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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 6 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 2193 ..
Schools-counselling services
(Question No 665)
Mr Pratt
asked the Minister for Education, Youth and Family Services on 7 May 2003, upon notice:In relation to the Review of School Counsellors:
(1) Were there any funds remaining out of the $100,000 allocated in the 2002-03 Budget for this review. If so, how much and what will happen with the remaining funds, if not, was the project on budget or over budget. If the project was over budget where did the additional funds come from;
(2) Who conducted the review;
(3) What were the major findings of the review;
(4) Will the Minister be providing Members of the Assembly with a copy of the report, if so, when will Members receive a copy of the report, if not why not and where may a copy be obtained;
(5) Why did you select the multi-disciplinary model put forward in the report for further study;
(6) Who will undertake this further study and how will it be funded;
(7) When do you anticipate that this further study will be finished;
(8) When do you anticipate that the reforms flowing from this review will be implemented;
(9) Will you involve school counsellors and their representatives in the development of the new model;
(10) How will you ensure that a new system remains focussed on the needs of students.
Ms Gallagher
: The answer to the member's question is:(1) Approximately $48,000 remains after payment of the consultant's fee and printing costs. The remaining funds will be spent on implementing some of the recommendations in the review, for example technology and portable assessment materials for senior counsellors.
(2) Following a public tender process, a consortium of the Nucleus Group and Morgan Disney and Associates was awarded the contract to conduct the review.
(3) The Review found that the current school counselling and welfare services are valued and important resources for students and raised the following issues:
growth in demand for services and the need for planning for future needs
recruitment and training of counsellors needs to be addressed
the system needs to have a capacity to respond to the increasingly diverse needs of students, which may require structural change and a multi-disciplinary approach
increased emphasis on leadership and planning for school counselling and welfare services is required
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