Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 January 2023
112. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Education the number of psychologists employed by the National Educational Psychological Service in each of the years 2018 to 2022; the number of NEPS assessments conducted each year from 2018 to 2022; if she has any plans to increase the number of psychologists employed by NEPS; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3624/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools.
The NEPS service provides access for all schools to:
- Psychological support in the event of a Critical Incident
- A Casework Service for individual children where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA).
- A school staff Support and Development Service, to build school capability to provide a comprehensive continuum of support in schools and
- Ongoing access to advice and support for schools.
NEPS, in common with many other psychological services and best international practice, has adopted a consultative model of service. The focus is on empowering teachers to intervene effectively with pupils whose needs range from mild to severe and transient to enduring. Psychologists use a problem solving and solution oriented consultative approach to maximise positive outcomes for these pupils. NEPS encourages schools to use a continuum based assessment and intervention process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or behavioural difficulties. Teachers may consult their NEPS psychologist should they need to at this stage in the process. Where reasonable progress is not made, following a school's best efforts in consultation with NEPS, a psychologist will become involved with an individual child for intensive intervention or assessment. This system allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and also to help many more children indirectly than could be seen individually.
Available data on NEPS and SCPA casework for the academic year 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21 is provided in the attached document.
|
- |
2018/19 |
2019/2020 |
2020/2021 |
|
No. Pupils |
No. Pupils |
No. Pupils |
|
|
NEPS Casework |
8,807 |
7392 |
8,507 |
|
SCPA |
1,781 |
966 |
904 |
|
Total |
10,588 |
8358* |
9,411* |
*Reduction due to Covid-19 school closures from March 2020 to academic year end.
Data in respect of the 2021/22 academic year is not yet available. Furthermore, the NEPS Support and Development service reaches an estimated 25,000 teachers annually.
The number of educational psychologists currently employed in NEPS stands at 225 whole-time equivalents across the eight NEPS regions, having grown from a base of 173 in 2014.
I recently announced an additional 54 educational psychologists to provide services to special schools and special classes as part of Budget 2023.
