School Chaplaincy

[RealityRules]

Originally Posted by DanDare

...this discussion paper is timed to pre-empt the ombudsman's investigation and the high court challenge.

Interesting that they felt the need for a discussion paper and submissions, especially before independent bodies pass separate judgement.

[DanDare]

I thought so. I have the discussion paper from April 2010. I made a submission then. Nothing substantive has happened. Its 154k as a .doc, so too big to upload here. I'll just put the relevant text for comparison.

Background

The National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) was announced in 2006 to support schools to establish or expand school chaplaincy services. Total funding of $165 million was allocated to the program, with two funding rounds conducted in 2007 (Round 1 outcomes were announced in July 2007 and Round 2 outcomes announced in October 2007).


Broadly, the intended objective of chaplaincy/pastoral
<snip>
Reviewing the National School Chaplaincy Program

Purpose of this issues paper

In August 2009, the Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), which administers the NSCP, commenced a review of the program and began collecting feedback from some of the major stakeholders of the NSCP – the state/territory governments who are responsible for government schools, and the Catholic and Independent school systems. This information, together with information DEEWR collects from schools participating in the program and information provided by the major chaplaincy service providers, was used to inform the Australian Government’s decision to extend the NSCP until the end of 2011. The Australian Government also determined that a national consultation process should be conducted in 2010, seeking views on the NSCP from a broad range of stakeholders and interested members of the public.


The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of feedback received to date on the NSCP and to identify key issues to be explored during the consultation meetings between DEEWR representatives and your organisation. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of discussion points and you are free to raise any issues or options for the NSCP that you wish during the consultation process.
Consultation Process

The national consultation process will examine the effectiveness of the NSCP and its suitability to address current/future needs and priorities. It will provide a review of NSCP activities and achievements, an overview of student and school support services available outside of the NSCP, and consider the relationship between the NSCP and these services. This will include any gaps or overlaps, an examination of the degree to which chaplains may undertake a unique role and contrast the role of secular support workers and chaplains.


Process
The national consultation process will be broadly divided into two stages:

• • Stage One –stakeholder meetings
  • Stage Two – public discussion paper

<snip>
Information sources

In late 2009 preliminary feedback on the NSCP and other evaluation information was sought from a variety of sources. Key sources were:

1. State and Territory Education Departments.

DEEWR wrote to all State and Territory Education Department Directors-General in August 2009 requesting feedback on a number of aspects of the NSCP.

1. Faith-Based and Independent School Systems.

In August 2009 DEEWR also wrote to the major faith-based and independent school associations requesting feedback on the NSCP.

1. Feedback from Schools
   
   1. Progress Reports

DEEWR requires each school funded under the program to provide a Progress Report on their chaplaincy service in order to obtain each funding instalment. These Progress Reports detail the types of activities undertaken by chaplains, their interactions with the school community and the level of ongoing support for the chaplaincy service in the wider school community.

1. 1. Monitoring Visits

DEEWR undertakes monitoring visits to a large number of schools throughout Australia and speaks directly to school staff and chaplains about the operation of the NSCP.

1. Feedback from Chaplaincy Service Providers
   
   1. National School Chaplaincy Association (NSCA) Report

The National School Chaplaincy Association (an organisation representing the major government school chaplaincy service providers) commissioned the Edith Cowan University’s School of Psychology and Social Science to undertake a study examining the effectiveness of NSCA chaplaincy services. The report was released on 13 October 2009.

1. Ministerial Correspondence

The Deputy Prime Minister and DEEWR regularly receive correspondence from the participants in the program and the public, providing information and perspectives on the National School Chaplaincy Program and related issues.


6. Complaints
Complaints received about implementation of the program are monitored by DEEWR, with appropriate action taken upon receipt. Issues and trends have been considered in the development of this paper.
<snip>

Program Benefits
Respondents were asked to describe the contribution the National School Chaplaincy Program has made to schools in their jurisdictions and to list aspects of the program which worked well.
The following points were consistently mentioned:

• The flexibility of the NSCP allowed schools to develop programs to address their specific needs.
• Chaplains were on-site so knew the school culture and specific issues facing students.
• Given that chaplains were not seen as school staff and had no teaching load, students were more open and comfortable with them and chaplains were more available to students.
• There were notable positive effects on student behaviour with a decrease in anti-social behaviours and increases in self-esteem, emotional and spiritual wellbeing and resilience.
• Chaplains were able to provide proactive, immediate and case-specific early intervention services, helping to prevent escalation or entrenchment of issues. They were also able to identify and assist ‘at-risk’ children and were particularly valued in primary schools where there can be more limited access to counsellors.
• Chaplains provided confidential support for students, parents/families and staff and were able to refer individuals and families to outside agencies and support services as needed. Schools frequently noted the role of chaplains in improving family liaison and greater ‘links’ to the wider community.
• Chaplains were able to provide support for general values and relationship development rather than just a specific religious focus and provided programs for certain specific issues such as grief & loss.
• Chaplains were vital at times of crisis such as the Victorian bushfires and times of conflict or loss and were seen as a resource for students, staff and the broader school community.

