About 200 schools around Australia have applied to replace their religious chaplain with a student welfare worker, under an overhauled federal government program.
The school chaplaincy program was changed in September to let schools choose if they wanted the funding to pay for a religious chaplain or a youth worker.
Previously, schools had to use the money to employ a chaplain unless they could prove there was no suitable religious worker in their area.
The changed program also imposed minimum qualifications, with all chaplains or youth workers required to have a Certificate IV in Youth Work, Pastoral Care or equivalent qualification.
These changes addressed some of the major criticisms of the program, which was started by the Howard government and continued by Labor when it gained power in 2007.
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The school chaplaincy program is subject to a High Court challenge, with the full bench still to hand down its decision on the case.
Of the 2512 schools that have applied to continue to receive funding under the program, eight per cent have proposed appointing a student welfare worker instead of a chaplain, government figures issued on Tuesday show.
This would represent a big increase in school secular workers since last February, when a discussion paper on the program found just 0.01 per cent of funded places were filled by non-religious people.
That was despite Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing 18.7 per cent of the general population stated they had no religion.
The 2011 report also found 98.5 per cent of chaplains employed were Christian, although only 64 per cent of Australians identified as such.
Schools in the ACT have shown the biggest take-up of the student welfare worker option in the newest applications.
Some 13 out of 46 schools in the program - or 28 per cent - have opted for a secular worker this year.
Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania had the largest proportion of schools sticking with religious chaplains.
Federal Schools Minister Peter Garrett said it was encouraging that most schools in the program wanted it to continue in some form.
"It's clear that chaplains and student welfare workers are a great asset to schools and provide positive support for students," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
The government is extending the program to an extra 1000 schools.
Applications for those new places are open until March 2.
