Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move:

“That Seanad Éireann: recognises that:

- guidance counsellors play a crucial role in the personal/social, educational and vocational development of every student in our secondary school system;

- guidance counsellors are important in supporting students’ mental health, wellbeing and forging pathways out of poverty;

- students who are experiencing mental health issues are often reluctant to seek help from public health services and studies have found that guidance counsellors are often the only professionals they turn to;

- there is a considerable body of evidence to show that access to guidance counsellors has a positive effect on third-level retention rates;

further recognises that:

- in 2012, the ex-quota allocation of guidance counsellors was abolished; the ex-quota system ringfenced hours for guidance counselling based on the number of students in the school;

- a 2023 survey of guidance counsellors by the Institute of Guidance Counsellors found that only 52% of the hours allocated by the Department of Education were available to guidance counsellors;

- this survey also found that only 4% of guidance counsellors reported they had their correct allocation of hours;

- the ‘in-quota’ system has been shown to have a disproportionately negative effect on disadvantaged students, given their greater reliance on in-school guidance and support;

notes with concern that:

- the ‘My World Survey 2: The National Study of Youth Mental Health in Ireland (2019)’found that:

- 40% of adolescents reported experiencing levels of depression outside the normal range;

- 49% of adolescents reported experiencing levels of anxiety outside of the normal range;

- 6% reported that they had made a suicide attempt;

- from October 2020 to March 2021, almost half of 15-17 year olds (42%) and 18-24 year olds (46%) reported that their mental health had worsened since the beginning of Covid 19;

- the same report tells us that children aged 12-15 were the most likely to present at an emergency department for a mental health problem in all periods 2019-21; 73-85% of all admissions among children aged 5-15 were on mental health grounds;

- 60% who attended the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in the past year had difficulty accessing the service, and 42% of them said the service they finally accessed did not help with their mental health issues according to the ‘A Piece of My Mind’ survey of 2,166 children aged 12 to 17 by the Ombudsman for Children´s office this year;

acknowledges:

- that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that:

‘Article 28 – Education

States parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular: ...

(c) Make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means;

(d) Make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all children;

(e) Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.’;

- that schools have a responsibility to provide students with appropriate guidance under the Education Act 1998;

- Minister Norma Foley´s recent announcement of a pilot programme of counselling and mental health supports for primary schools;

- there are 885 guidance counselling posts allocated to our second-level schools for the 2022/23 school year at an expenditure of almost €60 million per annum;

and calls on the Government to:

- restore the ex-quota status of guidance counsellors in all secondary schools where hours are calculated based on the number of students in the school;

- reduce the ratio of full-time guidance counsellors in order to increase the number of guidance counsellors available to our students.”

I thank the Minister for giving of his time and coming to the House. It is well-known that youth mental health is at crisis point thanks in no small way to Covid-19, of course, as well as to everything else. We could put mobile telephones up there with Covid in the context of the detrimental effect they have on young people. With that in mind, working with the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, Jigsaw and other organisations, it was clear to me that the front-line workers, which is the term we like to use, in youth mental health are our guidance counsellors. To that end, I brought for the motion before the House.

I want to make sure the Seanad recognises that guidance counsellors play a crucial role in the personal, social, educational and vocational development of every student in our secondary school system. In my day, there was a careers preparation person and that was about it. Students may have seen him or her once or twice around CAO time.

Much has changed, and the demands of the role have vastly changed as well. Guidance counsellors are important in supporting students' mental health and well-being and forging pathways out of poverty. Students who are experiencing mental health issues are often reluctant to seek help from public health services. Studies have found that guidance counsellors are often the only professionals they turn to. There are also often both financial challenges in seeking counsellors and long waiting lists.

There is a considerable body of evidence to show that access to guidance counsellors has a positive effect on third-level retention rates as well, which is also very important. The Government wants to keep people in education. There is also much evidence from a survey I will refer to later on how guidance counsellors play a huge part in getting children to attend and continue to come into school as opposed to having dropout rates. They also play a major role in keeping dropout rates lower.

