An Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta

Department of Education and Science

 

Subject Inspection of Guidance

REPORT

 

Ballinrobe Community School

Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo

Roll number: 91462E

 

Date of inspection: 19 April 2007

Date of issue of report: 6 December 2007

 

 

 

 

 

Subject Inspection report

Subject Provision and Whole School Support

Planning and Preparation

Teaching and Learning

Assessment

Summary of Findings and Recommendations

 

 

 

 

Report on the Quality of Provision in Guidance

 

 

Subject Inspection report

 

This report has been written following a subject inspection in Ballinrobe Community School, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.  It presents the findings of an evaluation of the quality of provision in Guidance and makes recommendations for the further development of Guidance in the school.  The evaluation was conducted over one day during which the inspector held discussions with the principal and guidance counsellor, viewed guidance facilities, visited a classroom, interacted with students and reviewed school planning documentation.  Following the evaluation visit, the inspector provided oral feedback on the outcomes of the evaluation to the principal and guidance counsellor.

 

Subject Provision and Whole School Support

 

Ballinrobe Community School is a co-educational school with a current student population of 447 which includes 18 students taking a Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) course.  It is the only second level school in the town of Ballinrobe.  Its students come from mixed social backgrounds and the school caters for all levels of ability.  There are 22 international students and 24 students from the Traveller community currently attending. The school reports that the drop-out rate is increasing, particularly after Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) year 1. Many of the students get jobs during the work experience element of the LCA programme and drop out of school at that point. There is a low-drop out rate in the junior cycle.  The main feeder primary school is the local school in Ballinrobe, but students come from twelve other primary schools in the area, most of which are two teacher schools.

 

The school receives 17 ex quota hours from the Department of Education and Science for Guidance.   There has been no permanent guidance counsellor in the school for some years due to a career break and subsequent retirement. During that time, the guidance programme was delivered by different substitute guidance personnel.  A teacher from the school undertook training two years ago and will qualify as a guidance counsellor in June 2007. The teacher is teaching two subjects in addition to delivering the guidance programme.  Approximately 15 hours are being allocated to Guidance. Of this, 8 hours 40 minutes are allocated to class Guidance, and the remainder of the time is allocated to individual counselling and related guidance activities.  Guidance classes are timetabled for fifth and sixth years and classes are borrowed in junior cycle when required.

 

The school has a care team which comprises the principal, deputy principal, year heads, class tutors, chaplain, learning support teacher and guidance counsellor. The year heads meet formally with the principal every week and the class tutors, chaplain and guidance counsellor meet formally at the beginning of the year and informally throughout the year.  A report of all meetings is given to the principal at the end of the year.   The guidance counsellor has regular informal meetings with the chaplain and records of these meetings are kept. There is collaboration between the guidance counsellor and the SPHE co-ordinator and the co-ordinators of the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) and Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP). As there is an overlap between elements of the Guidance and SPHE programmes, the collaboration in planning these elements is commended.  The school does not have an official Home/School/Community Liaison officer but allocates hours from its resources for this purpose. 

 

The school liaises with Youthreach and the Traveller Support Service.  There is good contact with the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) and the Health Service Executive (HSE) and when required, students are referred to private counsellors through the local general practitioners. A critical incident policy is in place and NEPS has assisted the school in responding to a recent critical incident.  

 

Contact is made with third level colleges, further education providers, FÁS, FÁILTE Ireland and other national bodies through guest speakers who are invited to the school to give talks and through a careers event in the school which is held every two years and organised by the PA.  It is school policy not to organise attendance at national career events due to the long distance students have to travel to these events and the consequent difficulties this causes.  However, students are provided with a calendar of career events and college open days and can make their own arrangements to attend any of these, subject to school and parental approval if attendance is during a school day.  Many career events and college open days are held at weekends.   There is contact with local industry and with the community.

 

Participation in the President’s award is organised by the guidance counsellor. Students participate in a wide range of sporting and extra curricular activities including an annual school musical.  

