The chaplaincy and pastoral care capabilities of many faith-based schools that receive millions of public funding under the National Student Wellbeing Program (NSWP) appear to be performing religious activities as part of their role.

The Rationalist Society of Australia has found that the websites of numerous religious schools receiving federal funding for the NSWP say that their chaplains and pastoral carers actively contribute to the faith formation of children, listing activities such as leading Bible studies, conducting chapel services, providing spiritual support, and running prayer and devotional sessions.

The RSA can also reveal that new data shows almost 30 per cent of funding for the program is going to faith-based schools.

Under the Project Agreement reached in early 2023 between the federal government and states and territories, the NSWP supports student wellbeing through pastoral care services but is explicitly “not a religious program” and “does not provide religious instruction or religious counselling to students”. 

While the program provides schools with the option of either a chaplain or wellbeing officer, chaplains are required to meet religious credentials. But both chaplains and student wellbeing officers have the same role responsibilities and are forbidden from proselytising, and are required to “respect, accept and be sensitive to other people’s views, values and beliefs”.

It is believed that the NSWP funding forms just a portion of the wages of many chaplains and pastoral carers employed in faith schools, with the schools also contributing directly or raising money within their school communities to help cover the cost.

In 2022, the Queensland-based advocacy group, Queensland Parents for Secular State Schools (QPSSS) raised concerns with the then state Labor government about the religious activities being performed by chaplains.

In its letter to the government, QPSSS highlighted, among the examples, the case of a school which says its chaplain is involved in chapel services and implements Biblical studies programs, and the case of another which describes the role of the chaplain as including conducting organising “weekly chapels”.

The RSA has since discovered numerous examples across the country where the websites of faith schools in receipt of NSWP funding detail the religious activities of their chaplaincy and pastoral care capabilities. Among them:

• Another Queensland Christian school says that its chaplains are “passionate about seeing students and families discover God, grow in their faith, so they can live life abundantly as God intends them to”. 
• In South Australia, one school says its chaplaincy capability has established “prayer spaces, interactive immersive prayer stations, and student-led lunchtime prayer groups”.
• In a description of its chaplaincy services, a Tasmanian school says optional Bible studies are “offered to those students who wish to extend their walk with God”.
• In Western Australia, one school says it is “blessed” to receive support from the NSWP for its part-time chaplain, who, in performing the role, encourages students to “develop their personal faith”.

Based on figures provided by the federal Department of Education to the Senate this year, the RSA has calculated that about 28 per cent of the annual NSWP funds go to Catholic and independent schools.

The data provided in response to questions in Senate estimates from November last year detail the funding amounts for each school in each state and territory.

Of the $61 million allocated to the program, the RSA calculated that Catholic schools receive about $8.8 million per year and independent schools — mainly Christian colleges — receive about $7.8 million. The government schools receive about $42.6 million.

The difference between the states and territories is significant in terms of the total share of funds going to government schools versus the Catholic and independent sectors. Queensland (82 per cent) records the highest share of funding for the government sector, followed by South Australia (78), Tasmania (70), Western Australia (68), Victoria (67), New South Wales (63) and the Northern Territory (54).

The ACT recorded the lowest share at just 17 per cent for government schools. However, the RSA understands this is due to the ACT government’s policy of directly hiring wellbeing officers for its public schools. While the ACT government allows Catholic and independent schools to access NSWP funds, it blocks its public schools from using the funds to hire workers based on religious credentials.

The Project Agreement required states and territories to establish cross-sector panels, with representatives from each sector, to “select and prioritise schools for funding” while taking into consideration “school need, distribution between sectors and other school wellbeing support arrangements in the jurisdiction”.

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Si Gladman is Executive Director at the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.