Vol. 492 No. 7
33 Mr. McDowell asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on the ratios applying to guidance counsellors, that is, 11 hours per week up to 499 students and one teacher for 799 students as against an estimated 200 students on average being taught by a secondary teacher; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14996/98]
48 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Education and Science the proposals, if any, he has to have trained guidance counsellors recruited into the education system in permanent positions against a background of an estimated 37 per cent of schools which have no trained guidance counsellor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14995/98]
50 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on whether there is a need to revise the rules governing the appointment of guidance counsellors to take account of the growing needs of pupils. [15024/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 33, 48 and 50 together.
The rules for the appointment of guidance counsellors are laid down in circular letters and deal with (a) criteria for allocation of guidance posts to schools, (b) qualifications for appointment of guidance counsellors and (c) the requirement in certain cases for guidance counsellors to engage in a certain amount of subject teaching. (a) The ex-quota allocation in respect of guidance to individual second level schools in a particular school year is determined by the enrolment at the end of the preceding September. The allocation varies from 0.1 of a post to schools in the free education scheme with less than 100 pupils to two posts in the case of schools with 1,000 or more pupils. These allocations are made in order to enhance the role of schools in provision of guidance for students. The total allocation in respect of guidance in the current school year is approximately 567 wholetime teacher equivalents. (b) In order to be appointed to an incremental post as a guidance counsellor, a teacher must be fully qualified to teach in the relevant sector, that is, secondary, vocational or community / comprehensive, and must have an additional qualification in guidance which is normally awarded at the end of a post-graduate course of at least a year's duration. (c) In addition to their guidance qualification guidance counsellors need to be familiar with the education system and have experience of working with class-size groups of students. For this reason, there is a requirement that guidance counsellors in posts outside the quota should engage each week in at least three hours' subject teaching.
I am satisfied that with the relatively recent increase in the number of training courses available for guidance counsellors from an original two courses to six courses, sufficient places can be made available to meet the need for guidance counsellors in schools.
