Teachers experiencing difficulties in the classroom are to be supported by a new employee assistance service announced by the Department of Education yesterday.
The service, which will become operational from the start of the new school term in September, aims to address teachers' personal and professional problems as early as possible before they affect their performance in the class and impinges on children's learning.
When it becomes available to 55,000 teachers countrywide in September, the service will include free, short-term confidential counselling as well as critical-incident debriefing.
Launching the employee assistance service yesterday, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said it represented the first part of a new €2 million health and well-being programme being developed for teachers.
"We can all face difficulties in our lives that make it difficult to do our jobs to the best of our abilities.
"Difficulties such as family problems, ill health, bereavement and stress can affect any of us," she said.
The announcement was welcomed by the teacher unions.
ASTI general secretary John White said the union had campaigned for a support system for teachers following the discontinuation of the pilot teacher employee assistance service some years ago.
He noted that stress was the number one occupational health hazard for teachers.
"High public expectations, the continuous implementation of new education legislation, the burden of increasing administrative work, and the strain of meeting the challenges of disruptive behaviour by a minority of students can take their toll on even the most experienced and committed teachers," said Mr White.
His sentiments were echoed by the president of the TUI, Tim O'Meara, who said it was essential to launch a campaign to ensure that all teachers were fully aware of the service available to them.
"The teaching profession is the last sector of the public service not to have an employee assistance scheme, so this new service is long overdue," said Mr O'Meara.
In the primary school sector, general secretary of the INTO John Carr said that the scheme should advise teachers who have personal difficulties which impact on their professional duties.
"This is an investment in people and will help keep people in work who would otherwise be forced out of a job.
"The service will pay for itself in that regard," said Mr Carr.
The Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) said any supports which enhanced the effectiveness of the role of teaching in schools should be greatly welcomed.
It said that the school community could benefit from having a well-adjusted, capable teaching staff.
The service will be run by VHI Corporate Solutions following an extensive tendering process for suitable providers.