Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 October 2004
191 Mr. O’Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science her proposals to improve the ratio for ex-quota guidance counsellors in the post-primary sector from one ex-quota counsellor to 500 pupils to its former level of one ex-quota counsellor to 250 pupils; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25854/04]
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.
My predecessor recently announced an extension of the guidance enhancement initiative for a further two years and also created an additional 30 guidance posts under this initiative from the commencement of the current school year. This decision reflects the high priority given to guidance by my Department.
