Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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227. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost to recruit 42 additional WTE guidance posts in schools for the 2024-2025 school year. [53230/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Department has allocated an equivalent of 928 guidance posts for the current school year 2023/24. Each school receives an allocation for guidance that is separate from the general allocation to schools. In this way, the hours for guidance are ring-fenced. The hours for guidance are subject to change each year as they are calculated with regard to student numbers in each school.

Measures announced by the Department as part of a number of budgets starting in 2016 fully restored the allocation of time allocated to guidance in schools from the initial reduction in budget 2012. Hence, the allocation for guidance has returned to that of pre-recession. However, the model of guidance provision in schools has evolved over the ten years in question. A model of whole school guidance applies in the contemporary post-primary system.

The whole school guidance allocation model allows for a balanced, school-wide approach to the three elements of guidance, personal/social, educational and career guidance. Guidance hours are allocated to personnel by school management in each school. In allocating guidance hours, school management consider a range of factors including but not limited to (i) the needs of students and (ii) the student support team in the school at large.

The 2023/24 circulars on staffing arrangements/allocations, published in January 2023 provides the following text agreed with the School Management Bodies in relation to the assignment of ring-fenced guidance hours. (Circulars 0002,0003 and 0004 of 2023)

“In deploying the guidance allocation, schools are encouraged to give due consideration to the pivotal role the qualified guidance counsellor plays in the implementation of the whole school guidance plan. The guidance counsellor will require time for individual student appointments, for Guidance lessons, and general guidance related work within the context of the Whole School Guidance plan”.

The Chief Inspector’s report (2022) notes that whole school guidance is provided to students through a variety of approaches. The found that whole-school guidance was of high quality, well-integrated and collaborative in supporting students and involved a wide range of staff with specific roles and functions. Other good practice in relation to whole-school provision included the establishment of very effective student support teams which facilitated an appropriate focus on student welfare and clear referral pathways, both internal and external.

This would indicate that the current allocation model is effective in supporting the whole school approach to guidance provision.

It is difficult to accurately project the estimated full-year cost to recruit 42 additional guidance counsellors. In order to provide a good estimate, a salary of €58,000 may be utilised as an appropriate average. In consideration of 42 additional such posts, a projected total cost of €2,436,000 is a reasonably objective and logical estimate.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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228. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost to recruit 250 additional SNAs. [53231/23]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for the question and would like to advise the following:

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this government. It is also a key priority for me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion, for my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where children with more complex needs require additional supports, special classes and special school places are provided.

For 2023, the spend by my department on special education has been substantially increased by over 10% on last year, meaning that for 2023 my department will spend over €2.6 billion on special education. Further progress has been made in Budget 2024 where 26% of my department’s budget will be dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs, representing a 5% increase on Budget 2023.

This includes funding to support children with special educational needs in mainstream classes; funding for new special classes and new special school places; additional special educational teachers, special needs assistants (SNAs) and funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).

In 2023, the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools will increase with an additional 686 teachers and a further 1,194 SNAs and in 2024 a further 744 teachers, and 1,216 SNAs will be added to deliver up to 2,700 new places for children with special educational needs. This will mean we will have over 41,500 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

The NCSE has the responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs.

When a school has been allocated an SNA, the board of management as the employer, is responsible for filling the vacancy. The decision on whether to employ a full-time SNA to fill a full-time post, or to employ an equivalent number of part-time SNAs rests with the employer.

My department acts as paymaster to over 3,700 schools whose board of management are the direct employers of SNAs. SNAs employed within the Education and Training Board (ETB) sector are paid by the respective ETB.

The NCSE publish statistics on SNA allocations for each school year, by county, in tabular form on their website. These details can be found at: www.ncse.ie/set-hours-and-sna-allocations.

The approximate annual cost at entry of an additional new entrant full-time SNA including provision for employer PRSI and substitution costs is €32,280. Therefore the estimated cost of 250 additional SNAs is in excess of €8 million per annum.

My department will continue to support the NCSE and schools through the provision of the necessary funding and capital investment to ensure all children are successful in accessing an education.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is providing a payroll service for school secretaries with effect from 1st September 2023. The provision of a payroll service is part of a package agreed with Fórsa, the trade union representing school secretaries, following a series of engagements at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and also includes revised terms and conditions for secretaries.

Part of the work to on-board school secretaries to my Department’s payroll, involves the development of a formal model for the allocation of secretary posts other than Department-sanctioned secretaries in Community and Comprehensive schools and those employed under the 1978/1979 scheme. Work on the development of the allocation model is ongoing and further information will issue in due course.

However, I am aware that requests have been received from schools seeking replacements for secretaries who have recently retired or resigned from their posts. Information note ESR 0002/2023 was sent to all Principals/Boards of Management earlier this year, outlining the arrangements which apply to the recruitment of new school secretaries pending the finalisation of an allocation model.

Section 2.3 of this note states that where a new secretary is being contracted to replace a former secretary the actual working hours /working weeks which a newly recruited secretary should be contracted to undertake should mirror the working arrangements for the former secretary up to a maximum of 37 hours. In the small number of cases where an additional secretary is being recruited due to an existing secretary reducing their hours then the aggregate hours of the two secretaries must be no more than the previous working hours of the existing secretary.

Requests have also been received from schools seeking additional secretarial resources or who wish to employ a secretary for the first time. These requests are being considered on a case-by-case basis, pending the publication of an allocation model, taking into account the current secretary allocation (if any) in the school and pupil enrolments. Schools seeking to hire additional school secretaries or increase their current allocation of hours should contact my Department at secretaryreturns@education.gov.ie.