In October of 2006 John Howard pledged $96 million towards a National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) which sought to provide all public schools with access to dedicated “spiritual and religious assistance”. The program was expanded by the Rudd government to $165 million, and the Gillard government pledging $220 million dollars of tax payer funds, bringing the total expediture to some $475 million.
When John Howard launched the National School Chaplaincy Program in 2006 he said:
“Yes I am calling them chaplains because that has a particular connotation in our language, and as you know I’m not ever overwhelmed by political correctness. To call a chaplain a counsellor is to bow to political correctness. Chaplain has a particular connotation, people understand it, they know exactly what I’m talking about.”
The Departmental NSCP FAQ at the time said:
For the purposes of this Program, a school chaplain is a person who is recognised:
- Through formal ordination, commissioning, recognised qualifications or endorsement by a recognised or accepted religious institution or a State/Territory government approved chaplaincy service
- by the local school, its community and the appropriate governing authority as having the skills and experience to deliver school chaplaincy services to the school and its community
Under the NSCP parents, teachers, and other interested parties determined religious faith and particular denomination of the chaplain for the school must hold. This policy is divisive as it inherently marginalises minority faiths in supposedly secular public schools, and totally alienates those without religious belief.
‘The best response would be to put more money into more counsellors and particularly people trained in dealing with difficult situations.” - Dr Bryan Cowling, Executive Director of Sydney’s Anglican Education Commission
No. School communities determine the religious faith and denomination the school chaplain will hold. However, since Australia is predominantly Christian, the vast majority of Chaplains are Christian – and most of these come from a small group of extrovert evangelical organisations.
Update: On the 7th September 2011 the Department announced no religious affiliation will be required for chaplaincy positions begining in 2012. However, the existing arrangements will probably hold significant momentum , so many chaplains employed under the program choosen on the basis of their religious beleifs will remain.
Yes, but the circumstances under which it can occur are rare. The Departmental FAQ said:
“… allow the funding already approved for these schools to be used for alternative support workers, if they could not find a chaplain by July 2008. These alternative providers may include counsellors, youth workers or other secular support staff. The offer only applied to those schools that had exhausted all reasonable avenues to find a suitable chaplain.”
So every effort to find a suitable (read “religious”) Chaplain must be exhausted before the school can consider hiring a non-religious person. This reeks of discrimination on religious grounds. In order to judge the magnitude of discrimination; imagine a Government program with similar clauses for black people or women:
“The offer only applied to those schools that had exhausted all reasonable avenues to find a suitable white person.”
or
“The offer only applied to those schools that had exhausted all reasonable avenues to find a suitable man.”
Update: On the 7th September 2011 the Department announced no religious affiliation will be required for chaplaincy positions. The conditions listed above will no longer be enforced begining 2012.
The initial budget allocation was $96 million, however the program was expanded by the Rudd Government to $165 million over 3 years, and during the recent Federal elections, the Gillard government pledged and extra $222 million to expand the program to an additional 1,000 schools till 2014. This makes the total expenditure some $475 million since the program began.
The scheme grants each school up to $20,000 per year for 3 years. Given the often tight budgets in public schools, it is hardly surprising many principles respond favourably when asked if they approve of the NSCP.
Section 116 of the Australian Constitution states:
“The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.”
By explicitly requiring Chaplains to be religious the program violates the Constitution. In addition, the Program discriminates against those who hold minority faith or have no religion at all, which is simply “unAustralian”.
Yes, and no.
While secular and properly qualified personnel can be employed as school chaplains, this can only be done after the school:
“…had exhausted all reasonable avenues to find a suitable [religious] chaplain”
Under the rules of the NSCP, Chaplains are not permitted to actively recruit students to their faith through proselytising, but is evangelising is permitted.
However, according to some reports school chaplains have been able to cure attention deficit disorder, asthma, and “fix the head” of disruptive children by performing exorcisms. On at least one occasion Jesus was said to have stopped the rain during a school assembly.
Furthermore, many organisations contracted to supply chaplains publicly state:
“To have a full-time Christian presence in government schools in this ever-increasing secular world is an unbelievable privilege. Here is the church’s opportunity to make a connection with the one place through which every young person must attend: our schools.”
Tim Mander, Chief Executive of Scripture Union.
At this point it is important to note that chaplains are not required to hold formal qualifications, although coincidently do. Scripture Union explains:
“Most Chaplains aren’t trained, qualified, professional counsellors. It would be a misrepresentation to describe them in that way. Even if some Chaplains do have formal counselling qualifications, it would be sending the wrong message to stakeholders and the public about what Chaplains are and do.”
In fact, a report into the effectiveness of the chaplaincy program confirms only 2.5% of chaplains (1) are actually qualified in counselling or psychology.
Update: On the 7th September 2011 the Department announced minimum qualifications will be required for those performing chaplaincy roles . The government has offered to pick up the costs of training existing chaplains to meet the new minimum requirements.
Yes, but it is very difficult since a persons religious affiliations are considered first. Again, while secular and properly qualified personnel can be employed as school chaplains, this can only be done after the school:
“…had exhausted all reasonable avenues to find a suitable [religious] chaplain”
Although it is possible properly qualified people may lie about their religious beliefs to obtain a Chaplaincy position, this should not be the basis of a Federally funded Government program for public schools.
Update: On the 7th September 2011 the Department announced no religious affiliation will be required for chaplaincy positions. The conditions listed above will no longer be enforced begining 2012.
No.
The government and the organisations supplying chaplains both state chaplains are not permitted to offer ‘counselling’ to students. The Scripture Union (who is a major supplier of Chaplains to the Program) states:
“There are legal ramifications that come into play when you use the terms ‘counsellor’ and ‘counselling’.”
“Obviously, there will be times when Chaplains will be involved in talking one-on-one with students, staff and/or parents about issues and problems that they’re facing, but Chaplains should be involved in nothing more intensive than high-level pastoral care.”
So, chaplains are not allowed to provide counselling, yet they provide “high-level pastoral care”. Chaplains are also not allowed to proselytise or evangelise their faith to students. One might ask what they are allowed to do?
Update: On the 7th September 2011 the Department announced minimum qualifications will be required for those performing chaplaincy roles . The government has offered to pick up the costs of training existing chaplains to meet the new minimum requirements.
Yes. According to a study conducted by the Rationalists Society of Australia, Chaplains admitted to dealing with the following issues in the two weeks prior to the survey:
Yes. Imagine the uproar from the religious community if the tables were turned and only atheists were allowed to be employed by a Government Department.
Ron Williams has challenged the NSCP in the High Court of Australia. Please support his case by donating a few dollars.
The Facebook group is where many of us hang and and swap information. Join in and keep track of what’s happening.
The “official” Twitter hash tag for the campaign is #StopNSCP and we have also hijacked #NSCP.
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