Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 440: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress in regard to the commitment given in the Programme for Government to increase the number of guidance counsellors at second level. [18372/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department makes a specific allocation of teaching posts in respect of guidance to schools in the post-primary system. This allocation is based on the pupil enrolment in September of the preceding school year.

As a result of the decision to allocate an additional 100 posts to guidance from September 2005 an enhanced guidance allocation provision has been put in place from the commencement of the 2005/06 school year. This enhanced provision means that in the case of schools in the Free Education/Block Grant Schemes, the level of allocation ranges from 8 hours per week for schools with enrolments below 200 pupils to 47 hours per week for schools with an enrolment of 1,000 pupils or more. The additional posts included provision for a further improvement in the allocation of Guidance hours for post-primary schools participating in the DEIS programme — Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools. The allocation for these schools now ranges from 11 hours per week for schools with enrolments below 300 to 55 hours per week for schools with an enrolment of 1,000 pupils or more.

In line with Government policy, my Department will continue to increase the level of guidance within available resources and subject to spending priorities within the education sector.