Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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296. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department is making progress to ensure that all pupils attending school are offered career guidance especially those with a disability such as Down syndrome; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59815/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Guidance Counselling at post primary level is holistic and includes Career Guidance, Educational Guidance and Personal and Social Guidance.All mainstream schools receive a Guidance allocation and have been asked to provide Guidance using a continuum of support model which supports schools in identifying and responding to students’ needs (for All, for Some, for a Few) in particular students requiring more targeted Guidance support. Using this model helps to ensure that interventions are incremental, moving from class-based interventions to more intensive and individualised support, and that they are informed by careful monitoring of progress. A student with Downs Syndrome would likely fall into the ‘few’ category and receive more targeted Guidance support.

The most recent Circulars on Staffing Arrangements for 2021/22 set out in Appendix 3:

Whole-school Guidance plans should outline the school’s approach to Guidance generally using the continuum of support model (All, Some, Few) and describe how students will be supported and assisted in making choices and successful transitions in the personal and social, educational and career areas It is recommended that the time provided for student appointments should represent a sufficient proportion of the overall allocation of Guidance hours required for the one-to-one guidance counselling necessary to meet the needs of students under the Continuum of Support model.

Special Schools are designated as primary schools and so are not currently provided with an allocation for Guidance Counselling. In 2019 the Indecon report of the independent review of Career Guidance tools and information was published setting out 18 recommendations under four themes, one of which relates to Inclusion. The recommendations under that theme proposed the following:

-Introduce a specific module on career guidance as part of training for teachers in special schools.

- Provide additional specialised ongoing CPD supports for teachers in special schools.

- Prioritise resource allocation, including guidance teachers for learners most in need of assistance.

Work is underway as to how best to implement these recommendations.

A number of officials from relevant areas of the Department are working closely with the NDA and the NCSE in respect of the Inclusion recommendations related to young people with Special Educational Needs and those most in need of guidance from under-represented groups.

The Department has recently established a working group, comprising the Directors of Studies from the Higher Education Institutions who provide the Guidance Counselling programmes recognised by the Department for those working as Guidance Counsellors in Post Primary Schools. The purpose of this working group will be to consider guidance counselling post-graduate training under the inclusion/ SEN umbrella. This group plan to hold its first meeting in early January.

The National Centre for Guidance in Education delivered a webinar for guidance counsellors in October 2021 on the topic of 'Working with Students with Intellectual Disabilities'in conjunction with the NCSE, DCU, and the National Learning Network. Further webinars are planned for the future to support guidance counsellors working with students with SEN.

The Department plans to establish a National Policy Group in early 2022 to advise on a coherent, long term strategy for lifelong guidance.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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297. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will ensure that children attending school who have a disability or behavioural difficulties have access to supports to prevent limited timetables and expulsions in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59818/21]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Board of Management of each school is responsible for the care and safety of all of the pupils in their school. Schools should supervise and support children who are distressed or out of control until they have recovered and are able to re-engage in the classroom. In some circumstances this may mean the temporary removal of a child from the environment where the problems have arisen.

Schools owe a duty of care to all their students and any action taken in relation to managing behaviour must be proportionate.

Tusla's Educational Welfare Service has published guidelines for schools on Codes of Behaviour which all schools are required by law to have in place. The guidelines advise that specialised behaviour management strategies, should not be used without expert advice, training and monitoring. In particular, the guidelines point to certain sanctions which are regarded as inappropriate, including leaving a student in an unsupervised situation while in the care of the school. All parents must be made aware of behaviour management strategies employed by the school.

Schools may seek advice from their local National Educational Psychological Services psychologist, from the NCSE’s Support Service which includes Special Educational Needs Organisers, the National Behavioural Support Service and the Special Education Support Service, as to how children with behavioural needs can best be supported in school.

A range of guidance is available for schools in relation to the management of student behaviour. The Department published Guidelines for Supporting Pupils with Behavioural, Emotional, and Social Difficulties, which is available on the Department’s website, www.education.ie. The National Educational Psychological Services document Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties – A Continuum of Support also provides advice for teachers, including some advice on the use of “time out” procedures in the classroom.

Training is available for schools in relation to the provision of support for children with special educational needs from the NCSE’s Regional Service. The Special Education Support Service can, as part of their designated training modules, provide guidance for schools in relation to the management of difficult behaviour.

Further to the receipt of policy advice from the NCSE, the Department of Education established an Expert Working Group to develop guidelines for schools on the prevention and management of challenging behaviours (including the use of physical interventions) where such behaviour is considered as likely to present serious risk of physical harm to the student concerned and/or others within the school environment.

Development of the Guidelines has been informed by evidence showing that whole school positive behavioural approaches and early and ongoing engagement with the school community, including parents/guardians, are necessary for the development of effective school policy and practice.

Following consideration of the views and contributions received as part of the consultation process, a final draft of the guidelines has been prepared and is being considered by the Department. They place a strong focus on prevention and early intervention strategies for the management of crisis student behaviour in which physical intervention may be employed only as the last part of a comprehensive, positive and planned behavioural approach by the school. They are underpinned by the principles that such intervention is never used for the purposes of discipline; that it should be applied proportionately and should last only as long as is necessary to de-escalate the situation. The guidelines underline the importance of continued supervision of children during a crisis period including matters related to behaviour and the need for such incidents to be recorded.

The guidelines when issued will apply to all schools. In this regard, consideration is being given to the implementation of guidelines by schools including the kind of supports and training that may be required.