Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice was first published in 2018. It provided a definition of wellbeing, and an overarching structure encompassing the existing, ongoing and developing work in the area of wellbeing in education.

The vision and ambition of the Department of Education in relation to Wellbeing Promotion sets out to ensure that:

- the promotion of wellbeing will be at the core of the ethos of every school and centre for education

- all schools and centres for education will provide evidence-informed approaches and support, appropriate to need, to promote the wellbeing of all their children and young people

- Ireland will be recognised as a leader in this area

Since it was published, significant work has taken place to realise the vision set out in the Department’s Wellbeing Policy. To implement this policy every school is required to use the School Self-Evaluation (SSE) process to initiate a wellbeing promotion review and development cycle.

Schools will be supported in this process through using the Wellbeing Framework for practice and online Wellbeing Resources, and by the Department of Education Support Services.

The period also saw major incidents occur that required a significant wellbeing response, namely:

- Responding to the wellbeing challenges of Covid (March 2020 – February 2022)

- Supporting Ukrainian Students arriving in Ireland within the education system (March 2022 – present)

Officials in my department have initiated the first stage of an internal Departmental process to review the implementation plan to ascertain:

- progress and achievements to date

- challenges encountered

- key learnings

- recommendations for next steps

The second stage will involve consultation with key stakeholders. My department aims to produce an updated implementation plan aligned to the continued, adapted or new areas of focus based on the feedback and learnings collected from the review.

Additionally Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) is a mandatory part of the Primary and Junior Cycle curriculum, which provide vital opportunities for the development of children’s wellbeing in the physical, social, emotional and intellectual domains.

An updated Junior Cycle SPHE specification was published by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in May 2023 and was rolled out for first years in all schools from last September.

The updated Junior Cycle specification provides clear direction on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that all students should gain during the 3 years of junior cycle SPHE. It places a strong focus on the development of important life skills that young people need growing up in a fast changing and complex world. The SPHE specification is grounded in values of respect, equality, inclusivity, responsibility, dignity, compassion and empathy.

The updated Junior Cycle SPHE specification consists of four strands: ‘Understanding Myself and Others’, ‘Making Healthy Choices’, ‘Relationships and Sexuality’, and ‘Emotional Wellbeing’.

The learning outcomes of the ‘Emotional Wellbeing’ Strand include that students should be able to ‘discuss the fluid nature of emotional wellbeing and ways to nurture and protect it’, to ‘consider the impact of stress and draw upon a variety of techniques to help self-regulate emotions and cope with the day-to-day stresses of life’, and to ‘ discuss ways to support themselves and others in challenging times and where/how/when to seek support, if needed’.

Work is ongoing to update the SPHE specification for Senior Cycle and a draft specification was published for consultation in July 2023, with the consultation running until 3rd November last. The draft specification includes a strand called ‘Health and Wellbeing’. The learning outcomes of this strand include that students should be able to ‘explore the factors that influence mental health and wellbeing, including the influence of family, peers, societal attitudes, media, technology, alcohol and drugs, and one’s sense of self’, to ‘recognise unhelpful thinking patterns and negative self-talk and how these can affect emotions and behaviour’, to ‘recognise the signs and symptoms of stress and anxiety in themselves and others and recognise when help should be sought, where to go and how to access help if needed’, and to ‘discuss healthy and unhealthy ways of responding to stress and anxiety’.

In relation to primary schools, it is expected that the SPHE draft specification will be published in 2024, with a public consultation to follow this. It will be introduced in primary schools in 2025.

Work on a Senior Cycle Post Primary and Primary specification have begun, with primary specification expected to be available for public consultation in 2024, before being finalised in 2025. The new Primary Curriculum Framework will be the foundation for all curriculum specifications including those for SPHE and RSE.

Finally I would like to draw attention to some of my departments dedicated and ongoing supports in the area of wellbeing.

A dedicated wellbeing portal can be accessed via ‘Wellbeing in Education’ on Gov.ie, bringing together all the wellbeing and mental health supports and resources that have been developed by the Department and the Department’s support services.

My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary and special schools.

The NEPS service provides access for all schools to:

- Psychological support in the event of a Critical Incident

- A Casework Service for individual children where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA).

- A school staff Support and Development Service, to build school capability to provide a comprehensive continuum of support in schools and

- Ongoing access to advice and support for schools.

- This approach allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent individual cases and, through supporting school staff, to benefit many more children than could be seen individually.

NEPS teams offer training and guidance for teachers in the provision of universal and targeted evidence-informed approaches and early intervention to promote children’s wellbeing, social, emotional and academic development. In NEPS, Support & Development can be delivered nationally by working groups, and regionally by teams or by an individual psychologist working with an allocated school. For example, Initiatives such as the Incredible Years Social Emotional learning Programmes and the FRIENDS Resilience Programmes which aim to address anxiety reduction have been welcomed by schools and their impact positively evaluated.

On the 31st May 2023 the Cabinet agreed to the establishment of a pilot programme of counselling and mental health supports in a number of primary schools. The pilot includes two Strands:

- Strand 1 - involves one-to-one counselling to support the needs of children in all primary schools in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary.

- Strand 2 – involves the establishment of a new type of support to schools from Education Wellbeing Teams and the introduction of Wellbeing Practitioners to provide early intervention and support to clusters of schools in Cork, Carlow, Dublin 7 and Dublin 16.

My Department continues to review our overall approach to fostering good mental health and wellbeing in our schools so that children can be optimally supported to reach their potential.