On behalf of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, I thank the joint committee for allowing us to come to speak to it about the future of guidance counselling in second level schools. Guidance counselling is about student welfare. Guidance counselling is a front-line service which supports students throughout their second level education and into post-leaving certificate level. It supports students to enable them gain the maximum from their time in the education system. Guidance consists of a range of learning experiences, delivered in a sequential way along the students' development throughout their time in school. It assists students to develop self-management skills so that those skills will lead to effective choices and decision-making, not just in school but throughout their lives. This is the purpose of guidance and counselling in second level schools in Ireland.
The importance of guidance and counselling is enshrined in the 1998 Education Act. Section 9(c) provides that schools must provide access to appropriate guidance. We are here today to state that without the ex-quota allocation provided for guidance up until this budget, schools will not be in a position to provide access or appropriate guidance for students.
The Department of Education and Science which is now the Department of Education and Skills, produced the document which is a guideline to section 9(c) of the Act. This document shows how guidance should be delivered, based on section 9(c). It stresses the importance of guidance and describes the research which supports the importance of guidance. It indicates elements of the programme and the rationale and planning for guidance. Since the ex-quota allocation was taken away in the budget, this document has no status. All its aims and objectives are now purely aspirational.
The service is envisaged as an holistic service based on the linked areas of educational, vocational and personal guidance. The range covers everything from subject choice for future decision-making to personal counselling which enables and empowers students. The school guidance counsellor is the only trained mental health professional to whom students have direct access on a one to one basis. When one considers the importance of mental health and the various government initiatives to support mental health, school is a very central place for such help to be available. The guidance counsellor supports the student with mental health issues throughout his or her time in school.
The document also refers to vocational or careers guidance. All the information and options are available for students to make career and educational choices as are all the forms which require to be filled out to make those progressions.
I will offer some examples of how guidance and counselling works in schools. Here is a case in point. Sally first comes to the attention of the guidance counsellor when she enters school; in fact, she comes to the attention of the guidance counsellor before she enters school because the guidance counsellor plays a central role in helping Sally to make the transition from primary to secondary level and in particular, she helps her in choices having regard to whether they match her interests and her aptitudes at that stage. This is the work of the guidance counsellor. The guidance counsellor develops a relationship with the student in the early stages of her coming into school in order for her to settle into school. Sally continues through first year and into second year. She makes good progress, and settles in and everyone is pleased with her progress. However, at the end of second year, Sally comes to the attention of the pastoral care team. The guidance counsellor plays a central role in the pastoral care team. Students experiencing difficulties, for whatever reason, are discussed by the team and any interventions are decided upon. It has been noted by her class teachers and by her tutors that her performance and her work is falling off. She is not as focused as before and she has become withdrawn. She is no longer hanging around with her friends. She seems to have lost weight or it could just be that she is growing up. The intervention decided upon is that Sally should see the guidance counsellor and her tutor makes an appointment for her. From the point of personal counselling, the guidance counsellor is the one person in the school whom Sally can see on a one to one basis and confidentially if necessary. During the sessions with the guidance counsellor, Sally reveals that things are going badly at home, Mum and Dad are splitting up. She is upset and she is not sleeping at night, she is unable to focus. She knows her work is suffering and she does not mean for her work to suffer. She does not want to fall out with the teachers and it is difficult for her to speak about it with her friends. As a result of personal counselling with the guidance counsellor, Sally can be helped to cope with these issues and to resolve some of them. The guidance counsellor can also act as an advocate for Sally with the teachers so that they understand some of the circumstances as they do not need to know everything. This can also be done with the parent.
I have another example. Joe is a completely different kettle of fish. He is in fifth year. He is the life and soul of the school. He is bright, bubbly and an extrovert. He is a great athlete and footballer. He is a very bright boy with a slightly cavalier attitude towards school and education in general. In fact, he revealed to the guidance counsellor when picking his subjects for fifth year that he only did transition year because of the variety of activities available. He believes he can leave school at any stage and get an apprenticeship. The guidance counsellor has a lot of contact with Joe during fifth year and Joe begins to reveal that the apprenticeship he had in mind is no longer on the horizon. His Dad works in construction and Dad is now on short time and he might be let go. Neither Mum nor Dad has completed second level education. Dad keeps talking about the need for qualifications and a good job. It is dawning on Joe that he must make sense of the education world, a world with which he is completely unfamiliar and with which his family background has no links. Joe needs extra help from the guidance counsellor as he goes through the guidance programme in fifth year and into sixth year in order to match his aptitudes to courses leading to qualifications which will ensure sustainable employment. Joe is a bit unsure of himself for the first time. He wonders what college will be like and he is curious about what it means to be a professional. Joe requires extra one to one guidance. Because of family background, living in a disadvantaged area on a low income, with parents who have not completed their education, Joe is eligible for the higher education access scheme or any of the other individual access schemes available in colleges. With Joe's permission, the guidance counsellor also contacts Mum and Dad and offers assistance if required in negotiating the amount of paperwork they will need to deal with in order for Joe to make the transition from second level education to further or third level education. He can then make a contribution to the economy and achieve a successful life for himself. These are just two examples of how the guidance and counselling service works within schools.
As to the future, I question what will happen if there is no ex-quota dedicated allocation for guidance and counselling in schools. The Minister has referred in his speech to the fact that 450 posts will be gone from second level education. Guidance and counselling will bear the brunt of this because the ex-quota allocation must be found from within the general allocation. It is now down to the management of the school to find the hours for guidance and counselling. For example, if a school has an enrolment of between 500 and 599 students, it is entitled to 24 hours per week guidance and counselling. This is the equivalent of a full post plus two hours. A DEIS school is entitled to 27.5 hours. How will the school find those extra hours? The guidance counsellor is back in the general allocation and this means that the guidance counsellor, as of next September, will be back in class teaching subject areas. It is up to the school management to decide between guidance service or subject teaching. From 29 February, some schools will not have a guidance counsellor if that person retires. As of next September, all schools will be over the quota. If a school does not have a guidance counsellor it cannot hire one. When the school is in a position to hire a guidance counsellor, either through natural wastage or because the numbers have risen, it is back to the dilemma of which service or subject to choose. Schools in areas where they nearly have to compete for enrolments with other schools have to keep their curricular commitments in mind.
We have discussed this matter with the managerial bodies, which have already advised schools to do an audit of where they stand in relation to staffing and subjects. I will give an example of what has happened in the last two weeks. A large school in the north east initially had an allocation of 38 hours, according to the schedule. It got extra hours some years ago as a result of the guidance enhancement initiative. Every minute of its 49 hours was being used for guidance and counselling purposes. The principal of the school has done an audit to try to find hours during which guidance can be provided. After looking upside down and inside out, she has come up with ten hours. I am sure members can tell the difference between a ten-hour service and a 49-hour service. The principal will have to decide who will receive the service and how it will be delivered. How can the school ensure there is access to appropriate guidance? Will this measure leave schools open to litigation from students or parents who feel that access to appropriate guidance and support was denied to them?
I would like to speak about the evidence that supports the need for-----