THE THEME of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors' national conference in Kilkenny next month will be "Home, School and Society". Closing date for booking has been extended to Thursday of this week. The conference will be held over three days from Thursday, March 6th, in Kilkenny Castle. The IGC's 27th annual general meeting will be held on the Saturday.

On Friday Aine Hyland, professor of education at UCC, will give the keynote address on research on curriculum and assessment development. She will also talk about the application of Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence. Hyland's work includes research on teachers' in-career development needs. Her talk will begin in the morning at 10.30 am.

Sister Stanislaus Kennedy is expected to bring a further dimension to the conference when she speaks about those within society who are deprived. Kennedy is vice-president of OEIL, a European organisation dedicated to the social integration and housing of young people. She first came to national prominence when working with social services in Kilkenny and, later, in 1985 when she founded and became director of Focus Point, an agency which provides a wide range of services to combat homelessness.

Those who arrive in Kilkenny on the Thursday night will be able to hear the author and teacher, Gabriel Fitzmaurice, talk in Kilkenny Castle on the conference theme of home, school and society. Fitzmaurice, a national school teacher, is a former chair and literary advisor to Listowel's Writers' Week.

For further information, guidance counsellors around the country should contact Peter O Murchu, chairman of the organising committee and chairman of the Kilkenny branch of the IGC at Scoil Eoin (Phone 0507-38223) or at home (0507-26187).