Martin Ferris
Question:95. Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to introduce guidance for counselling teaching posts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42192/13]
View answerTuesday, 8 October 2013
Questions (95, 216)
Michael Healy-Rae
Question:216. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review the cuts to current guidance counselling provision in schools (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42050/13]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 216 together.
I have already acknowledged to the House that bringing guidance within quota is challenging for schools. However the alternative was to adjust the PTR staffing allocations. Guidance is a whole school activity and schools have autonomy on how best to prioritise their available resources to meet the requirements in relation to guidance and the provision of an appropriate range of subjects to students. This operates at local school level. The representative organisations for School Principals and school management developed a framework that assists schools on how best to manage the provision of guidance from within their staffing allocation. This approach puts a greater emphasis on group-work and class-based activity at senior cycle and maximises the amount of time available for those pupils that need one to one support.
The budget decision sheltered the impact for all DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations – a fact which is often overlooked in this debate.