Education, Qualification and Registration of Education Providers

Authorisation

Status of Policy: ACTIVE

Approved Date: 14 Mar 2018 Item 9.4.3

Review: 14 Mar 2023

Qualification of Chaplains and Pastoral Care Workers

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NSW Health and the Civil Chaplaincies Advisory Committee (CCAC) recognises that those appointed as chaplains or pastoral care workers in NSW public hospitals require an acceptable level of training in pastoral care.

Responsibility of CCAC

The CCAC is the body responsible for both the setting of standards for and the endorsement of Health Services Chaplains and Pastoral Care Workers in NSW.

Essential Capabilities

The CCAC requires that all Chaplains and Pastoral Care workers are competent in the following ten capabilities to the level appropriate to the level of their accreditation.

All Chaplains and Pastoral Care workers must be able to

1. work within a model of appreciative action and reflection;

2. work within a definition of pastoral care and spirituality that promotes spiritual well-being and continuity of care;

3. demonstrate skills in evaluating and responding to an individual’s spiritual-care needs;

4. work with ethics and empathy in multi-disciplinary teams and multi-cultural and multi-faith communities and demonstrate an understanding of appropriate referrals;

5. understand grief and loss;

6. engage in theological and/or spiritual reflection;

7. maintain appropriate personal boundaries;

8. exercise high levels of ethics in the areas of confidentiality and privacy;

9. willingly engage in regular pastoral supervision and appropriate self-care, and

10. demonstrate these capabilities in supervised clinical placement.

Educational Course Requirements

The CCAC requires that for courses of study in pastoral care to recognised for these purposes by the CCAC, they must

1. teach and assess the above 10 capabilities in learning programs and/or recognised prior learning to standards that match educational and practitioner set benchmarks;

2. exercise valid educational pedagogies;

3. include assessments of theoretical understanding related to the 10 capabilities using graded assessments such as: fail, pass, credit, distinction and high distinction;

4. include thorough practical assessments relating to working with recipients, colleagues and the organisations within which they serve; and

5. be offered by nationally recognised training and higher education institutions governed by the either the

• Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) or

• Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA);

Endorsement of Chaplains and Pastoral Care Workers

All who wish to be endorsed by the CCAC as a Chaplain or Pastoral Care Worker must apply using the CCAC Application for Endorsement as a Chaplain or Pastoral Care Worker form.

Changes in details need to be made using the same form.

Registration of Education Providers

Providers of courses of study in Chaplaincy or Pastoral Care must

1. use the CCAC Education Provider Application PDF or CCAC Education Provider Application docx form to apply to have their courses on the CCAC Register of Education Providers; and

2. provide detailed evidence on how they deliver and assess each of the ten elements.

Successful applicants will be placed onto the CCAC Registry of Approved Education Providers.