Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 April 2013
7. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he intends to provide specialist training in the area of mental health for teachers and principal teachers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17559/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra34. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to provide specialist training in the area of mental health for teachers and principal teachers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17544/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra48. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education and Skills the training measures he will put in place to help teachers deal with mental health issues in pupils; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17551/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra59. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills the training measures he will put in place to help teachers deal with mental health issues in pupils; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17536/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 34, 48 and 59 together.
The promotion of student well-being and positive mental health strategies in schools is a key aim of my Department. Accordingly, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, has directed my Department's support services to review and prioritise support for schools on the guidelines for mental health promotion which he launched recently with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. The guidelines bring together existing guidance and programmes to ensure a more integrated and holistic policy approach is taken towards student well-being. The guidelines, which are evidence-based, are an essential reference point for teachers and school management in terms of their planning for the implementation of the social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum, the whole-school guidance plan and for accessing the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, continuum of support framework. Relevant supports for schools are outlined in the document.
The focus of my question is the pressures and stresses on teachers in the course of carrying out their work and the impact that is having on the mental health of teachers. I accept that mental health is also a serious issue among the student population.
The recent Irish Primary Principals Network conference in Citywest highlighted how stress and mental health difficulties are affecting many primary school teachers at present because of the pressures they are under as a result of the increasing difficulties of running a school and the workload that falls on principals and teachers as a result. That is something that must be addressed. The Department must act in that regard to resolve the issue. Principals now have a massive workload, in particular because of the financial difficulties that exist. Capitation grants have been reduced. The minor works grant has been eradicated. Much of the responsibility falls on principals, in addition to the administration duties involved in running a school and on top of their teaching duties, as many primary principals also have teaching responsibilities.
I would welcome a comment from the Minister of State on the issue. The Department must address the matter. Everyone is finding the current climate difficult. Many principals made the point that the Croke Park II agreement would make it more difficult to get people to become principals. The stresses involved are affecting the number of teachers interested in taking on the role of principal. Increased pressure is also evident for ordinary teachers. The Department must address the issue and come up with a solution.
I accept the point the Deputy is making. Perhaps it is a commentary on life in this country at present for people who are unemployed, employed or in specific professions that the level of stress has increased dramatically. We have had a recession for more than five years at this stage and that takes its toll. Decisions have been made on budgetary issues pertaining to education involving a reduction in services as a result of the macroeconomic situation in which we find ourselves.
In my experience, teachers as a cohort are very supportive of each other in terms of developing mechanisms for dealing with stress. I have an open mind on the issue. I honestly do not know how the Department can put in place mechanisms that are funded to assist teachers specifically to alleviate stress. I do not know how one would achieve that without achieving it in other areas of the public sector also. There are definite guidelines on students. It is an apolitical space. Through providing guidelines for the promotion of mental health and suicide prevention, the State is doing a lot to ensure the health and well-being of pupils.
The straight answer to the Deputy's question is that I do not know how one would develop a mechanism that is funded specifically for teachers but I have an open mind on the matter.
It is important to point out that children in schools are also under enormous stress; it is not just a problem for the principals and teachers. There is no doubt that the cutbacks to guidance counsellors have put more pressure on everybody, both teachers and pupils. The biggest school in Wexford is Gorey Community School, which has 1,500 pupils. The students themselves have reacted to the problems in the school because they see that the principal, the remaining guidance counsellors and the teachers are under too much pressure. They have set up a project, called Project Smiler, whereby they are trying to highlight to pupils who are in trouble or not feeling great about themselves the importance of communicating and talking to others. They are putting helpline numbers in students' lockers and so forth. While that is a very positive development, the State must play a greater role in making sure that such developments happen in schools all over the country. It only took a handful of kids with initiative in Gorey to get the project started. I know such projects do not exist in all schools but the State should examine the possibility of promoting such initiatives.
I was interested in the Minister of State's response to the question of how we deal with the whole area of mental health, particularly with regard to the stresses that teachers are under, because it is a growing issue. If one speaks to any representatives from the teaching unions, they will tell one that it is a growing problem and something that must be addressed. Various initiatives being undertaken by individual schools could be examined more closely by the Department to determine whether they could be expanded on a pilot-project basis. If the Government is going to continue to put pressure on the teaching profession, through cuts in pay and working conditions - I do not want to get into that argument now - then that will obviously have a trickle-down effect on the students. As a parent and someone who sends my children to school, I am relying on the teachers, the principal and those working within the school environment to care for my children while they are in that environment but if those individuals are suffering from their own stresses and pressures, then the care provided might not be what it should be. An increasing number of teachers are taking sick leave and much of that is down to mental health problems, stress and strain. This is something the Department must examine. It must look at initiatives in individual schools, as in the example just given by Deputy Wallace regarding a project in a school in his constituency. Such projects are being replicated right across the State and the Department must assess whether they can be expanded on a pilot-project basis.
There is common ground here. What has amazed me since becoming Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills two years ago is the well-spring of initiatives in schools and the level of cohesion between teachers and pupils in their collaboration on such projects. We all acknowledge that and I accept the point that we should examine some of these projects to determine whether we can pilot them across the educational landscape.
We are often accused in this House of being out of touch but very often we have our fingers on the pulse in terms of what is happening in our own communities. I have noticed an enormous amount of enthusiasm from pupils about trying to ensure the emotional and mental well being of their fellow pupils. I have not seen anything like the level of positivity that I have seen in the last two years, in terms of the willingness of pupils to engage with and try to help their fellow students. That is having a knock-on effect on overall well being within schools. The evidence for that may be anecdotal but we are seeing an improvement in this regard.
I take the point made about the stresses and strains that teachers are under. I also understand their in loco parentis role in schools but schools are communities made up of students, teachers and parents, all working together. The question was asked as to whether we can specifically fund services for teachers who are in distress or under stress without also doing so for the wider populace but I do not know the answer to that. As to whether we can get specific schemes or pilot projects under way, I do not see why not. Wearing my research hat, I can say that it can be very easy to do so. Good ideas, like the CoderDojo initiative, for example, are very easily replicated across the landscape. If specific initiatives are being carried out in schools in certain areas at present, I do not see why they cannot be replicated across the country. There would be no additional cost because it is simply about learning from other schools and replicating that across the system. I am always happy to engage on this agenda.
