The National School Chaplaincy Association (NSCA) is a network of Christian chaplaincy organisations in Australia. It is represented by ACCESS Ministries (Vic), Schools Ministry Group (SA), GenR8 Ministries (NSW), Scripture Union (ACT, Queensland, Tasmania) and YouthCARE (WA).

As one of society’s key institutions, schools are in a strong position to support the wellbeing, values and spirituality of young people. For decades now, chaplains have been playing a significant role in supporting schools throughout Australia.

In recognition of this, the Australian Government announced the establishment of the National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) at the end of 2006 to support the valuable contributions that chaplains provide to the spiritual and emotional wellbeing of school communities nationally. The NSCP was set up to support schools and their communities to establish school chaplaincy services or to enhance existing chaplaincy services.

The NSCP contributed significantly to increased chaplaincy numbers throughout Australian schools since 2007. Today, there are almost 2,000 state schools with a chaplain.

However, about 65% of state schools still do not have access to a school chaplain, and there is a growing call for school chaplaincy services to be made available to far more school communities.