Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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18. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to restore guidance counselling services in secondary schools. [28421/16]

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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There is a commitment in the programme for Government to restore guidance counsellors to secondary schools. That is an invaluable service. Will the Minister outline the plans to restore that service, but also the timeframe?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Both the Action Plan for Education 2016-2019 and the programme for Government have a specific action to enhance guidance counselling at second level as resources permit.

A significant move was made last month with the restoration of half of the cut in the provision for guidance counselling. This was equivalent to the restoration of 300 posts.

The delivery of the 50% restoration through a change in the staffing schedule allows each school to determine how best to allocate the additional resources to meet the guidance needs of the school. The circular issued earlier this year by my Department outlining the allocation of teaching resources clearly stated that this additional resource is to complement existing resources in order to best meet the guidance needs of the school in line with the school's guidance plan.

I favour having a separate and transparent allocation for guidance. I hope to build on the current increase in provision for guidance, but this will have to be considered each year in a budgetary context.

I am also reviewing other areas of policy that can assist schools in having a series of initiatives to support the resilience of students.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for that response. As he is aware, guidance counsellors provide an invaluable service in schools, both in terms of the well-being of students and personal one-to-one counselling. Guidance counsellors have seen cuts of up to 53% since 2012. One-to-one counselling has also been cut by 27%. We need to restore that, but it must be ex quota. I have heard many teachers say it is unfair that their guidance counsellors are competing with teachers from other subject areas, therefore, it must be allocated outside the normal staffing schedule in schools.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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That is a widespread view. We need to make sure that resources are devoted to counselling. At the same time, I am conscious that in an increasing number of schools there is group work and class based activity at senior cycle, which is designed to provide support within the counselling remit. I do not want to undermine that. I understand some schools are considering counselling as a whole school activity and not confined to one individual teacher. Obviously, I will be guided by expertise in this field. I am aware that other Deputies also are of the view that this should be a separate support. The key is to ensure that young people get access to counselling. In terms of the manner of its delivery, we need to hear from experience on the ground to shape our final decisions.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I am particularly concerned about the lack of clarity on ex quotaallocations. The Education Act states that students should have appropriate access to career guidance. We need to prioritise this issue and get it right.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I agree wholly with the Deputy. The issue is not whether we need to restore counselling and the level of counselling that must be provided in the school. We must be conscious that some schools provide models whereby the counselling is not delivered through one individual. If that is a working model that is delivering, we need to have some level of understanding of how it works on the ground. The first allocation made this September was not deemed ex quotabut was accompanied by a guidance that was required to make sure it was used to rebuild the counselling support. We need some room to make sure that we are guided by the expertise in this area, but I fully sympathise with the objectives both of Deputy Nolan and Deputy Byrne who have raised this issue consistently.