Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 April 2023
573. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education if she acknowledges that in communities that have been identified as suffering deep and embodied trauma (details supplied), there is a need to go beyond general health and well-being practices and to also acknowledge that teachers working in such communities would benefit from expert support in integrating trauma informed and recovery practices into the school community. [17663/23]
View answer574. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education if her Department is planning to support schools identified as having high levels of socially generated trauma in the school community, to integrate trauma-informed and recovery practices into their pedagogies and behaviour management approaches; and the teacher supports and teacher professional development opportunities she has identified to deliver such support. [17664/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 573 and 574 together.
The Department of Education plays an important role in supporting the wellbeing and mental health of our children and young people. The Department’s Wellbeing Policy and Framework for practice has given recognition to the importance of promoting wellbeing in education. The approach set out in the Wellbeing Policy is a whole school and preventative approach which has multiple components that include providing children and young people with opportunities to build core social and emotional skills and competencies, experience supportive relationships within the school setting and be part of a school environment and culture that feels both physically and psychologically safe.
The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all recognised primary and post-primary schools. This involves consultation with parents and teachers, access to individual pupil casework, the provision of support and development services for school staff and direct support in the event of a critical incident. NEPS also works closely with the HSE and its agencies to ensure that those who may require the provision of therapy or counselling are referred on to the appropriate clinical services for intervention and support.
NEPS provides national and regional support and development to schools to build school capacity to support students. Part of this work includes trauma informed approaches. NEPS psychologists have engaged in extensive national training in the area of trauma in recent years to inform their practice and the development of professional learning opportunities for school staff. Training called ‘Introducing a Trauma Informed Approach: The Stress Factor - Getting the Balance Right’ was delivered to school leaders in acknowledgement of the important role they have in embedding practices in their schools. Subsequently, a new eLearning course - ‘Introducing a Trauma Informed Approach: The Stress Factor - Getting the Balance Right’ was launched recently and will be followed by a series of special interest modules. The eLearning course explores the use of whole-school, compassionate and trauma-informed approaches to build safe and connected schools. The approaches outlined in the workshops are based on research findings, on the experience of experts in their fields and on the experience of practicing psychologists working in schools. The focus of the webinars is on exploring and understanding the sources and impact of stress on children and young people including attachment, trauma and adverse experiences. The emphasis is on creating environments to reduce stress and on developing skills all children and young people need to better manage in school. Individual psychologists also offer bespoke training to schools on trauma informed practice when requested.
Psychologists from NEPS on behalf of the Department provide essential support to schools when traumatic events and tragedies occur. The psychologists support schools to activate a Critical Incident Management Plan (CIMP) and psychologist provide step by step guidance, advice and support to schools in responding to the traumatic event. The psychologists attend and facilitate meetings with staff and work with them to identify students who are most in need of support, and help develop procedures for reviewing their needs and supporting onward referral, if necessary. In addition, NEPS psychologists liaise with colleagues in different agencies and services as needed in relation to an interagency response to support all members of the school community. NEPS have developed advice and resources for schools to support school communities who have experienced tragedy which can be accessed at this link gov.ie - National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) (www.gov.ie). NEPS recently launched an eLearning course – Responding to Critical Incidents in Schools. This course is aimed specifically at the school’s Critical Incident Management Team, but open to all interested staff. To date this training has been accessed by a large number of school staff. It provides a step by step guide on how schools might respond in the event of the tragedy and includes school staff talking through their experiences of responding to tragic events in their schools.
Supplementing the universal supports available to all schools, the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) Programme is a key policy initiative of the Department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level in a targeted and equitable way across the primary and post-primary sector. In March last year the single largest expansion of the DEIS programme was announced, benefitting 347 schools. The programme now includes over 1,200 schools and supports approximately 240,000 students. This means 1 in 4 of all students are now supported in the programme. This recent expansion will add an additional €32million to the Department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the overall Department of Education allocation for the programme to €180 million. The extension of the DEIS programme followed on from an investment of €5m secured for the programme in Budget 2021. This investment allowed for a 1 point improvement in the staffing schedule for Urban Band 1 schools, a reduced student threshold for the allocation of additional Deputy Principal posts in DEIS post-primary schools. It also provided for a 5% increase in funding for the School Completion Programme. Funding for this programme was increased by a further 5% under Budget 2023, as part of an €8 million allocation to address the impacts of COVID-19 and increase retention rates of students in schools, especially those from groups at risk of educational disadvantage. In addition to this a further €3 million was secured in Budget 2023 which will be provided for social inclusion measures, including enhancing the capacity of the education welfare services in Tusla that are now under the remit of the Department. Analysis has shown that since the DEIS programme began in 2006, it has helped to close the gap in achievement between schools serving the highest levels of educational disadvantage and those serving populations with little or no disadvantage. It has provided children who come to education at a disadvantage with an equitable opportunity to achieve their potential in education.
The Department provides funding for a number of projects in local drugs task force areas. The aim of these projects are to promote healthy choices and to prevent or reduce substance misuse. Funding provided over the period for these projects was €311,001 in 2020, €176,817 in 2021 and €192,729 in 2022.
Following the National Census 2022 held on the 3rd April last, it is envisaged that an updated HP Deprivation Index will be generated by Pobal and will be available in Q3 of 2023. The Department will engage with Pobal in relation to this process. The updated HP Deprivation Index, when available, will be considered by the Department to help inform future resource allocation to tackle educational disadvantage.
The next phase of work will consider all schools, within and outside the DEIS programme and explore the overall allocation of resources to schools to tackle educational disadvantage. Part of this programme of work will involve consultation with relevant stakeholders over the coming months.
