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| Appointment Guidelines | |||||||||
| Understanding the Campus Context Tertiary campuses today can be likened to small towns, with large, transient, and multicultural populations of students and relatively stable groups of staff in the Faculties, Schools, and Departments that make up the academic context of the tertiary organization. Their work is directed by the University Council and its associated network of senior administrative staff. For example, Monash University’s Clayton campus has around 24,000 students and around 6,000 full-time and fractional staff. Each University's strategic policy documents outline its long-term objectives as an educational institution. They refer to alliances and contacts with the wider community in the University precinct, including organizations that support its higher education teaching and research. Also, the spiritual support from local faith communities is increasingly recognized as a resource for students and staff. These policies belie a complexity of networks - both formal and informal – that direct the shape and course of each tertiary community via all the avenues of formal and informal discourse occurring on campus. Chaplaincy in this 'town'/campus context therefore has to begin with the notion of networking, since the "social mapping" of the University begins with the various groups of people that make up its community. These groupings include:
It is clear from this listing that chaplains are often dealing with a diverse range of ages, interests, cultures, and issues that comprise the 'mix' of educational and communal development and experiences at the tertiary level. No one chaplain can hope to cover all groups or all activities of the University when networking in relation to their chaplaincy goals. For this reason, an ecumenical – and in some cases – multi-faith team of chaplains is recommended where possible, for each campus. This emphasis will bear consideration by faith bodies when planning their future chaplaincy appointments for a particular campus. Information about current staffing levels for chaplaincy on each campus are provided on the list of chaplains on tertiary campuses in Victoria. While some chaplains might work largely with young undergraduates from their particular faith context, this is only one role for chaplaincy. In general, Universities hope that all appointed chaplains will be available for consultation by students and staff from all backgrounds. In practice this invariably means that chaplains will refer students and staff on to other chaplains, religious groups, and support personnel in the University where necessary – and also off-campus. In each appointment, changes in work practice/ goals will routinely occur every few years, given the pace of change and complexity in the tertiary sector - and which no one chaplain is able to address. For this reason, where there is a chaplaincy team its members will need to negotiate what they might achieve together beyond their individual work roles, in order to offer a relevant range of supports to the campus community. |
Please choose a section from the Guidelines For Tertiary Chaplaincy Appointments: Tertiary Chaplaincy
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