Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004
417 Ms O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Science if the quota of guidance counsellors to pupils will be restored to 250:1 as requested by the Institute of Guidance Counsellors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21778/04]
View answerUnder current arrangements, my Department makes a specific ex-quota allocation of teaching posts in respect of guidance to schools in the second level system.
In the case of schools in the free education scheme, the level of allocation ranges from eight hours per week in the case of schools with enrolments below 200 pupils to 44 hours per week, that is, two whole-time posts, in the case of schools with an enrolment of 1,000 pupils or more.
In addition to allocations based on enrolments, 50 whole-time equivalent guidance counselling posts were allocated in the 2001-02 school year under the guidance enhancement initiative. The focus of this initiative was to enhance the provision of guidance to young people at risk, to improve links between schools and the world of work and to improve the take-up of science subjects.
In allocating resources for guidance and counselling under this initiative, my Department set out criteria which targets the resource at those most in need rather than allocating resources on the basis of student to guidance counsellor ratios. The preliminary findings of the review of guidance and counselling carried out by the ESRI confirms that this method of targeting resources for guidance is the best way to reach those students who are disadvantaged.
I recently announced an extension of the guidance enhancement initiative for a further two years and I have also created an additional 30 guidance posts under this initiative from the commencement of the current school year. This decision reflects the importance I attach to the area of guidance.
