Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 October 2022
424. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Education if her Department plans to provide professional supervision for teachers and, if not, if it will be considered in order to support teachers dealing with trauma. [51332/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy 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. The Wellbeing Policy contains a number of high level actions including an action to promote the wellbeing of school staff. The policy recognises the importance of the relationships between all members of the school community and ongoing professional development of teachers.
My Department offers an Employee Assistance Service (EAS) for all school staff in recognised primary and post primary schools. This free service includes a wide range of supports including a confidential 24/7 helpline, short-term counselling, a wellbeing portal and webinars. It also provides advice and support to managers to help them deal with health and wellbeing issues in the workplace.
The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) are the frontline responders on behalf of the Department of Education who support schools in the aftermath of a critical incident. Given the unexpected nature of critical incidents, NEPS has produced guidelines and resource materials for schools to enable them to prepare for and respond to traumatic events which can adversely affect pupils and school staff. The publication "Responding to Critical Incidents: NEPS Guidelines and Resource Materials for Schools’ outlines how schools can plan for crises.
The publication provides practical step-by-step guidelines for teachers and principals on how to respond when a tragedy occurs and helps schools to be as prepared as possible for a potentially overwhelming tragic event.
Training in critical incident planning is part of the service provided by NEPS to schools. In order to increase the reach of critical incident training to all schools, NEPS has developed an eLearning course ‘Responding to Critical Incidents in Schools – eLearning Course’ to accompany "Responding to Critical Incidents: NEPS Guidelines and Resource Materials for Schools".
