Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I wish to comment on the same issue. The Minister has said that he would expect them to be professionally equipped but earlier he spoke about best practice and said in the same breath that there is nothing wrong with a science teacher giving guidance to a student. One could, however, have an excellent science teacher who has no idea what courses are available out there because the truth is that the guidance counsellors in the schools are in regional groups that meet regularly and unlike a science teacher, they constantly update and share their skills and information with one other. We would not expect the guidance teacher to teach some science on the side so why would we expect the science teacher to teach some guidance on the side? This all goes back to the original decision in 2012, before the Minister's time but he was in government. I believe the role of the guidance counsellor is completely undervalued by the Government and its predecessor. It is an absolutely crucial role and yet we wonder why one in six students in college are dropping out in first year. They are not getting the proper guidance counselling because since 2012, they have not been receiving it.