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Chaplains will still be chosen despite the government giving schools a choice

12:53pm Friday, 9th September 2011

Karen Mudge

Chaplaincy providers believe that changes to The National School Chaplaincy Program, which will allow schools to choose a chaplain or a secular welfare officer, won’t negatively impact the demand for chaplains.

Schools Minister Peter Garrett yesterday announced that from 2012 the scheme will be expanded and that schools will be able to choose between a chaplain and a secular welfare worker.

Tim Mander, the CEO of Scripture Union QLD, is confident that the majority of schools will continue to opt for a school chaplain despite the inclusion of a secular pastoral worker option, saying, “Chaplains provide a distinct and unique service which includes pastoral care and acts as a spiritual resource for those students who voluntarily choose to access it.”

Peter Robinson, CEO of Genr8 Schools Ministries, the largest provider of chaplaincies in NSW state schools is actually looking forward to the growth of chaplaincy services to significantly more schools in NSW.

Denise Nicholls acting CEO of ACCESS ministries in Victoria says, “The changes will have very little impact on ACCESS ministries. Demand for ACCESS ministries chaplains is expected to remain high with more than 140 Victorian schools contacting ACCESS ministries in the last four months requesting chaplains in anticipation of additional funding from the federal government.”

Almost 2700 schools take part in the program, which gives them up to $20,000 a year in grants for chaplains, and Labor plans to extend it to another 1000 schools. Schools in regional, remote and disadvantaged communities are being given priority, with available funding to them increasing up to $72,000 over three years instead of $60,000.

Peter Robinson from Genr8 says, “We are delighted for remote communities that the grant for them is $24,000, as they have the greatest challenge in finding and retaining staff.” Part of Genr8 ministries’ service is stepping in to help when the $20 000 of government funding falls short of completely funding a school chaplain, setting up local committees to be the first line of support for raising additional funds. Funds are most often raised from local churches or individual Christian sponsors.

Minimum qualifications for workers in the program have been introduced, with all new workers under the scheme required to have a Certificate IV in Youth Work, Pastoral Care or the equivalent. All the existing chaplains who don’t have equivalent qualifications will be required to complete training in mental health and making referrals. The changes include a stronger complaints management system and benchmark standards for chaplaincy providers, with a commitment from the government to extend the scheme to the end of 2014.

Jim Wallace, Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, responded to the changes by pointing out that Prime Minister Julia Gillard had given an election commitment that the National School Chaplaincy Program would not be secularised. The ACL believes that funding for new secular welfare workers in schools must come from a separate program, not from the same pool of money funding chaplains. “There is no problem with the Federal Government offering schools the choice between a secular worker and a faith-based chaplain but the Government’s commitment before the election was that the chaplaincy program would retain its unique faith-based pastoral care emphasis.”