Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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390. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has considered providing teacher allocations and-or funding to schools to resource trauma-informed approaches; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43194/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is committed to supporting the emotional wellbeing of all children including those who may have experienced trauma.

The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) of the Department has engaged in extensive national training of school staff in the area of trauma-informed practice and has developed an eLearning course for school staff - ‘Introducing a Trauma Informed Approach: The Stress Factor - Getting the Balance Right’, which looks at the sources and impact of stress on children and young people including trauma and adverse experiences. It demonstrates how to create environments to reduce stress and focuses on developing skills that all children and young people need to better manage in school. 3,420 teachers have enrolled in this programme. NEPS psychologists are available, when requested to support implementation of trauma informed practice in schools.

Assistant Principals in schools work in teams in collaboration with Principals/Deputy Principals and have shared responsibilities in a number of areas, including in the area of student support and wellbeing.

NEPS is leading on the Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot. The pilot has two Strands. Strand 1 is the provision of one-to-one counselling to support a small number of children in all primary schools in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary. Strand 2 of the pilot is the establishment of a new type of support to schools from Education Wellbeing Teams and the introduction of Education Wellbeing Practitioners to support clusters of schools in Cork, Carlow, Dublin 7 and Dublin 16.

I recently announced Jigsaw as the successful bidder for the tender to deliver NEART: the new national programme of mental health and wellbeing resources and training for post-primary schools. The new programme will complement the supports already available in schools such as the provision of guidance counselling and the work of NEPS, as well as other existing wellbeing programmes and initiatives including Student Support Team training. The Department of Education, through NEPS, is currently working with Jigsaw on Phase 1 of the programme to develop and finalise the resources that will be available to schools through the initiative. Engagement with schools will begin in Phase 2 and further information about available programmes and e-learning supports will be announced during this second phase, which will commence later this year.

Post-primary schools currently have access to Guidance Counsellors. Counselling is a key part of the role of the Guidance Counsellor, offered on an individual or group basis. The Guidance Counsellor also identifies and supports the referral of students to external counselling agencies and professionals, as required. Each post-primary school currently receives an allocation in respect of guidance provision, calculated by reference to the approved enrolment.