Asti conference: Minister for Education Mary Hanafin yesterday announced the creation of 100 additional guidance counsellor posts for second-level schools, estimated to cost some €4.5 million. There are also plans to develop an occupational health service for teachers.
This followed an earlier announcement of a new programme to tackle disadvantage, which will see the creation of 300 mostly teaching posts at primary and second level and increased investment of some €40 million.
Speaking at the Asti conference, Ms Hanafin said a percentage of the 100 new guidance posts would be reserved for disadvantaged schools. But those not reserved would be allocated "in such a way as to ensure that their impact is widely felt across the second-level sector".
There are currently about 800 guidance counsellors at second level, although about half of these work also as subject teachers. Ms Hanafin said she hoped the new posts would be concentrated on students in the Junior Certificate years. There is a particular need for more guidance support at junior cycle level, she said.
"In enabling our young people to make the most of the opportunities available to them at school, it is important to support their personal development and give them proper guidance to enable them to make the right personal and academic decisions." This would have a knock-on effect on the whole school, she said.
In a well-received speech, Ms Hanafin also said talks had commenced between her department, the Asti and other partners on the development of an occupational health service for teachers.
"I recognise that just like employees in every other profession, there will be times during your career when you might need support on a personal, rather than just on a professional, level," she said.
"The aims of the occupational health service will be to promote the health and safety of people at work, with a focus primarily on prevention rather than cure. But an employee assistance service to support teachers experiencing difficulties will form part of such a service."
On school discipline, she said the learning environment was greatly influenced by the atmosphere in a school. In some cases a very small number of disruptive students could damage the education of the majority, making the classroom a pressurised and difficult place for all.
As a result there was a need to balance the rights of the majority against those of the minority of disruptive pupils.
Therefore, it might be necessary to look at alternative approaches and interventions to ensure young people did not fall through the net.
It was also important that the system did not fail any student. The recently appointed taskforce on school discipline would be making its recommendations by June, she said.
Teachers were the "single biggest contributors" to our schools, Ms Hanafin said. However, although parents had a right to expect a lot from their schools and teachers, likewise they in turn had a right to expect a lot from parents. "I genuinely appreciate the difficulties encountered by teachers and students working in unsuitable buildings," she said.
"The decades-long backlog in essential work poses a major challenge, but the modernisation of our school buildings is, and will remain, a major priority for me and for this Government."
Some schools had been better than others on special needs and had gone out of their way to welcome young people with such needs into their school.
But all schools must rise to the challenge of providing an inclusive education, she concluded.