SCHOOL-BASED COUNSELLORS (Number of trained social workers or psychologists)

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam asked the Minister for Education (a) how many of its present group of school-based counsellors are trained social workers or psychologists; and (b) how does his Ministry monitor the appointment and performance of these counsellors in the respective schools.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, counselling support in schools is provided by a tiered system comprising trained teacher counsellors, MOE-appointed school counsellors and external counsellors engaged by schools on a need basis. Counselling services are also provided by the Ministry's psychologists and guidance specialists.

Teacher counsellors and MOE-appointed school counsellors are teachers or retired education officers with professional training in counselling; they need not be trained in social work or psychology. Given their background as educators and certified training in counselling, these personnel are well equipped to meet the basic emotional needs of students. For cases of a more complex nature or which require the services of more qualified counsellors, schools engage them from organisations that specialise in counselling work. Most schools have indeed been doing so on a regular basis.

Schools are given a directory of organisations that provide professional counselling services. The majority of the counsellors engaged by our schools work at organisations dedicated to counselling, such as Family Service Centres. All external counsellors engaged by schools have relevant training and qualifications in guidance and counselling, psychology or social work, with 60% having a basic or Masters degree in these areas.

The principal of the school has ultimate management responsibility over the counselling services rendered to students by the teacher counsellors, MOE-appointed counsellors and external counsellors that the school engages. The principal would usually appoint a key member of the staff - typically the head of pupil welfare or the vice-principal - to help oversee the process and monitor the performance of the counsellors. The Ministry's guidance specialists also help the principal in professional supervision of the school counsellors.

Dr Ngiam Tee Liang (Nominated Member): Mr Speaker, Sir, it has been said that for the external counsellors, the funds that the schools have are generally not adequate to have a full-fledged system of school counselling or school social work and that this impedes the effectiveness of some of these programmes. Would the Minister care to comment, please?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, there is no lack of funds in most schools. The principal has the latitude to decide how best to deploy the funds available to the school, how much to deploy in counselling, and how much to rely on external counsellors. Funding has not been a constraint. Over 90% of our schools engage external counsellors, and of those that do, about two-thirds use counsellors on a regular basis, meaning at least three hours a week. These figures indicate that there is really no constraint on the schools' ability to engage external counsellors.

Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, Sir, would the Ministry consider allowing teachers who prefer to do counselling as a career to change their career path from that of teaching to counselling, to increase the pool of professional counsellors?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, it is not necessary to set up a new career track within the Education Service for such professionals. But, certainly, if a teacher is talented in counselling and has a strong interest in engaging in this, how best we deploy that teacher, what the responsibilities of the teacher are, what percentage of the time is spent on counselling, are matters that can be looked at.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: Sir, a clarification to Question 6 (b). How does the Ministry monitor the appointment? I know the Minister had replied to that, but could we have a few more details, especially in the light that in certain schools the situation can get a bit desperate and schools may be obliged to employ certain candidates whom they deem suitable and they are in an environment with a lot of children, please?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am not sure I fully understand the question. Within schools, there is a proper system to monitor the activities of the external counsellors. It is usually a senior member of the school staff, ie, vice-principal or head of pupil welfare, who oversees and monitors the counselling process. We do not know of any significant or widespread problems in schools arising from poor quality counselling. We know that there is a limited pool of counsellors in Singapore, but the schools have so far not had great difficulty in having the problems addressed.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman (Sembawang): Sir, how does the Ministry monitor the effectiveness of these external counsellors? If everything is left to the school, how does the Ministry ensure that these counsellors are effective in their work and what is the extent of the effectiveness?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, it is principally a responsibility of the principal of the school rather than the Ministry. The Ministry's guidance specialists do help the principal in undertaking this task, but this is really a task for the principal to handle. If we had in fact evidence of problems that are building up that are not being addressed, then the Ministry might have to do something more. At this stage, the problems are being quite well addressed.