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School Chaplains programme could end
Liberal National Federal Member for Fisher Peter Slipper warns a valued school programme could be at risk under Labor.
Funding has been allocated to current participants in the National School Chaplaincy Programme until next year but there are no guarantees it will continue beyond then. The Gillard/Rudd Government still has not reviewed the programme as planned, which means there could be a nasty surprise if Labor's re-elected.
"Chaplains play a valuable role in schools by offering pastoral care and guidance across religious denominations and beliefs," Mr Slipper says.
"Students and school communities should not miss out just because of some misplaced ideological objections from Labor."
The Liberal National team has committed to keep funding part-time school chaplains for at least another three years. More than 1900 schools have signed up to the program since it was introduced under the Howard Government.
"The programme enjoys strong support among principals, schools and in the community generally," Mr Slipper says.
"Even the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described school chaplains as the 'glue' that holds school communities together.
"A lack of continued support for this project would simply be another Labor backflip."
Peter Slipper MP
Federal Member for Fisher
27 July 2010
Permanent Link: School Chaplains programme could end
Publish Date: 29 Jul 10
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But the main point of Chaplains is so there is someone for the students to talk to and can trust in the school, a school counsellor in other words. That is a Chaplains main job in the schools. They also run events for the school. This is at least true in Perth where I am from, I can't speak for the rest of Australia but i support my Chaplains, and I am currently training to become one so I can assist our young people, our leaders of the future, to become the best they can.
Secularism and other "gods" are becoming King in our society...
Do we let our children work out by themselves that the stove is too hot, or do we tell them not to touch it.
I do not subscribe to any religion and I teach my children secular values that are more in tune with a compassionate and modern world. Can you honestly say that religion is about equalty for all and individual freedom?
I want my children to think, not be brainwashed. If you want religious instruction please send them to Sunday school or a religious school. But, we the people prefer our children to be taught facts at our state school.
We have seen over time how unprincipled organised religions are; how at risk our children have been to individuals who have used their position of trust.
Do your job - represent all Australians and not the established churches, nor the fringe looney religious zealots!
Bill
A former high school chaplain says:
"Teenage suicide, depression, grief associated with separation or divorce or death, questions of sexual identity, illness, abuse, physical disability, drug use and teenage pregnancy are issues which the school chaplain confronts day in day out."
And yet the Scripture Union says plainly:
""Most Chaplains aren't trained, qualified professional counsellors. It would be a misrepresentation to describe them in that way. "
That should scare the living daylights out of any parent with a troubled teen. This year, a young man in a NSW school committed suicide. He'd been in close contact with his chaplain for 6 months. The chaplain had no idea the boy was in crisis. When the boy was beaten up, the chaplain asked him if he was OK, and took him at his word that he was. He didn't refer the child to the counsellor. The next afternoon the child was dead.
I'm not blaming the chaplain here. I'm saying that untrained people have no place in our schools. Even the coroner at the inquest said that what was needed was more full-time counsellors. The chaplaincy programme takes money away from that.
I can assure you, Josh, that there are many of us - parents, teachers, principals, academics, psychologists and concerned citizens who know a great deal more about this insidious programme than you give us credit for.
Vote Labor or Greens
The story is that a Liberal guy thinks that one day Labor might do something like this.
Its a completely invented accusation by the liberals own admission.
Slow news days and election periods are a whacky combination.
Every advance made for man by science was the result of research and perseverance, not praying to "a jealous god".
It's time to be rid of this superstitious rubbish, we don't need it in the 21st century.
I invite people to view the expectations of the contemporary School Chaplains in the link below and then tell me that given the high incidence of teenage suicides in this country there is no place for Chaplains in our Schools.
http://schoolchaplaincy.org.au/media/
Not permitted to proselytise, not qualified to council. What are they actually doing with our kids? According to teachers I have spoken with; the best are sports and activity supervisors, the worst are there to convert young minds.
I will vote for whichever party will divert the funds wasted on this programme into education.
And your work contract says that you MUST follow the aims and objectives of SU, which is to convert the unchurched.
And you should not be in the classroom, doing the work of a teacher aide either.
Chaplains get money from Gillard, and money from Bligh, and money that Scripture Union tithes parents at schools where a chaplain works, plus other donations, so it is not right to say chaplains do not 'care' about money, because Scripture Union has a begging bowl out all the time.
