Thomas Gould
Question:103. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Education the number of students per guidance counsellor. [25276/23]
View answerWednesday, 24 May 2023
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Written answers
The number of students per guidance counsellor is an interesting question as it does not have a straightforward answer.
Allocations for Guidance are calculated in accordance with the type of school in question (DEIS / Non DEIS and Fee paying).
Allocations for Guidance are calculated by reference to the approved enrolment, including PLC pupils. The allocation is the difference between the PTR of 19:1 and a reduced PTR depending on school type.
To provide an example of this:
- a 500 student non-DEIS school will have 18.4 hours of Guidance allocated.
- a 500 student DEIS school will have 44.22 hours of Guidance allocated.
A guidance post in a school is 22 hours per week.
So, with regard to the above example (a school with 500 students), the non-DEIS school has 0.82 guidance counsellors while the DEIS school has 2.01 guidance counsellors.
In consideration of the calculations on a national scale 885 Guidance 'posts' have been allocated to post-primary schools for academic year 2022/2023.
HOWEVER, the allocation of the hours for Guidance is at the discretion of the principal of each school. Some Principals will accord a full allocation of the guidance hours to a guidance counsellor/guidance counsellors while other principals will accord the hours in other areas as 'whole school guidance' applies.
This means that while 885 posts are funded, sometimes the hours are distributed to other roles in schools to support whole school guidance.
Circulars 0002/2023, 0003/2023 and 0004/2023 provide more detail on allocations and on Whole School Guidance .