Examination correcting conference- Overnight stay question

crappyireland

Hi,
Quick question for people.
I had applied for correcting for the Junior Certificate but didn't get it. Today I got a call from examinations commissions asking me to attend the conference next week as I may now get English correcting.

Since I have to travel a good distance to it he told me I would get over night accommodation. Issue is however that I completely forgot to ask about the over night aspect of the conference.
Do I book my own accommodation and get reimbursed at a later date?

Thanks

gagiteebo

crappyireland wrote: »

Hi,
Quick question for people.
I had applied for correcting for the Junior Certificate but didn't get it. Today I got a call from examinations commissions asking me to attend the conference next week as I may now get English correcting.

Since I have to travel a good distance to it he told me I would get over night accommodation. Issue is however that I completely forgot to ask about the over night aspect of the conference.
Do I book my own accommodation and get reimbursed at a later date?

Thanks

Hi
Yeah you book it yourself and pay for it but keep the receipt and you will get it back in expenses when you fill in the form once you're done correcting. Mine is next Thursday. Check with hotel because some of them have discounts for correctors.

crappyireland

Just booked it there and all sorted. Thanks.
Have you been to these conferences before? If so, what should i expect?? its my first!

Juniorhurler

gagiteebo wrote: »

Hi
Yeah you book it yourself and pay for it but keep the receipt and you will get it back in expenses when you fill in the form once you're done correcting. Mine is next Thursday. Check with hotel because some of them have discounts for correctors.

That's incorrect. You get an overnight rate of 107.69. This is to cover food and accommodation for the 24 hour period. You don't need any receipts kept to submit as once you are over 80kms from conference venue you get this.

gagiteebo

Juniorhurler wrote: »

That's incorrect. You get an overnight rate of 107.69. This is to cover food and accommodation for the 24 hour period. You don't need any receipts kept to submit as once you are over 80kms from conference venue you get this.

Well I've been doing it for 6 years and have always been asked for receipts for overnight stay. I assume this is to stop people from saying they stayed when they didn't. As a matter of fact one year I didn't send it and I had to print off a receipt from email confirmation and send it on separately. My hotel is 69 euro a night including breakfast so the overnight rate is much more.

So you do pay it yourself and you are reimbursed (a few days after conference as opposed to the end) so I wasn't giving any incorrect information.

gagiteebo

crappyireland wrote: »

Just booked it there and all sorted. Thanks.
Have you been to these conferences before? If so, what should i expect?? its my first!

Yeah I've been doing it for 6 years. I don't know what English is like but for French i have to be there for 11 am on the first day. You go through the paper and the marking scheme, you correct samples and discuss and problems that may arise. All run of the mill stuff.
On the second day we get put into our groups and you'll meet your advising examiner. You'll correct more samples and again problems or queries about the marking scheme will be dealt with. You get all your paperwork and your schedule and we're usually free to leave around 3.
I've always found them to be very efficient and things run smoothly. It's a worthwhile experience, you'll be grand :-)

spurious

I would keep receipts too, just in case.

vamos!

Is it more lucrative financially to take the overnight option? I am about 130Km away. Start at 9.30 and had actually never considered staying but am wondering now if it is the better option. Do you just get general expenses for attending conference (no overnight) or mileage too? Would I bemad to drive up that morning with Athlone tuned into the Sat Nav?

gagiteebo

vamos! wrote: »

Is it more lucrative financially to take the overnight option? I am about 130Km away. Start at 9.30 and had actually never considered staying but am wondering now if it is the better option. Do you just get general expenses for attending conference (no overnight) or mileage too? Would I bemad to drive up that morning with Athlone tuned into the Sat Nav?

I always stay up. I live in Wexford so I leave around 7 to be there in plenty of time for the first day. (11 am start). You do get overnight expenses if you're over a certain distance away and you get mileage too. A friend of mine claims for everything, pens used, stamps etc I wouldn't go that far :-)

crappyireland

Thanks for the replies!
I was told I may not even get correcting but to come up anyway as there may be drop outs. What do people make of this?

Juniorhurler

You are costing yourself money so. I am at it 9 years :-P ;-) and have never sent in an overnight receipt and always get paid. I stay out in the same place in Moate every year. I am from Wexford too.

On the question about mileage or staying up, Claim the overnight. You get mileage up on the night mileage before, overnight and mileage home the next day.

OP you will get paid for the conference anyway and all expenses regardless of whether you get papers or not.

vamos!

