Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The guidelines on mental health promotion and suicide prevention are based on schools taking a co-ordinated whole school approach to preventing and, where necessary, tackling these issues. This involves building and integrating school self-evaluation processes, implementing the SPHE curriculum, developing the whole school guidance plan, adopting the NEPS continuum of support, and building effective interagency relationships.

With regard to guidance, the representative organisations for school principals and school management developed a framework that assists schools on how best to manage the provision of guidance from within their staffing allocation. This was a very positive and proactive response to a difficult budget decision.

Initial findings of a recent comprehensive survey by the National Centre for Guidance in Education on schools provision for guidance suggests that even through there has been a cut in the allocation schools continue to prioritise the guidance programme and within it have increased group work and class-based activity at senior cycle. This approach maximises the amount of time available for those pupils who need one to one support.

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