AFTER HIS U-turn on disadvantaged schools , Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn is coming under increasing pressure to reverse another of his budget cuts – the scaling down of guidance provision in schools. Fianna Fáil has tabled a Private Members’ motion in the Dáil calling on the Government to reverse the decision. Its education spokesman Brendan Smith claims the Minister is intent on the “obliteration of the guidance counselling profession’’.
The impact of the cut, he said, would be most keenly felt among young , vulnerable students especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The plan announced last month will see no specific allocation for guidance in schools over and above the general teaching allocation. Guidance provision will be provided by school management from their staffing schedule. In practice, many counsellors will be forced to return to regular duties as subject teachers; many will have no choice but to abandon their guidance role. The Institute of Guidance Counsellors believes the cut will reverse progress in widening guidance provision in schools in the past quarter century. It claims more than 600 guidance posts could be abandoned.
Mr Quinn argues he has little choice but to proceed with this cut as he seeks savings in his department’s budget of close to €9 billion. Since close to 80 per cent of the budget is absorbed by pay and pensions (off-limits because of the Croke Park agreement) his room for manoeuvre is limited. There are suggestions Mr Quinn decided to target guidance teachers only after Cabinet colleagues and school managers railed against his planned increase in class size. It’s certainly the case that some school managers – and a great many subject teachers – resent the relative autonomy enjoyed by guidance counsellors. That may explain why the campaign led by guidance counsellors to reverse this cut has failed to gather momentum. It is also the case that other teachers - the principal or deputy principal, the year head and the form tutor – can do valuable guidance and counselling work as part of their daily duties.
But all of this does not obviate the need to address a fundamental question: are pupils at second level entitled to a professional guidance and counselling service? The 1998 Education Act makes it clear how all pupils must have access to an “appropriate’’ level of guidance and counselling provision. The Department of Education has detailed guidelines pointing to the key importance of guidance in schools.
One presumes these guidelines are still in force. Certainly, no sensible person would dispute the case for professional guidance in a society where suicide is the number one cause of death among young males. Today’s young people must cope with an unprecedented range of pressures including cyber-bullying, eating disorders and the impact of unemployment or marital separation on their family life. Are we content to hand over this role to well-intentioned but unqualified members of the teaching staff? Guidance counsellors provide a professional service to schools. Their important role in the life of our schools should be cherished.