Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In light of concerns expressed last year, the Department of Education and Skills requested that the National Council for Guidance Education, NCGE, carry out a review of schools' provision for guidance. The NCGE surveyed schools in March 2012 before the budget measure was introduced and the following October after its introduction. While its final report will be published in the coming months, initial findings were presented to the Department in preparation for the conference to which the Deputy referred. These findings suggest that schools continue to prioritise guidance programmes. The report also states there has been increased group work and class based activity at senior cycle, which is in keeping with best practice in guidance. Such best practice suggests that one-to-one guidance counselling is best conducted after such group work.

While there have been some reductions in the number of guidance hours available to schools, they are certainly not of the order claimed by some. Schools continue to provide and prioritise guidance. In terms of hours, the National Council for Guidance Education survey suggests there has been a reduction of approximately 25% in allocated hours for guidance. The reduction depends largely on school size and is as follows. In second level schools with fewer than 400 students, the reduction is, on average, four hours per week. These schools would typically have had a part-time guidance counsellor under the old allocation system. In second level schools with between 400 and 700 students, the reduction is, on average, five hours per week. These schools would typically have had one full-time guidance counsellor under the old allocation system. In large schools with more than 700 students, the reduction is, on average, 11.5 hours per week. These schools would typically have had more than one guidance counsellor under the old allocation system.

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