Vol. 490 No. 7
72 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will establish a support team to assist schools in the handling of disruptive pupils which would provide the necessary psychological, educational and guidance support and offer alternative temporary education settings as a bridge to better integration. [11112/98]
The problem of disruptive behaviour in schools has many aspects which need to be dealt in a co-ordinated manner through the development and implementation of good school management practice and prevention strategies and the provision of appropriate other supports for pupils with behavioural difficulties.
I am currently finalising proposals for the establishment of a management support service for schools. This will be a resource for school management and help them in dealing with vital areas such as school planning and discipline. I intend to put this service in place for the new school year in consultation with the partners in education.
The Deputy will appreciate that potentially disruptive pupils frequently are in need of psychological evaluation as a first step to appropriate assistance. At present, my Department's psychological service is available to schools to provide assistance and advice in dealing with disruptive pupils and to identify the appropriate educational interventions in each case. Where difficulties are perceived to be more serious, the psychologists liaise with other specialist agencies such as the health boards in order to ensure that as far as possible each child's needs are addressed in a holistic manner.
An Action Programme for the Millennium contains a commitment to set up a national psychological service. I have established a planning group to prepare proposals for the development of this service and I expect to receive this report in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, I have arranged for the immediate extension of the psychological service to primary schools through the recruitment of an additional 15 psychologists who are being assigned to various locations throughout the country. The recruitment process has been completed and the new psychologists are in the course of taking up duty now.
A teaching counsellor scheme was introduced on a pilot basis in 1995 in selected primary schools in the inner city and in the Clondalkin and Tallaght areas of Dublin. Teaching counsellors assist in co-ordinating a whole school approach to devising and implementing good practice and strategies to prevent disruptive behaviour. A detailed evaluation of the teaching counsellor scheme is currently under way and I expect to receive a report on the outcome of the evaluation before the end of the current school year.
