Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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562. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 519 of 23 June 2015 requesting information on the number of schools currently without guidance provision, her views that it is considered best practice under the current delivering equality of opportunity in schools policy to allow schools to provide no guidance counselling hours for their students; the current guidelines operating under this policy; and if she will direct her Department to collate this information centrally. [26289/15]

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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563. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of guidance counsellors employed within the secondary school system. [26290/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 562 and 563 together.

Since September 2012 at post primary level guidance provision is now being organised by school management from within the staffing schedule allocation. Guidance is a whole school activity and schools have autonomy on how best to prioritise their available resources to meet the requirements in relation to guidance and the provision of an appropriate range of subjects to students. This operates at local school level and therefore the information requested by the Deputy on the current position is not available centrally within my Department. The Department helped shelter the impact for DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations.

Guidance counsellors have two distinct functions. The first is general career guidance and guidance on the educational opportunities a child or young person might pursue, while the second involves support for students' well-being. The principal and leadership of a school have the best knowledge and experience to determine how exactly guidance resources and teaching resources should be allocated.

The representative organisations for School Principals and school management developed a framework that assists schools on how best to manage the provision of guidance from within their staffing allocation. This approach puts a greater emphasis on group-work and class-based activity at senior cycle and maximises the amount of time available for those pupils that need one to one support.

There are also a range of other supports available to promote and support the wellbeing of students. NEPS psychologists are available to offer their advice and support to schools in establishing and developing School Support Teams. The extension of the NEPS service to all mainstream schools since September 2013 also puts it in a good position to provide advice to the Teams in regard to students with particular difficulties and on onward referral or liaison with other community based services that also have a role in providing service to schools. Student Support Teams in Post-Primary Schools (DES 2014) is a NEPS booklet to promote the well-being of pupils in post-primary schools.

Wellbeing Guidelines for Post-Primary and more recently for Primary Schools have been produced by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive. The guidelines are informed by consultation with key Education and Health partners and by the findings of current research. They provide practical guidance to schools on how they can promote mental health and well-being in an integrated school-wide way and they also provide evidence-based advice on how to support young people who may be at risk of suicidal behaviour.

The Guidelines build on the significant work already taking place in schools, including through the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum, the whole-school guidance plan, the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) continuum of support model and the HSE, Health Promoting Schools Process. Information is also provided on how to access support from the SPHE Support Service and other external agencies and support services. It should also be noted that the proposals on the reform of the junior cycle envisage a new subject on "wellbeing" being studied by all pupils. I would also like to point out that I have repeatedly argued that improvements to the staffing and funding of our schools must be a priority as the economic recovery takes hold. The last Budget included an increase in spending on education for the first time in recent years, amounting to additional funding of €60m during 2015.

I am determined that education should be prioritised for investment as our economy recovers and I will be seeking to agree a set of priorities for such increased investment into the future.