Mr. Hubert Loftus:

My job in the Department is managing teacher allocations. We operate in a climate in which we have a ceiling on teacher numbers and fixed payroll budgets which we have to manage at a time of increasing demographics. The choice for Government when it was making its budgetary decision on guidance counsellors was to increase the pupil-teacher ratio or to bring guidance within quota. It chose to bring guidance within the standard allocation. It is important to bear in mind that all schools are required to provide guidance within the quota. In the past there were over 700 whole-time equivalent guidance posts. The budget saving yielded 500 posts and we used the extra 200 posts to shelter the most disadvantaged, the DEIS schools.

The 200 DEIS post-primary schools had an increase in their staffing allocation. For example, in the past a 500-pupil DEIS school, which would be fairly typical, would have had an allocation of about 29 teachers plus one guidance post, making a total of 30. Typically, one guidance post would have been allocated for every 500 pupils. Based on the increased staffing allocation given to the DEIS schools this year, that school would have been given 30 posts. In a sense, all the DEIS schools are largely unaffected by the Government decision to bring guidance posts within quota and they were sheltered. However, the non-DEIS schools are affected. A non-DEIS 500-pupil school has to manage guidance counselling within its allocation of 29 teachers. Equally, if the budget decision was different and the pupil-teacher ratio was changed, such a non-DEIS school would have to manage such provision within an allocation of 29 teachers. That is the context here.

On the wider issue of guidance, a whole-school approach is the best way to provide it. It is best that it is not only the sole focus of the guidance teacher in the school. It is the focus of everyone in the school and the whole-school approach is the best way to address it. The management bodies in the school system and the Association of Principals and Deputy Principals provided a framework for schools and gave guidance to them on how to manage within that framework. The focus of it is to maximise the way in which they use their resources. All of us in the public sector have to achieve more with less. That applies to the Department and agencies, and schools are no different. Schools cannot be exempt from that requirement. We shelter them as much as we can. There are clear options in terms of maximising this resource in that as much as possible of the career guidance element is delivered in class settings rather than on a one-to-one basis and that as much of the guidance counsellor's time as possible is targeted towards those pupils who need one-to-one support. I will ask Ms Doreen McMorris to add to that.