you. They will expect you to immediately note down changes on your draft marking scheme and apply these urgently to the scripts you have held onto. The advising examiner will apply the changes to some of the scripts you sent away. They don't have time to wait hours for you. If you're at the shops or out for a walk, they'll gladly give you a half an hour or so to get home.

3) Throughout the marking issues will arise. They become much less frequent as it beds down. However, you are expected to be available during normal working hours every day.

Sorry if this comes across as a little stern. It's just that you're signing up to a job that has clear conditions attached. If they don't suit, do something else. The state exams are very important to all our students and they legitimately expect that they will be just as important to you the examiner.

might be wrong but am thinking that there is a lot of practical stuff going on at the moment, not to mention the upcoming orals so i'd imagine it'll be after that before they round to the summer stuff!!