Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I was aware of this issue. I had been in correspondence with a constituent about it. It seems to be an anomaly. I will give the Minister's response now, but I agree the support they provide to schools and CAMHS and critical incident support in schools is a hugely valued resource for our schools. I am taking the Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley, who sends her apologies for being unable to be here this morning.

The Department's National Educational Service, NEPS, provides educational and psychological support to all recognised primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident; access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students; access to a NEPS psychologist for responses to queries; and access to individual pupil casework, where there is a need, via a NEPS psychologist or through the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments.

NEPS has adopted a consultative model of service that focuses on empowering teachers to intervene effectively with pupils whose needs range from mild to severe and transient to enduring. Psychologists use a problem-solving and solution-oriented consultative approach to maximise positive outcomes for these pupils. NEPS encourages schools to use a continuum-based assessment and intervention process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or behavioural difficulties. Teachers may consult their NEPS psychologist should they need to at this stage of the process. Where reasonable progress is not made following a school's best efforts in consultation with NEPS, a psychologist will become involved with an individual child for intensive intervention or assessment. This system allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and also to help many more children indirectly than could be seen individually.

In 2021 the NEPS casework service extended to more than 8,500 students. In addition, private psychologists provided assessment to schools for more than 900 students under the scheme for commissioning psychological assessment process. The NEPS support and development service reaches an estimated 25,000 teachers annually. The number of NEPS sanctioned psychologists have increased from an employment control framework base of 173 whole-time equivalent psychologist posts in 2014. Budgets 2017, 2018 and 2019 sanctioned an additional 31 posts in total. As part of a package of measures to support the well-being of school communities as schools re-opened following post-Covid-19 closures, an additional 17 psychologist posts were sanctioned. During the 2019-2020 academic year, temporary project posts were sanctioned: four for the school-inclusion model and three for the North East Inner City project.

The NEPS is led by a director supported by regional directors and senior psychologists. Currently, in the region of 225 whole-time equivalent educational psychologists deliver an excellent service to our schools. The Minister recently announced an additional 54 educational psychologists to provide services to special schools and special classes as part of budget 2023. The Department values the work of all educational psychologists across the education system and, as the Senator is likely aware, the NEPS of the Department provides a comprehensive school-based psychological service to all primary and post-primary schools through the application of psychological theory and practice to support well-being, academic,social and emotional development of all learners. NEPS provides this service to schools through casework with individual children and support and development work for schools.

The Department is conscious of the challenges in recruiting educational psychologists and has established a high-level working group, chaired by the secretary general of the Department to consider how best to support educational psychologists and ensure a sufficient supply of psychologists is available to the education sector.

Both the Department and the Minister are aware of the issue of fees for trainee educational psychologists and are working proactively and intensively to find a positive resolution for the issue.