Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides psychological support to all primary, post-primary, and special schools.

NEPS provides access for all schools to:

• Psychological support in the event of a Critical Incident
• A casework service for individual students 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
• Ongoing access to advice and support for schools

Where a school does not have an assigned psychologist due to a vacancy, a psychologist from the local NEPS team undertakes the role of advisory psychologist to respond to queries that the school may have. These schools continue to have access to Critical Incident response, advisory support, and the Support and Development Service delivered by their local NEPS office. Individual student casework can be accessed via the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA).

NEPS does not operate waiting lists. In common with other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS operates on a consultative model of service. NEPS psychologists work with schools using a problem-solving model to help schools identify need and interventions to support those needs. Under this model, NEPS encourages schools to use a continuum-based assessment and intervention process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or behavioural difficulties. This model means that pupils do not need a psychological assessment or a diagnosis of a disability in order to access additional support in school.

The NEPS casework service involves the provision of a psychological service for a student, with the psychologist working with the student, teachers and parents, and other professionals if appropriate, to identify need and plan for intervention to support the student in school. Schools prioritise those students with most need. NEPS support is broader than the allocation of assessments and that the number of assessments carried out by an assigned psychologist for a school is not fixed. Additional supports for children with special educational needs are embedded in all primary and post primary schools. Schools allocate their Special Education Teaching and SNA supports based on need in the school setting, so that those with highest level of need can access the highest level of support within the school in a timely manner.

With regard to the allocation of schools, each NEPS psychologist is assigned a number of schools in their geographical area based on a weighting process which takes into account enrolment numbers, school designation (primary/post-primary/special), DEIS status, gender mix and number of special classes.

It may be of interest to the Deputy that, in relation to workforce planning for the recruitment of educational psychologists, my department has been actively exploring opportunities to increase the numbers of suitably qualified staff to strengthen the response to the educational psychological needs of children and young people in recognised primary and post-primary schools across the country. Since January 2023, NEPS has supported bursaries for Trainee Educational Psychologists who are enrolled in the University College Dublin Professional Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Mary Immaculate College Limerick’s Professional Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology. Those in receipt of a bursary commit to joining NEPS upon graduation. There are over 60 Trainee Educational Psychologists in receipt of a bursary who are expected to join NEPS upon graduation, with an additional 14 awarded bursaries in September 2024, bringing the total to 74.

Additionally, the Public Appointments Service commenced a recruitment campaign for Educational Psychologists at the end of 2023 and successful candidates from that panel are currently taking up positions in NEPS. It is expected that a further recruitment competition will be commenced by the Public Appointments Service early in 2025 and planning for this competition is already underway within the Department.

It may also be of interest to the Deputy that, further to the service outlined above, NEPS is leading on the Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot. The pilot has two Strands. Strand 1 is the provision of one-to-one counselling to support a small number of children in all primary schools in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary. Strand 2 of the pilot is the establishment of a new type of support to schools from Education Well-being Teams and the introduction of Education Well-being Practitioners to support clusters of schools in Cork, Carlow, Dublin 7 and Dublin 16.