State agrees to pay for a pool of support staff in Church schools

Church schools will have a pool of counsellors, social workers and psychologists who will be deployed where needed and paid for by the state, according to a reviewed agreement signed yesterday.

The Guidelines to Church Schools’ Entitlement of Resources revisited procedures that came into force 10 years ago to outline what services the government will fund within Church schools.

While the great part of the new guidelines already existed, in the revised version the state takes on the responsibility of paying for support staff.

The guidelines lay down that there should be a minimum of eight school counsellors and four social workers and Church schools will be entitled to more money in excess of this depending on the number of students.

Speaking during the signing of the new guidelines, Education Minister Dolores Cristina outlined some of the main points.

The document reaffirmed the fact that Church school teachers would be entitled to the same benefits and salaries as their state school counterparts.

Ms Cristina pointed out that the guidelines also stipulated class size limits, staff recruitment and allowances. She was glad to see how the new education reforms – that included changes in the transition from primary to secondary schools – were being adopted across all schools.

Three Church school secondary schools – the Archbishop’s Seminary, St Augustine’s College and St Paul’s Missionary College – were expanding to build primary schools. They will benefit from a 15.8 per cent VAT refund.

Fr Dominic Scerri, who heads the Church secretariat for Catholic education, said the updated guidelines helped better equip schools for the reforms. Now that the common entrance exams had been abolished, staff had to learn how to cope with mixed ability classes, he said.

The government pays for the bulk of expenses related to the human resources of Church schools that cater for about 40 per cent of the student population.

There are about 42 Church schools. The government will fork out about €42 million this year for Church schools, which cannot charge fees although they ask for donations from parents.