I propose to take Questions Nos. 158 and 159 together.
The Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) programme is a mandatory part of the curriculum in primary schools and in junior cycle since 2003 and is designed to promote positive mental health. It is supported by comprehensive teacher guidelines and curriculum support services which provide training and advice for schools and a resource directory. Its aim is to foster personal development, health and well being of children, to help them create and maintain supportive relationships, and develop the skills and attitudes for responsible citizenship.
All post-primary schools also provide a guidance and counselling service for their students and they receive ex-quota hours from the Department for this provision. The service includes the provision of individual guidance and counselling for students either at critical stages in their education or at times of personal crisis.
Schools also use Mental Health Matters, a resource pack on mental health for 14 to 18 year olds developed by Mental Health Ireland on an optional basis as a module in the Transition Year Programme, an element of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme, a component of the SPHE programme or an element of other subjects such as Religion or Home Economics. Psychologists from my Department's National Educational Psychological Service are present in schools across the country and provide a range of supports to school authorities and communities which include both the promotion of positive mental health among the general student body and assistance in supporting pupils with particular social emotional or behavioural difficulties. NEPS promotes the development of structures and supports among teachers and schools care teams which assists and encourages the development of contact and collaboration with the relevant local HSE mental health agencies including the Community Psychology Services and Mental Health Promotion Officers and the referral services of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAHMS).
My Department also provides a range of teaching and care supports for children of school-going age with special educational needs, including children with Emotional Disturbance and Severe Emotional Disturbance. The precise level of support is determined by the special educational needs of the particular child.
Children with Emotional Disturbance/ Severe Emotional Disturbance may be entitled to additional provision in school, either under the terms of the General Allocation Model (GAM) of teaching supports, if the pupil's educational psychological assessment places the pupil in the mild general learning disability/high incidence disability category, or through an allocation of individual additional resource teaching hours if the child is assessed as being within the low incidence category of special need, as defined by my Department's Circular Sp Ed 02/05. Pupils who have care needs may also receive access to Special Needs Assistant support.
It is a matter for each individual school to use its professional judgement to use the resources available to the school to intervene at the appropriate level with such pupils. My Department has provided a range of advice to schools on the matter of whole-school planning by means of various publications including Circular SP ED 02/05, the Learning Support Guidelines and the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) booklet ‘A Continuum of Support'.
Schools should use the guidance in the documents that have been provided to develop policies and procedures to suit the circumstances of the school and the needs of the pupils. It is open to schools to seek advice of their NEPS psychologist to seek further guidance and advice in relation to the establishment of whole-school procedures.
Finally, the Deputy is aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resources to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support.