In 2012, the ex-quota allocation of guidance counsellors was abolished. I remember that specifically because I had friends who were guidance counsellors at the time and who were raising the issue with me even though I was not involved in politics in any shape or form. I was obviously quite a vocal advocate for things back then as well. The ex-quota system ring-fenced hours for guidance counselling based on the number of students in a school. A 2023 survey of guidance counsellors by the Institute of Guidance Counsellors found that only 52% of the hours allocated by the Department of Education were available to guidance counsellors. In a nutshell, we have a ratio of pupils per guidance counsellor and it is now currently at the principals' discretion as to how they use those hours. Some have the full 22 hours. In the survey that was carried out by the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, 4% of guidance counsellors have the full 22 hours allocated to them to do their jobs. That is a very worrying figure when we look at the fact that we have huge mental health crises. Often, the last person an adolescent wants to talk to is his or her parent and the first person outside of the home he or she meets who is offering kind sort of solace or a listening ear is a guidance counsellor.

The in-quota system has been shown to have a disproportionately negative effect on disadvantaged students given their greater reliance on in-school guidance and support. We want a fair and equal opportunity for every student who has challenges. That is why it is very important that we look at this motion and take it seriously.

My World Survey 2: The National Study of Youth Mental Health in Ireland found that 40% of adolescents reported experiencing levels of depression outside the normal range. That is two in every five students. Some 49% of adolescents reported experiencing levels of anxiety outside of the normal range, which is one in every two and 6% reported that they had made a suicide attempt. That is 6% out of every 100 students. From October 2020 to March 2021, almost half of 15- to 17-year-olds and 18- to 24-year-olds reported that their mental health had worsened since the beginning of Covid. The same report tells us that children aged 12 to 15 were most likely to present with mental health problems at emergency departments in all periods between 2019 to 2021. Probably one of the most staggering figures is that 73% to 85% of all admissions among children aged between five and 15 were on mental health grounds. That is mind-blowing.

Some 60% of those who attended CAMHS in the past year had difficulty accessing services, and 42% said the service they finally accessed did not help with their mental health issues. That is according to the A Piece of My Mind survey of 2,166 children aged from 12 to 17 this year by the Ombudsman for Children's Office, which is a Government agency. Article 28 of the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child states:

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:

[..]

(c) Make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means;

(d) Make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all children;

(e) Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.

Guidance counsellors deal with all of these issues on a daily basis, but they can only do so much in the hours allocated to them by schools. Schools have a responsibility to provide students with appropriate guidance under the Education Act 1998. What is the definition of that? I really welcome the recent announcement by the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, of a pilot programme of counselling and mental health supports for primary schools. That is really good. We look forward to the results.

For the 2022-23 school year, there are 855 guidance posts allocated to our second-level schools at an expenditure of almost €60 million per annum. We have to acknowledge the spend as well. There are two simple calls on the Government, one of which is to restore the ex-quota status of guidance counsellors in all secondary schools where hours are calculated based on the number of students in the school. Currently, there is one guidance counsellor to 583 pupils in a non-DEIS school. In a DEIS school, it is one guidance counsellor to 249 pupils. We want to reduce the ratio relating to full-time guidance counsellors in order to increase the number of counsellors available to students. There are many other issues, but sometimes if we have a very broad all-encompassing motion, the most important things get lost. Having done much work with guidance counsellors and their association and from listening to the answers to the surveys they carried out and to guidance counsellors themselves, these were the two things they asked for most, which shows how vocational they are.They did not want to talk about pay or the difference of pay between institutes. They just wanted these two things solved. They think that if these two things are not dealt with first, everything else cannot really work. It was very admirable that they did not want to use the opportunity to get more pay, which we often see unions doing. It was literally a case of them saying they need more time with their pupils, and to do that, they needed the hours ring-fenced and the ratios brought down. It is very admirable for a profession to put the income of its members in second place. Every guidance counsellor I have met or interviewed has done way beyond the hours for which they are getting paid, because when you are challenged by somebody with a mental health, guidance or careers issue, you do not say "Sorry, I'm off the clock now". People became guidance counsellors because they want that role. We must face the reality of that. It is good that we have a Private Members' motion today that the entire House is supporting. Nobody is objecting to it. It is a very good sign that everybody in Seanad Éireann understands the importance of this motion. I thank all the Senators in the House for supporting it.

We had a good meeting with the Minister today and we had a good presentation in the audiovisual room this morning with Jigsaw, which concurs completely with the argument that guidance counsellors are the first step. Jigsaw was not saying it will take care of it, rather that it is guidance counsellors first. They are the front line. As I said to the Minister during the meeting, prevention is better than cure but prevention is also cheaper than cure. A total of €148 million is spent on youth mental health in Ireland annually. If we spent a fraction of that on investing in our guidance counsellors by having quality ring-fenced hours and lower ratios, it would save the State vast amounts of money but, most of all, it would help us deal with the huge youth mental health crisis we have.