One-to-one school counselling cut

Most schools have been forced to offer less one-to-one counselling for students and almost half give less guidance to junior cycle classes since a cut imposed by the Department of Education three years ago.

A survey of 83 principals showed 57% of secondary schools had reduced one- to-one supports offered by guidance counsellors since those staff had to be counted within general teacher allocations since 2012, underlining the findings of previous studies and reports.

Before that, any second-level school with at least 500 students was guaranteed the full-time service of a guidance counsellor, but staffing and other pressures resulting from the change mean many are now spending some or all of their working week teaching instead.