Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I did not put my name to this because I have certain concerns regarding children. I have been a foster parent for the past 12 years. I am on my last year. I am taking a break after this. She is doing her final exams tomorrow and, please God, I have got her to a stage in life where she will be able to plough her own way forward, so I have a huge interest in the mental health of children and teenagers.

However, we cannot overlook the impact of Covid on our children and teenagers. This is something that needs to be looked at very seriously. I did not get to the Jigsaw presentation this morning but it is coming to a talk tonight in Stamullen. I work with Jigsaw in County Meath on mental health programmes we won through the Feel Good Project. It is fantastic but it only has 11 places in Ireland. It could do more.I understand the Department's position is that guidance counsellors in secondary schools are required to have both a suitable teaching qualification and specialist expertise in guidance counselling but it is evident from the research I cited that this does not occur in every school. Given this, and the growing demand for this service especially when we consider some of the delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, band schools and the complex needs a guidance counsellor may encounter, there is perhaps scope for guidance counselling to be recognised in and of itself as a suitable qualification for the provision of specialist guidance counselling services in secondary schools.

Currently, those who are specially trained as guidance counsellors and have been employed do not have pay parity with their colleagues who are both teaching and providing guidance counselling. Aside from the potential benefit to secondary school communities, the terms of employment of guidance counsellors merits additional consideration. I understand that under the current regime, qualified guidance counsellors who do not have a suitable teaching qualification, in the majority of cases, remain on the first point of the relevant pay scale or are given an unqualified rate of pay. This invariably affects their career progression and retention of what is a highly valuable asset to secondary school students. One possible solution is for the Department to look at the current education and training board, ETB, guidance counsellor scale, which allows movement. Perhaps it could be replicated at second level. The Minister, Deputy Foley, met representatives from the concerned sector in 2020 regarding this issue and, in more recent times, officials have met representatives of the sector. Is there any update on steps that have been taken to address the matter in the interim? In addition, I would welcome an update on any actions taken or proposed by the Department to improve the resourcing of this essential service in secondary schools.