You are correct when you say the end of NSCP funding will not stop chaplains, but that is because Bligh is paying so much of Qld tax monies into it too.
A bit of truth always goes a long way 'Chappy'.
No, better that you and your ilk are removed from any position where you can instil mre fear into children. We have had nothing but problems with RI and Chaplains in the schools we have sent our children to.
With all due respect, get thee to a Christian school and eave public schools alone.
A qualified Youth Worker would be a better person for a child to speak to than a Chaplain.
The liberals are talking about stopping government waste of money and yet they support paying millions of dollars to unqualified preachers to indoctrinate children.
I went through hell growing up in religious schools because of the guilt and repression of my sexuality, it's taken me over a decade to get through all of that and i would never wish it on anyone!
Stop the Indoctrination of Australia's Youth!!
Churches have proven over and over again that their staff members cannot be trusted around children; the fact that we allow them one on one access to children who are vulnerable and in need of counselling is a moral outrage. This program should be stopped immediately.
Religion has no place in the WORLD any more, not just schools.
Religion is outdated and we no longer need to fill in gaps with imaginary friends. We are filling in all the gaps of our understanding with Science. Science isn't compatible with Religion.
I certainly will not vote Coalition either so long as support this scheme.
It is blatant pork barrelling to sectarian interests, uses public dollars to subsidise private religion, and by design favours particular religions over others.
All of this represents an unseemly entanglement of church and state that should never have happened in a diverse secular society such as ours.
There is no place for a Christian world view in the state/secular education of our children where an agenda of proselytising and recruitment of a stone age morality are pushed. Anti abortion anti gay rights and intellectual mumbo jumbo by fundies are a disgrace!
And what a waste of my tax dollars.
Australia should be a secular society and religious recruitment, education or chaplains in our schools is out of place.
The introduction of school chaplains is one of the very few issues where I ever disagreed with John Howard.
There is no place for a Christian world view in the state/secular education of our children where an agenda of proselytising and recruitment of a stone age morality are pushed. Anti abortion anti gay rights and intellectual mumbo jumbo by fundies are a disgrace!
Just because someone believes in a supernatural being, it doesn't qualify them to give advice to children. I don't think that advice could get any worse than the Shine program. It tells girls and women that looking pretty and doing as your husband says is the winning ticket.
Churches already have the advantage of massive tax breaks to fund outreach to young people. If parents want church influence in their kid's lives there are plenty of churches with kids programs on weekends or during the week.
The parents who do not want their children to see a fundamentalist christian are not given a viable alternative. I could well imagine that jewish, catholic or muslim parents would not be happy with this service. Are the scientologists, ralians or hindus allowed to proselytize to children?
It is inappropriate for the government to fund one religion. They wont fund all religions. So they should treat them all equally and fund none.
Vote anything but liberal if you believe in the seperation of church and state.
Yesterday I heard children singing"Don't worry see Chappy" Deary me they have a slogan.
Religions' performing artistes,
Are useful at weddings and feasts.
But our public schools,
Should not become tools
Of Reverends Imams and Priests!
The last thing this country wants is Religion rammed down the throats of our children. Contrary to what many Australians think, this is not a Christian Nation. If parents want the Poison of Religion taught to their children they can send them to a Church School or Sunday School.
And the last thing Australia wants is a Roman Catholic brain dead bigot like Tony "Mad Monk" Abbott. A vote for him will be a vote for control of the country by George Cardinal Pell, Abbott's puppet master.
Robert C. Tobin, member: Atheist Foundation of Australia and bedraggled refugee from the "Holy" Roman Catholic Church.
Religion should be a private matter and not in our public schools where everyone else not of that belief has to deal with the fallout from groups actively pushing this stuff onto children.
The separation of Church and State is a principle that protects people regardless of their religion or lack thereof.
The money is much better spent on qualified counsellors at schools.
the Australian Secular Lobby needs you. Our facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=171506088479
cheers
If Abbott was really concerned about rorting in the education system he would pledge to shut down this program immediately.
but you are horribly off base with this one. As you can see with many of the other comments this is a very unpopular program, and it has no place in a secular society or education system. Additionally it is potentially very harmful as the following pdf explains: http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/APS-Submission-School-Chaplains-July2010.pdf
I support chaplains because they do God's work and heal the students when they are mentally ill and suicidal.
