HUNDREDS OF guidance counsellors in second-level schools may be forced to scale back their work under budget proposals due to be announced next week.
The Department of Education is considering new cost-saving moves which would drastically cut the number of guidance hours in schools and force some teachers back into the classroom as subject teachers. The move is highly controversial, given the high rate of suicide – especially among young males – and the increasing need among second-level pupils for guidance and counselling services.
Eilis Coakley president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors said the move would have “devastating effects on the provision of educational and career guidance but particularly personal counselling for students.” It would also raise serious questions about the Government’s commitment to fulfilling the provision for guidance in the Education Act, she said.
Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has signalled in recent days he had no alternative but to proceed with the move as he sought a 4 per cent cut in the €9 billion education budget. His room for manoeuvre is limited as close to 80 per cent of this budget is absorbed by pay and pensions, which cannot be cut under the terms of the Croke Park deal on public service reform.
Mr Quinn has also been examining moves which would see the abolition of the deputy principal post in schools. But this is less likely to feature among the education cuts which will be revealed on Monday.
More than 700 second-level schools in the State are allocated guidance counsellors under a quota system. A 500-pupil school, for example, is allocated one teacher for every 19 pupils plus the school principal, deputy principal and guidance counsellor. The budget is set to increase the pupil-teacher ratio to 1:20; this will see the loss of hundreds of teaching posts.
The department’s proposal is that no specific allocation should be made for guidance counsellors. In practice this will leave many principals with little option but to reassign counsellors to “regular” subjects, while also carrying out their counselling role. All guidance counsellors are qualified second-level teachers; they also hold a qualification in guidance.
Defending the proposed move, the department has told school leaders the removal of the guidance counsellor is the best means of preserving the pupil-teacher ratio in schools while avoiding additional expense.