Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 January 2019
327. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to combat student anxiety and stress within secondary schools to enable a good mental health environment for students sitting the leaving certificate and other examinations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54443/18]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, mental health and wellbeing promotion is afforded a high priority and is one of the key goals within my Department’s Action Plan for Education in 2016/19. My Department is strongly supportive of the promotion of wellbeing in our schools and has a key role to play in the promotion of the wellbeing of children and young people in Ireland, in collaboration with the Departments of Health and Children and Youth Affairs, and with other Government Departments and Agencies.
My Department adopts a holistic and integrated approach to supporting schools in promoting wellbeing and positive mental health. The process spans the curriculum in schools, whole-school ethos, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, student support and pastoral care and the provision of professional development for teachers. It also involves other supports such as educational psychological services and guidance services, and the interface with other agencies, both nationally and locally.
To support this holistic approach my Department has published a Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice (2018-2023) for all schools which will inform how schools can best promote student wellbeing. The policy statement and framework for practice provides an overarching structure encompassing existing, ongoing and developing work in the area of Wellbeing Promotion in schools.
Best practice indicates that schools adopt a whole-school, multi-component preventative approach to Wellbeing Promotion that includes both universal and targeted interventions. A whole-school approach involves all in the school community engaging in a collaborative process to improve areas of school life that impact on wellbeing. This will be achieved through the use of a School Self-Evaluation process taking Wellbeing Promotion as its focus. It will allow schools to benchmark their practice against the statement of effective practice, and identify areas for development, implementation and review. It is envisaged that schools will engage with the statements and adapt and develop the best practice items as they meet the needs in their own school community.
A multi-component approach encourages schools to address areas, not only relating to Teaching and Learning but also relating to culture and environment, policy and planning and relationships and partnerships. These areas are embedded in the Wellbeing Framework for Practice. Working preventatively and providing for both universal and targeted approaches is described as providing a ‘Continuum of Support’. Schools are encouraged to provide supports to promote the wellbeing of all within the school community as well as providing some targeted interventions for children and young people presenting with vulnerabilities in the area of wellbeing.
It is my Department’s aim that by 2023 all schools and centres for education will have embedded this dynamic School Self-evaluation process focusing on Wellbeing Promotion. The implementation of this Wellbeing Promotion Process is an ongoing process that will ensure the necessary focus on supporting children and young people in having a sense of purpose and fulfilment, and the skills necessary to deal with life’s challenges.
A Wellbeing Policy Implementation Plan, which has specified seven high level goals, has been agreed for achievement over the next five years.
The seven high level goals are as follows:
1. Strengthen and align current structures within the Department and between the Department and other relevant Departments to ensure the coordinated implementation of this Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice.
2. Plan and provide for the national roll-out of a professional development process to facilitate all schools and centres for education to engage with and embed a Wellbeing Promotion Process which builds professional capacity and collaborative cultures from 2018-2023.
3. Provide for an aligned, comprehensive and easily-accessible programme of support for all schools and centres for education to address school-identified wellbeing promotion needs.
4. Consider how the system is meeting current and future teachers’ learning needs relating to wellbeing promotion
5. Develop a research based framework for the evaluation of wellbeing promotion in schools.
6. Improve use of supports for children and young people at key points of transition within and between education settings.
7. Promote the wellbeing of school and centre of education personnel.
Schools will be supported in this work by a national professional development programme currently being developed and trialled, and full roll out will commence in 2019. In addition, our national support services will step up the investment made in building capacity within schools to deliver:
- More training for teachers and school staff (including the Incredible Years programme, the Friends programme and the SafeTALK programme)
- Improved curriculum content (through the Junior Cycle Wellbeing programme, improved resources for teachers to deliver Relationships and Sexuality Education)
- Best practice models of school based student support teams
- Protocols for connecting to wider support services
- A national training programme to support schools to implement the Self-Evaluation Wellbeing Promotion process and the development of Wellbeing Resources, including self-evaluation planning and feedback templates.
By providing this Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice I believe that we can fulfil our mission to enable individuals to achieve their full potential and contribute to Ireland’s social cultural and economic development into the future.
I can also inform the Deputy that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment are engaged in a comprehensive review of senior cycle, a process informed by Junior Cycle reform. One component of this review will be examining ways to alleviate stress for our learners as part of the examinations system. As part of the first phase of the review the NCCA conducted international research on senior cycle in a number of other jurisdictions (France, Sweden, New Zealand, Queensland, Finland, England, Netherlands, and Ontario). The report of this research was published in February 2018 and is available on the NCCA’s website.
A significant and exciting new step in the review started in autumn. The NCCA began collaborating with a group of 41 schools, which includes discussions with students, teachers and parents, to conduct a school-based review of senior cycle. Schools were provided with stimulus material to facilitate discussions with staff, students and parents. These school-based discussions will now widen out into national discussions, towards a final report to be agreed by the NCCA in mid-2019.
The revised Leaving Certificate grading system introduced in June 2017 was designed to reduce the pressure on students in chasing small percentage gains which would lead to changes in grade bands. This was done by reducing the number of overall grade bands.
In addition, the NCCA has been moving towards introducing second components to more leaving cert subjects. Some two-thirds of LC subjects now include a second assessment component which is undertaken by students before the June exams commence. The second assessment component also allows the assessment of a wider range of student skills than is possible with just a single written exam.
My Department and the State Examinations Commission also recently announced the addition of two days to the Leaving Certificate examination timetable. The additional days allow for new scheduling options for examinations, which are intended to minimise clashes for students and promote the wellbeing of students sitting exams.
