Schools to vie for additional posts

Last week's announcement of 50 new guidance-counsellor posts took the counselling community by surprise. Counsellors have been expecting an extension of the service to improve guidance counselling ratios in schools - they're seeking a ratio of 1:250; the present ratio is 1:500. Instead, Minister Michael Woods announced an initiative under which schools will have to compete with each other: applications will be assessed on the basis of individual proposals from schools.

Minister Woods says priority will be given to schools which put forward proposals "to develop and strengthen formal links between themselves and business - especially schools located in areas of structural unemployment, schools in disadvantaged areas and schools promoting the take up of science subjects at senior cycle, through establishing links with employers". "Is this a new role for guidance counsellors?" asks guidance counsellor Vivien Cassells. "The issues of concern to guidance counsellors - the lack of time to do the job and the growing element of counselling - are not being addressed." The new initiative "is nowhere near what we're looking for", says Roisin Kelleher, president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. "In 1982, we had a ratio of 1:250 and only 95 courses in the CAO handbook. Last year, there were 735 CAO courses. Some schools don't even have a guidance counsellor, while schools with up to 800 pupils may have only one."