School counsellors reject comments by Quinn on guidance

Guidance counsellors have rejected Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s suggestion that the impact of cuts to their service can be eased with greater monitoring of teenagers in class.

The minister said he would soon be recommending ways to improve communication in schools so teachers can alert guidance staff to the possibility of individual students needing help.

But the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, which says the amount of time its members have for one-to-one counselling of students with serious problems has been halved, said this is already happening but counsellors are not as available as much as before.

An independent study for the institute also shows that staffing changes in all second-level schools last September have led to an average one-fifth less time allocated to guidance and counselling services.

Responding to the study, Mr Quinn said he will soon publish the report of a working group on bullying, which has told by professionals in that area that classroom teachers should be first to notice changes in the mood or behaviour of teenagers.

“There will be ways in which we will be trying to ensure that is more effectively monitored and where there’s assistance for teachers to communicate within the school community,” he told RTÉ News.

“The whole question of the welfare of students is a matter for the entire teaching community and the school itself, and not just the guidance counsellors who have two functions, a pastoral function and also one in terms of delivering career guidance,” the minister said.

But with guidance counsellors also found to be spending one-fifth more time teaching classes because of timetable changes caused by the teacher cuts, institute president Gerry Flynn said the kind of referrals the minister wants to improve can not all be acted on in time.

“Some guidance counsellors are telling me they have two hours a week for one-to-one work, and those two hours are taken up with very small numbers of students, maybe with difficult family circumstances, or because of an eating disorder of bullying,” he said.

“A lot of issues that guidance counsellors might have picked up on from other staff are now going unresolved. Problems are escalating, and are at crisis stage already when they do emerge,” Mr Flynn said.

“Classroom teachers or year heads would ordinarily have referred issues to the guidance counsellor, who would then meet a student and help them with the issue or maybe refer it to an external agency.

” But if a guidance counsellor is in class, the principal is then involved in a firefighting exercise,” he said.

Mr Quinn said everyone in the public service has to find better outcomes and more productivity with limited resources.