 

Facilities for Guidance are excellent.  There is a Guidance suite comprising an office and dedicated classroom. The suite is located in a quiet but very bright area of the school. The office  has a computer, internet access, broadband, shelving and secure storage.  The classroom has shelving for careers materials and the walls have display boards which are used for posters and guidance related notices.  The main guidance notice board is located in a central area of the school. On walls throughout the school, guidance related posters are displayed.  The posters were prepared by students and focus on careers.  Each poster deals with a career and lists either the required or desirable subjects to take in post-primary school in order to follow a course of study leading to the career.  Other posters list universities and colleges of technology.  The posters are very colourful and are an effective means of providing guidance information for students as well as involving them in career research.  The school is commended for this novel and worthwhile initiative.  In the Guidance classroom and in other locations throughout the school there are also posters on boards and walls which deal with issues around personal development and personal qualities. This is also commended.

 

Students have reasonable access to ICT for guidance purposes and the guidance counsellor liaises with the ICT co-ordinator in order to ensure that students access relevant websites such as Qualifax. It is recommended that the school consider installing a few computers in the Guidance classroom and that sixth-year students in particular have access to them at dedicated times for guidance purposes.  As appropriate, students could use them in the course of a Guidance class.

 

 

 

Planning and Preparation

 

The development of the Guidance plan has commenced and the guidance counsellor, in consultation with the chaplain, has undertaken much of the work to date.  There have been informal discussions with the SPHE and learning support co-ordinators.  The guidance counsellor has obtained a place on the module on Guidance Planning which is run by the National Centre for Guidance in Education (NCGE).  The next module will commence in September 2007.  It is recommended that a formal Guidance planning committee be established which should include relevant school personnel and representatives of parents, students, the local community and other relevant agencies. 

 

School personnel visit the feeder primary schools to provide prospective students with information about the school.  At an open night for incoming students and their parents, the guidance counsellor introduces them to Guidance and explains the role of the guidance counsellor.  All first-year students take fifteen core subjects and choose a further three subjects from six options. The Guidance programme for first years is delivered in six classes.  In the first class a questionnaire is administered to obtain information about each student, their interests, attitudes to school, how they are coping with the transition to second-level education, and any difficulties they are experiencing.  The remaining classes are based on the findings of the  questionnaires. They also include sessions on homework, and towards the end of the year the issue of subject choice for the Junior Certificate is dealt with. The number of subjects taken in first year is reduced in second year and this requires students to choose the subjects they wish to take for the Junior Certificate.  The school has Science and Business Studies as core subjects for all junior cycle students.  There is a parents’ evening in the second term where the issue of subject choice is discussed.  It is recommended that information be given to parents about the new module on the Qualifax website. Leaving Cert and Junior Cert Subject Choice
provides information on the long-term implications of subject choice. The module includes a full list of courses, within the Central Applications Office (CAO) system, which require a specific Leaving Certificate subject, including the grade and level required.  Information on the requirement or desirability of certain subjects for non CAO courses or apprenticeships should also be provided to parents of first-year students.    

 

Second-year students receive four classes of Guidance.  These classes are planned in collaboration with the SPHE co-ordinator and the chaplain.  The classes deal with study skills, levels of subjects studied for the Junior Certificate and discussions around any difficulties experienced by students.  If students require individual counselling they are referred to the chaplain who provides counselling for junior cycle students.  In discussions with the guidance counsellor, it was agreed that in future, second-year students would receive more Guidance classes.  The content of the classes would include the introduction to careers, the undertaking of a career project, and in collaboration with the SPHE programme, would deal with relevant personal and social issues.   

 

Third-year students have Guidance throughout the year. Classes are borrowed as required and all students are met individually. The programme covers the development of personal profiles, discussions about subject levels and decisions taken, discussions about senior cycle programmes, introduction to careers, introduction to Qualifax, and the completion of an interest inventory.  Liaison between SPHE and Guidance continues in third year.  At a parents’ evening the guidance counsellor makes a PowerPoint presentation which covers senior cycle programmes, subject choice for senior cycle, and the points system.  Parents receive a handout on subject choice and fact-sheets on various courses.

 

While Transition Year (TY) is an available option in the school, due to the small number who opted for it in the 2006/07 school year, it is not operating this year.  The guidance counsellor has a programme prepared for the year and this will be implemented should the programme run in future years.  The programme includes career investigation, preparation for work experience, CV preparation, the completion of the Differential Aptitude Tests (DATS), and career interest inventories.

