Mr. Eddie Ward:

We do not expect teachers to be medical or psychological experts. Our desire is that we have quality teachers who can look after children, understand their emotional development, support them, identify children who have difficulties and work through the various services to support those children. I do not think anyone in the world expects teachers to be experts in suicide prevention, but there is a responsibility on the system that they receive appropriate training to be able to identify children who might have difficulty, work with children and perhaps even their parents where they identify issues, and direct children to appropriate support. Clearly, teachers, while they will be helpful and supportive, are not the experts one might need in cases of severe medical or psychological difficulty.