Thanks for the advice. I think I might stay and not worry about the traffic so.
@gagiteebo, I presume you're LC French if you start at 11 but do you have any idae how long JC HL should go on for? Do we collect papers late in the evening or night? I presume we don't get them and leave them in our cars. Thanks

gagiteebo

Juniorhurler wrote: »

You are costing yourself money so. I am at it 9 years :-P ;-) and have never sent in an overnight receipt and always get paid. I stay out in the same place in Moate every year. I am from Wexford too.

On the question about mileage or staying up, Claim the overnight. You get mileage up on the night mileage before, overnight and mileage home the next day.

OP you will get paid for the conference anyway and all expenses regardless of whether you get papers or not.

How am I costing myself money? Everyone gets the same for an overnight regardless of receipts sent in or not as far as I'm aware. They just need proof you stayed, that's what I was told by them anyway :-)

gagiteebo

vamos! wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I think I might stay and not worry about the traffic so.
@gagiteebo, I presume you're LC French if you start at 11 but do you have any idae how long JC HL should go on for? Do we collect papers late in the evening or night? I presume we don't get them and leave them in our cars. Thanks

Hi there,
Yeah it's LC. For higher junior cert the conference starts at around 9 if I remember correctly and you collect the papers in the evening around 5 when the conference is over. That's how it was a few years ago anyway, can't imagine it has changed too much :-)

Zizigirl

Hey, up until last year I always got overnight rate without any receipts as I live more than 80km away. Last year, no receipts sent as supervisor said not to and I wasn't given overnight rate, only long day allowance of €33. Phoned SEC in October when I got paid and payslip. They said I needed receipt for hotel! I'll be sending a receipt this year for my hotel.

Boober Fraggle

I think the need for receipts depends on whether you are a 1 or 2 day conference.

For 1 day, you are getting your mileage up and down, and they need proof that you needed to stay over the night before.

For 2 day, it is likely that driving home on the first evening would leave you getting more in travel expenses than you would for the overnight allowance, so they will give you the overnight allowance, whichever one you claim.

Either way, I think it's safer to include a receipt.

happywithlife

I agree - keep receipts ! They are really tightening up on this. I was asked for an post tracking receipts lately to prove I had paid for postage. Thank god I never clean out my bag cos I still had them buriedin the depths of the purse months later :-)

Am I right in thinking tht for a 2day conference they changed the start time last year - this then elimates the first overnight... Thought they had postponed all start times by an hr or so to save on overnights and you are now expected to travel up the morning of the conference - stand to be corrected on this of course :-)

tracey2610

This isn't entirely related, but I figured you guys might be able to help. I've just been called on to correct Junior Cert CSPE, but when I hadn't heard for so long I assumed I hadn't gotten it and so booked a weekend trip to Edinburgh. The woman who phoned me said I wouldn't be allowed leave the country. I could really do with the money, but don't want to give up the trip as it was a birthday present. I'm just wondering how true it is that you can't leave the country? I'd only be gone from very late Friday night and back early on Sunday morning. Any feedback would be really appreciated!!

Zizigirl

As far as I know the whole thing about not leaving the country applies to with the scripts. It's completely possible to take a couple of days off at a weekend once you are ahead of yourself with correcting. So once you can get to where you should be on Sunday by Friday (number of scripts corrected wise) it's no problem. Make sure you tell your advising examiner about it on the day of the conference. Of course if the weekend happens to be the very first weekend and your conference was on thurs or fri before then it may be difficult!

pollyanna2

Hey, as a newbie having just gotten through first couple of days of marking, I'd also say they think you're better off not going away in the first couple of days after the conference because its an uphill slog with lots of new information and a fair amount of time put in on clerical stuff. Stressful:eek:

rose23

Hi,

I'm correcting JC French and the conference is on this Friday. I didn't book into a hotel as I wasn't sure if I was entitled to it or not as last year I corrected LCA French which turned out to be a half day conference and I didn't get reimbursed for my overnight stay in a hotel.
However, I am 130km from Athlone so could someone tell me if I'm entitled to it?

rainbowtrout

rose23 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm correcting JC French and the conference is on this Friday. I didn't book into a hotel as I wasn't sure if I was entitled to it or not as last year I corrected LCA French which turned out to be a half day conference and I didn't get reimbursed for my overnight stay in a hotel.
However, I am 130km from Athlone so could someone tell me if I'm entitled to it?

It depends if it's HL or OL. To the best of my knowledge OL conferences start at 11am and you are expected to drive up the morning of the conference regardless of how far away you are. HL conferences start earlier so it is expected that you would travel up the night before and be entitled to overnight allowance. What did you letter say?

rose23

Yeah I have HL French and the conference starts at 9.15 am

jimzzzz

hi, how long after the conference do we get the payment.

rainbowtrout

They say in the paperwork 5 working days but my experience the last few years it's more like 3 weeks