Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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117. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of reversing the cuts to guidance counselling provided for in the 2012 budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41729/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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My Department, like all other Government Departments, is operating within a budgetary programme that is designed to return the Government finances to a sustainable basis. It is not possible to reverse the budget measure in relation to guidance counselling. There are no easy solutions to this challenge. This Government has protected education as much as it can. Far greater reductions in the number of public servants are being made in other sectors relative to those in schools. But there are limits on the number of teaching posts we can afford.Guidance is a whole school activity and it does not just involve the guidance counsellor. Under existing arrangements each school develops a school guidance plan as a means of supporting the needs of its students.

Since September 2012 guidance provision is now being organised by school management from within the staffing schedule allocation. In this way principals have discretion to balance guidance needs with the pressures to provide subject choice. A framework document was published jointly by the Post Primary Management bodies and the NAPD (National Association of Principals & Deputies) in September, 2012 to provide guidance for school management in the allocation of teaching hours to guidance counselling in post-primary schools in the context of the decision in Budget 2012 to withdraw the provision of ex-quota guidance hours to schools. This should be of assistance to schools in terms of how they maximise guidance provision.

My Department helped shelter the impact for DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations. All 195 second-level school in DEIS have been given targeted support by a more favourable staffing schedule of 18.25:1. This is a 0.75 point reduction compared to the existing PTR of 19:1 that applies in non fee-paying second-level schools (23:1 in fee-charging schools).