There is no need for qualifications at all when you have the Lord at hand to cast out the Serpents, Devils, and Evil Spirits, which is what school chaplains do so well.
I have heard of chaplains taking students back home with the at night, now what could be wrong with that loving gesture?
Mr Slipper is right, we need millions more to go to school chaplains, so we can cure the bad youth of their sins, and bring them all to Jesus, the only True messenger, being God himself.
In fact, we need an army of chaplains in every school, with one in every class, and more for playground duty, and one for the teachers too.
I am so pleased Mr Slipper is supporting this, and that Tony Abbott is going to turn chaplaincy into a form of National Service for young people when he wins, with God's support, and Julia Gillard is sent packing for her unGodly ways.
Bless you Mr Slipper.
What these nay-sayers dont understand is that four year university degrees in psychology or social work are redundant when the spirit of the Lord is working through you. You don't need to have a background in counselling or psychology. The very fact that these Chaplains are willing to be there is proof that they are needed, wanted and qualified.
And if leading questions were asked of Principals to get the answers the Scripture Union wanted to the Chaplaincy program, well, that's just God working in mysterious ways.
It pains me to see the depths of depravity this once great nation has fallen to with the spread of secularism and atheism. Australia could lead the world with more Chaplains and Conscription. And we shall lead the world in a rousing chorus of "Onward Christian Soldiers."
God Bless Mr. Slipper indeed.
It would be really helpful if you could at least spell properly. In this case you are talking about peoples feet. Get a grip on yourself and get an education, instead of living in la la land.
Why not a Hindu or a Mullah? Catholic, Anglian, Pentacostal. Take your pick.
NONE OF THESE MAKE SENSE.
Get rid of religious intervention in NON-religious schools.
There is no place for a Christian world view in the state/secular education of our children where an agenda of proselytising and recruitment of a stone age morality are pushed. Anti abortion anti gay rights and intellectual mumbo jumbo by fundies are a disgrace!
The NSCP is an utter fraud and waste of taxpayers money.
No government should be funding schools, particularly state schools, any sort of religious "pastoral care". If students need personal development, mental health issues resolved, or any other sort of counselling it should be provided by professional counsellors. Such as members of the Australian Psychological Society who have recently released a submission to the consultation process for the NSCP (see link). Not untrained religious ministers whose main aim is pushing their singular religious agendas and dogmas. It has been shown many times that religious "counsellors" can not provide unbiased care to students due to their particular religious dogmas.
Cancel the NSCP NOW, and never re-instate it. If schools need some sort of counsellors then this link provides a much better, unbiased effective alternative.
http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/APS-Submission-School-Chaplains-July2010.pdf
" .. with all the evidence of chaplains working outside of their roles, the government is complicit in allowing dangerous professional behaviour.
"By injecting a further $165 million into the NSCP is also, in many ways, not meeting their obligations to provide early intervention services to students with mental health needs from professionals who are both qualified and registered to do the job properly."
Kick the chaplains. There's no need for religious baggage to be brought to a role that can be better filled
by an impartial, secular counsellor.
Parents have a right to a secular public education system which caters for families of all religions and none. The school chaplaincy program favours *one* religion. This is not only wrong - it is unconstitutional. Indeed, a high court challenge is being mounted on this very issue (see: highcourtchallenge.com ).
Scripture Union which supplies chaplains to Queensland schools is an evangelical organization which believes in the literal truth of the Bible. In other words, they are fundamentalists. We have all seen what a danger religious fundamentalism poses to world peace - we certainly don't need it in our schools!
It is correct to say the ALP have not 'promised' to keep funding the NSCP, but they are engaged in a consultation process with all the churches engaged in it and employers of chaplains, and anyone who wants to have a say.
Tony Abbott has not promised to fund it 'very much' himself has he?
He is only going to add funding for another 3 years.
If you and Abbott were the least bit serious you would fund every school, for ever, like a politicians superannuation, eh?
Stop trying to be half smart, and politicising this program please.
The false claim that '97% of all school principals' was another fraud.
Do stop telling fibs, or you will go to Hell.
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