School psych service ‘under-funded’

THE state’s educational psychologist service for school-going children is “grossly under-funded” and its ratio of psychologists to pupils is much higher than the European average, with 5,000 pupils to each psychologist, instead of 3,000 to one.

National social policy officer with St Vincent de Paul Audry Deane maintains that the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) has been under-resourced since day one, and that children in need are falling through the cracks.

NEPS is a free service provided by the Department of Education and works to assess and support children with special educational needs.