 

Guidance is timetabled for fifth years for one period per week. In addition, every student has a careers interview with the guidance counsellor.  Subject choices for the Leaving Certificate are confirmed.  In the Guidance classes, students learn how to prepare a CV and a letter of application for a job.  The classes also focus on the workplace; the qualities and skills important in the workplace, and the changes that have taken place in the workplace.  Students explore the opportunities available for all students at third level or in further education.  The DATS and interest tests are administered.

 

Guidance is timetabled for sixth years for one period per week.  In addition, all students are met individually for career guidance and if necessary some students are seen more than once.  They receive a calendar of career events and handouts on the CAO, on the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS), and on the points system.  It is recommended that in future years this information is provided in TY and or fifth year. The vast majority of students, taking the Leaving Certificate or the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) in the school, aims to go to third level.  LCA students aim to take a PLC course or to take up an apprenticeship. The Guidance classes also concentrate on aspects of personal development.  The guidance counsellor delivers the Guidance module of LCA.

 

Although there is a wide range of subjects available in the school, choices by males and females are still traditional. There is some interest among girls in aspects of engineering and in the current year four male students have put primary teaching as their first choice on the CAO application.  It is recommended that the school become more pro-active in broadening the career choices of all students.   

 

Parents attend parent-teacher meetings and parents’ evenings and they organise the universities and colleges of technology evening fair in the school. (The school’s guidance counsellor will be taking on this responsibility from September 2008 onward).  Some parents are invited to speak to the students on careers.   It is recommended that parents be formally represented on the Guidance Planning Committee.

 

The guidance counsellor has been facilitated to undertake the University of Limerick Graduate Diploma in Guidance and Counselling and will complete the course in June 2007.  Also, the school has also facilitated the guidance counsellor in applying to undertake the module in Guidance Planning in September 2007. In addition, the guidance counsellor will also participate in the continuous professional development (CPD) organised by the local branch of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors (IGC) and in professional supervision which is operated through the Education Centres.

 

Teaching and Learning

 

Two classes were observed, a Leaving Certificate 2 class and an LCA 2 class.  The LCA class was part of the Guidance module of the LCA programme.  A discussion on students’ chosen career area as part of career investigation took place.  Students then undertook a career interest inventory.  The guidance counsellor explained the purpose of the test and assisted student in its completion when necessary.  The students engaged fully in the task which was not completed by some in the class period.  The guidance counsellor explained that it would be completed in the next Guidance class and when each student’s results were obtained, the findings would be discussed with each of them. 

 

The topic for the Leaving Certificate class was interview techniques. The guidance counsellor and students engaged in a discussion about the importance of an interview and whether any of the students had already had an interview.  After some discussion and questioning, the guidance counsellor used the overhead projector to outline the purpose of interviews, their importance, what might happen at an interview, the different types of interviews and the stages of an interview.  The information provided on the OHP was included in a handout for the students which also included additional information on the interview process.  The students were asked to recap on the points covered on the OHP and then they were asked to work in groups to discuss the points.     

 

All students engaged in the lesson and the interactions and responses to questioning by the guidance counsellor were relevant.   The varied methodologies used maintained interest and attention as all were required to participate fully in the class.

 

Assessment

 

The incoming first-year students undertake the Drumcondra Reasoning Test; the Young Cloze Reading test and the Vernon Graded Arithmetic Test.  The results of those tests are used for this purpose and also to identify students who may require learning support.

 

The Differential Aptitude Tests (DATS) are administered to fifth-year students and to TY students.  A range of interest inventories is undertaken by students from third year onwards. 

 

The guidance counsellor has commenced the process of setting up a file on each student which   will contain a record of all meetings between the student and the guidance counsellor.  The files are maintained in the Guidance office.

 

The guidance counsellor commenced the tracking of the first destination of past students last year.  It is recommended that this activity continue for the future as it provides the school with valuable information about its students. It also offers an opportunity to engage past students in the guidance process, by inviting them to speak to current students about their respective choices and careers.

 

 

Summary of Findings and Recommendations

 

The following are the main strengths and areas for development identified in the evaluation:

 

 

 

As a means of building on these strengths and to address areas for development, the following key recommendations are made:

 

 

Post-evaluation meetings were held with the guidance counsellor and with the principal at the conclusion of the evaluation when the draft findings and recommendations of the evaluation were presented and discussed.