Sorca Clarke
Question:581. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Education the estimated cost of employing a full-time guidance counsellor in every secondary school and an additional position for schools over 500 pupils. [57359/23]
View answerWednesday, 17 January 2024
Questions (581)
Written answers
My Department has committed considerable resources towards the restoration of guidance counselling hours to post-primary schools, to the provision of CPD for guidance counsellors and to the provision of a national guidance counselling supervision service for post-primary guidance counsellors in recent times.
The guidance allocation is provided separately and transparently on each school's staffing schedule. These posts have been ring-fenced so they can only be used for guidance activities and to meet the guidance needs of the school.
Current expenditure on guidance counsellors posts in second level schools stands at €68 million.
There are 409 post primary schools with an enrolment in excess of 500 pupils. The average cost of a post primary teacher is currently €73,270.