The planning group which has been set up to make recommendations on the establishment of a national psychological service for schools is due to report to the Minister for Education and Science, Micheal Martin, late next month. Just now the group, under the chairmanship of the Department's chief inspector Eamon Stack, is involved in a fundamental review of the psychological services currently available to children and young people.

"We know about the inadequacy but we need to quantify the situation," Stack explains. The planning group will make recommendations on what needs to be put in place in order to establish an effective service. It is identifying the exact focus the service should take and the role of parents.

It is intended that the service will be available to pre-school children and youngsters who drop out of late primary and early second level as well as first and second-level schoolgoers. In order to assist early drop-outs it will be necessary to introduce an attendance monitoring system.

The group will also examine the types of links and relationships which need to be developed with other educational services - the VECs, for example - and with the health services in order to avoid duplication. It will advise on the organisational and management structures necessary to ensure delivery and the cost-effectiveness of the service.

The Fianna Fail Manifesto states that "the service will be independant of the Department of Education but will work in close co-operation with families, schools and the Department." How the service will actually be set up has yet to be decided. Will it be organised on a national or regional basis? Will it be administered through local intermediaries? "The ratio issue is central to the quality of the service," Stack notes. "We will come up with recommendations on the number of psychologists required and on how the service is to be managed and organised and how accessible it will be."

If the Minister is serious about the establishment of a national psychological service, clearly he must go for a relatively high psychologist student ratio. However, locating suitably qualified staff will present problems and with the best will in the world the service will have to be introduced on some sort of phased basis.