Areas for improvement
Respondents were also asked to describe aspects of the program which did not work well. Issues raised were:

• A minimum level of qualifications should be required
• Professional development needs to be both improved and mandatory
• The available budget usually restricted chaplains to part-time work
• Some schools had difficulty developing duty statements for chaplains due to the flexibility of the NSCP Guidelines (It should be noted that this flexibility was also seen as one of the program’s strengths)
• Some school staff and parents were concerned about the religious connotations of the program and the term “chaplain” (for example, in South Australia the preferred term is ‘Christian Pastoral Support Worker’).

<snip>
It should be noted that while 1626 public school principals were surveyed, only 688 principals (42%) responded. Response rates were better from the chaplains themselves with 1031 chaplains of 1396 surveyed responding (74%). In addition, no NSW schools participated as the NSW Education Department declined to participate. No chaplaincy provider in the Northern Territory is a member of the NSCA and so this jurisdiction was not surveyed.
<big snip>

If any one would like to host this somewhere PM me and I will mail it to you.

That last paragraph is about the Cowan University survey conducted by a partisan christian. Its the one that stated 97% of school principles thought chaplains were very effective in schools. It was not a random sample so statistical extrapolation is unsafe. Instead they should say that of the 42% of principals that responded 97% were on side. That is an actual total of 40.7%.

The new discussion paper seems to ignore the many submissions given to the original paper.

[DanDare]

Also regards the survey, note that only those schools with chaplains were surveyed. Of the schools not surveyed any number of them could be without a chaplain because they believe chaplains to be inappropriate. Of the total schools in Australia it is thus only a small percentage that consider chaplains to be of benefit. Finally, the question itself provides little evidence for the actual efficacy of chaplains, comparison of chaplains with a secular alternative to provide the same service, or of the harms to students, the school system and its duty of care, or to the parents and their relationship with child and school. The study is a meaningless piece of propoganda on behalf of the chaplain providers.

[DanDare]

One of the things that strikes me is this argument how cool and flexible it is for chaplains not to be tied up with all the restrictions placed on qualified councillors.

Excuse me ?!

The restrictions placed on qualified councillors are there for very good reason, and despite their qualification and training. We are to relax such controls for religious zealots with barely two sticks to rub together in the way of qualification? Fuck that for a joke!

[ABridgeTooFar]

The word 'unprofessional' sums up my experience of chaplains throughout high school. Breaking education department guidelines was a daily occurrence.

[BlueDevil]

Originally Posted by ABridgeTooFar

Creating jobs for secular chaplains doesn't solve the problem. It still opens the door for unqualified people to gain access to school children, and it doesn't take the religious motives out of the role of a Christian chaplain.

Mr Garret should just realize the whole program is a waste of money, and the $400 million should be going towards getting qualified psychologists/counselors into schools.

+1 The kids should be getting properly trained psychologists/counsellors. A 'secular chaplain' with proper training would be better than having religious chaplains trying to get some converts on the sly, but I still don't think it is ideal.

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

Originally Posted by BlueDevil

+1 The kids should be getting properly trained psychologists/counsellors. A 'secular chaplain' with proper training would be better than having religious chaplains trying to get some converts on the sly, but I still don't think it is ideal.

Originally Posted by ABridgeTooFar

The word 'unprofessional' sums up my experience of chaplains throughout high school. Breaking education department guidelines was a daily occurrence.

Originally Posted by DanDare

One of the things that strikes me is this argument how cool and flexible it is for chaplains not to be tied up with all the restrictions placed on qualified councillors.

Excuse me ?!

The restrictions placed on qualified councillors are there for very good reason, and despite their qualification and training. We are to relax such controls for religious zealots with barely two sticks to rub together in the way of qualification? Fuck that for a joke!

+100 to all the quoted posts.

I did not even know there were such things as "secular chaplains" at all. And even if there was, this would create a large loophole for religious fuckjobs to go through. And without all the restrictions, we may as well hire Sheikh Al Hilaly instead.

[BlueDevil]

Originally Posted by Crocodile

+100 to all the quoted posts.

I did not even know there were such things as "secular chaplains" at all.

Croc I am not sure if such a thing as secular chaplains exists at present, or whether it is just a proposal. Anyone know for sure?

This seems to imply it is just a proposal:

EDUCATION Minister Peter Garrett is considering funding non-religious ''pastoral care workers''

but the quote below seems to imply there may already be a mechanism for having secular chaplains:

Schools must exhaust all possibilities of finding a suitable religious chaplain before they are able to apply for a secular person.

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

BlueDevil: "Secular chaplain" and "secular pastoral worker" sounds suspiciously contradictory in my opinion. Probably more using the "chaplain" and "pastoral worker" as a job title, but from what I understand, most job titles come with obligations. What's next? A secular pope?

[Ford]

What is a School Counsellor if not a secular chaplain?
Sorry, I guess a counsellor has qualifications!