Administration of the National School Chaplaincy Program

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PDFAdministration of the National School Chaplaincy Program

26 July 2011The Commonwealth Ombudsman's office began an own motion investigation into the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (the Department)’s administration of the National School Chaplaincy Program (the Chaplaincy Program) in December 2010. This was in response to a report released by the Northern Territory Ombudsman (the NT Ombudsman’s Report), following her office’s investigation of complaints about the program in five NT schools. The NT Ombudsman's Report identified issues with the Department's administration of the Chaplaincy Program, which the NT Ombudsman was unable to investigate due to lack of jurisdiction.

While the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s office acknowledges that there is a high level of community support for the Chaplaincy Program, as evidenced by the 2,675 schools currently participating in the program, we are also aware that some sectors of the community are concerned about a program that creates demand for the services of, predominantly, religious-based groups. The merit of the underlying policy is a matter for Government and was not the subject of this investigation.

Rather, this office is interested in the Department’s administration of the Chaplaincy Program, particularly given that it generates demand for services delivered to children. Therefore the focus of this investigation was on the:

  • application process
  • funding agreements
  • guidelines
  • monitoring and acquittal of funds
  • complaint handling by the Department.

The investigation found that, although the Department provided some guidance in its program documentation, there has been insufficient guidance by the Department in relation to:

  • the consultation that schools were expected to undertake as part of the application process
  • key terms used within the program guidelines and code of conduct
  • minimum qualification requirements
  • the promotion of complaint-handling processes and escalation procedure.
Publication typeReport
Publisher TypeGovernment or Gov agency
CoverageAustralia
Permanent URLhttp://apo.org.au/node/25655
Views1759

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