On Friday 10th October a media release from Senator Ryan announced the welcome news that Queensland and all other states had agreed to administer the National School Chaplaincy Programme (NSCP).
“Students across the country will benefit from access to the National School Chaplaincy Programme,” Senator the Hon Scott Ryan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, said.
“I thank the education ministers for seeing the merit in this programme for their school communities.”
Here is the media release
So we will have a national program for 2900 chaplains. This is such great news!
Now the work begins in the state/territory education departments – to run an application process for all schools and to decide the successful schools and announce them. One of the conditions of agreeing to the programme is that all schools must be invited to apply for the NSCP funding. We are waiting for DETE to announce the new funding application process.
With the new NSCP funding round being administered by the state government, there will need to be changes to the way we operate.
These changes include:
- New Service Agreements for each school
- A new NSCP funding model for Chaplaincy Services
- New LCC budgeting tools and
- New chaplain contracts based on updated Salary Band Criteria
We are working towards new contracts for all our staff to fit the new funding period. As well, we are taking this opportunity to review chaplain salaries, to ensure all of our staff are on their correct pay band. We have emailed LCCs and chaplains to alert them to the new salary band criteria. The foundational principles of the new criteria (available on MyChappy) are to recognise and reward chaplains for their qualifications and experience, with the hope of encouraging longevity in the role.
A number of policies that affect chaplain employment conditions are being revised at the same time. These include Leave policy, Professional Development Policy and SU QLD Code of Conduct.
In light of the fact that all government funding will now be channelled through the State government, SU Qld is working on a new funding model to meet DETE’s requirements. This will mean that instead of a complex system of levies and charges for the different types of funding (NSCP, state, community) we will make a simple hourly charge to LCCs which will incorporate all charges with the exception of Professional Development and the annual conference fees. The new system will make it very easy for LCCs to work out their budgets for 2015. Last week we communicated all relevant details including new chaplain pay bands to LCCs
We look forward to working with you to ensure Chaplaincy Services are stronger than ever in 2015. As soon as we are aware of the new NSCP application process we will be in touch with Principals and LCCs to support in any way we can.
Jenni Dobbin
Chaplaincy and Field Services