Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 April 2014
38. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the feedback his Department has received from secondary schools on the impact of his cuts to guidance counselling hours; if he will commit to revisiting his decision to remove the specific allocation to schools for guidance counselling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16469/14]
View answerI acknowledge that bringing guidance within quota is challenging for schools, and feedback has been mixed but the alternative was to adjust the PTR staffing allocations. My Department helped shelter the impact for DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations. I do not intend to revise the changes made in Budget 2012 in respect of guidance counselling hours. Since September 2012 guidance provision is organised by school management from within the staffing schedule allocation. This gives schools greater autonomy to determine how they deploy their teaching resources across the competing needs of the school.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. Wherever possible, group work and class based activity should be used to maximise the amount of time available for those pupils that are in most need of one to one support. With economic recovery and as our budgetary position permits, and when the Government is in a position to look at improving the teaching resources for schools I do not believe that a return to a situation where there would be a separate allocation for guidance in schools is desirable. The Principal and leadership of the school should have discretion on how teachers are deployed for certain purposes. Guidance and counselling is a whole school responsibility with guidance counsellors playing their part within an overall team approach.
