While there has been huge reaction online to this week's urgent appeal from the State Examinations Commission for Leaving and Junior Cert exam correctors it remains to be seen if this will result in host of new applications and also, one must ask why was there a shortage of people interested in the first place?
Teacher unions have pointed the finger at the pay rates correctors receive, which average €3,500-6,000 for four weeks of correcting Leaving Cert papers and €2,500-4,000 for Junior Cert. The rates were cut in 2010 but have not been increased in the seven years since. An ASTI spokeperson told Independent.ie that 'the marking of exams is extremely onerous work and the pay is insufficient.' Both the ASTI and TUI have raised this issue with the SEC time and time again.
Broken down, correctors receive between €5 and around €30 per paper, ranging from an ordinary level Junior Cert language paper to two higher level Leaving Cert Maths papers. Some teachers have explained that the long hours required to mark enough papers to earn a decent amount of money as simply not worth it.
With that being said, the SEC remain confident that they will have enough correctors when the time comes, despite the shortage of applications at the moment. A spokesperson told TheJournal.ie:
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''It is important to note that this latest appeal is not meant to be alarming but to reflect the fact that the number of applications received from teachers to engage in the work of marking examinations is less than we would like to have, particularly in the listed subjects.''
Those wishing to apply can do so here.
