Shifting from chaplains to secular student welfare officers can be divisive. Here’s how schools can manage the risks

By Allan Dale
Community contribution / June 28, 2022

The new federal Labor government is ending the compulsory religious aspect of the A$60 million-a-year National School Chaplaincy Program.

The change comes as newly released census data show only 44 per cent of Australians now identify as Christian. The ...

Special Needs Teaching Assistant

Veritas Essex

Teaching Aides & Special Needs / Jul 22, 2026

English teacher

Veritas Darlington

Teaching - Secondary / Jul 22, 2026

Casual Educator

Story House Early Learning Lara Lara VIC

Explore how we enhance and support our Story House-ers at our Lara service, proudly certified as a Great Place to Work!

Childcare & Outside School Hours Care / Jul 22, 2026

School news / IEU members in Catholic education to stage statewide Victorian solidarity actions

Tomorrow’s AEU strike action places the unequal treatment of Victorian education workers in plain sight, according to the Independent Education Union (IEU).

School news / ‘Normalisation of the abnormal’: Jewish schools warn of rising security levies, antisemitism

Parents at a Jewish school in Sydney fist bump police who man the gates every morning in a bid to reassure their child that they are safe, a principal has told an inquiry.

School news / Moves afoot: French MPs back social media ban for children under 15

French MPs have approved a ban on social media access for children under ‌the age of 15 as concerns grow around the world over the effect social media has on ‌the health and safety of minors.

School news / Teacher strike to go ahead: More than half of Vic AEU members reject Govt’s latest offer

The full-day teachers’ strike slated to take place in Melbourne this Thursday will go ahead, with news Victorian union members have voted to reject the Government’s latest pay and conditions offer.

School news / ‘A double burden’: women teachers bearing the brunt of work intensification in schools

The intensification of teachers’ work is being felt most acutely by female educators, with long-held gendered expectations tied to the idea of the ‘motherteacher’ alive and well in Australian schools, new research has revealed.

Opinion / Calling school support a ‘slush fund’ is offensive to students who need it most

Calling a government program a “slush fund” might be powerful rhetoric, but it is a poor substitute for considering the positive impact that program has delivered for families and students in need.

School news / Golden discovery: lost readers from Whitlam years provide living record of an Indigenous language

Back in 2010, Vivien Johnson and Samantha Disbray were working in the remote desert community of Papunya, way out west of Alice Springs.

School news / ISA campaigns for bigger slice of govt funding, AEU says public funding should be for public ed

Independent Schools Australia (ISA) has launched a major new national campaign, it says, to put parents, school choice and affordability at the centre of education policy.

School news / Call for calm: school knife search powers ruled out after stabbings

School safety fears triggered by two stabbings in as many days are being played down as the Queensland Government rules out expanding knife search powers.

School news / STEM’s big challenge: we risk losing students from science and tech careers by age 11

A divide between reality and rhetoric in prioritising STEM in secondary schooling is very much the case, new research suggests.

Shifting from chaplains to secular student welfare officers can be divisive. Here’s how schools can manage the risks

Comments

EducationID

Our services

Ad centre