School guidance in a multicultural Ireland: what should the future look like?

Abstract

Ireland has become a more multicultural society, with many young people attending schools who may be Irish-born to non-Irish parents, or asylum seekers, refugees, citizens of EU or other countries, or have residency in Ireland due to their parents’ status on work-visas. Most of these young people complete senior cycle in post-primary school during which career guidance is provided.

The 1998 Irish Education Act legislates for the provision of ‘appropriate’ guidance in post-primary schools to ensure that students have support to make their careers and education choices. However, there is little clarity on what appropriate guidance is for students of immigrant and multicultural backgrounds. Moreover, the initial training and continuous professional development for guidance counsellors in schools does not currently include a nationally standardised programme of intercultural competence development.

This research study was designed to explore both the guidance needs of the young people of immigrant backgrounds in post -primary schools and the competences of the guidance counsellors to address those needs. The findings provide evidence that the traditional school guidance approach of identifying career interests and aptitudes to inform education and career planning with an homogenous student cohort of the majority population, is not sufficient for this cohort of young people. Taking a Systems Theory Framework approach, this study identifies that a Guidance Process Gap arises when the guidance relationship between the young person and the guidance counsellor is negatively impacted by various influences, leading to barriers to engagement with guidance. The research identifies the need for specialised intercultural competence training for guidance counsellors and the development of a nationally standardised model of guidance policy and practice to address the complex guidance needs of young people of immigrant backgrounds in all schools.

This research contributes to the literature on intercultural competences for guidance counsellors and identifies the need for further research on the complex guidance needs of this non-homogenous cohort of young people of immigrant backgrounds in post-primary schools in Ireland.

Date of Award	Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Cathal McManus (Supervisor) & Karen Kerr (Supervisor)