4221.0 - Schools, Australia, 2011 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 03/02/2012   
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IN THIS ISSUE

RELEASE SCHEDULE

A staged release of the data will be adopted for the Schools, Australia, 2011 (cat. no. 4221.0) issue to ensure the ABS can meet stakeholder requirements for the data, and is also consistent with legislation and policy governing the dissemination of data. Availability of information will be:

    • Student data, analysis and supporting documentation will be available from February 3, 2012
    • School data, Staff data, measures of engagement and a summary PDF will be available from March 16, 2012.
The PDF incorporates tables that were previously available through the preliminary publication.

Data cubes published through Schools, Australia, 2011 include time series to show the last fifteen years of data where appropriate. Earlier years, where available, can be found in previous publications under Past and Future Releases of Schools, Australia (cat. no. 4221.0).

NEW CONTENT FOR THIS ISSUE

New content for Schools, Australia, 2011 includes the data cube: NSSC Table 66a: School Participation Rates for Persons Aged 6-15, 2011. This data cube will be available by Indigenous status.

Other content may be made available as appropriate.

CHANGES AFFECTING THIS RELEASE

For 2011, Indigenous status is subcategorised by Indigenous and Other. The term Other includes Non-Indigenous responses and Not Stated responses to Indigenous status. Other replaces the term Non-Indigenous used in previous publications and can be used in time series reporting with previous Non-Indigenous data. Refer to the Explanatory Notes for changes over time which may affect the comparability of data by Indigenous status.

The Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development continued programs, implemented in 2010, to increase identification of Indigenous status in government schools. This has resulted in a decrease of Not Stated responses from 2010 to 2011, in addition to the decreases recorded from 2009 to 2010. This may affect comparisons of students by Indigenous status for 2011 to 2010, and 2011 and 2010 to previous years.

The Queensland Department of Education and Training noted that improvements in the response to identification of Indigenous status in government schools have resulted in a reduction of Not Stated responses by half from the previous year. This may affect comparisons of students by Indigenous status for 2011 to previous years.

The South Australian Department for Education and Child Development identified and removed re-entry students from the government NSSC counts. These students were undertaking Year 11 and 12 subjects; but were not completing Year 12 certification (SACE). These students were typically part-time and mature aged. This may affect comparisons of students previous years.

The South Australian Department for Education and Child Development changed the unit of measure for a student’s workload. In 2011 the workload for Year 11 and 12 students was measured in hours, where previously it was measured by number of South Australia Certificate of Education (SACE) subjects being studied. This may affect comparisons of full-time equivalent values and students by attendance status with previous years.

In 2011 some Western Australian non-government schools transitioned Year 7 from primary school to secondary school. In all government schools Year 7 remained a component of primary school. For the purposes of reporting in Schools, Australia, 2011 Year 7 is treated as primary school for all schools in Western Australia (government and non-government). As students may commence non-government schooling in the first Year of secondary school, this may affect comparisons between students attending government and non-government schools in Western Australia for 2011.

In 2011 Tasmania made refinements to the post-Year 10 system that was introduced in 2009. Processes were undertaken, by the Department of Education, to ensure that data provided complied with the collection definitions. See Explanatory Notes for further details.

In the Northern Territory the Department of Education and Training were better able to identify and remove staff working in the early childhood sector from NSSC counts of staff for government data. This may affect comparisons of staff data with previous years.

As in previous years, a number of states and territories have had programs resulting in the amalgamation of some schools. Through these amalgamations, two or more schools merge to make one school, though often remain separate physical entities. These amalgamations cause a reduction in the school counts collected in the NSSC, and probably result in a changed profile of school characteristics (e.g. if a primary and a secondary school amalgamate, the two schools become one and would be reported as a combined school, and the amalgamated school’s enrolment size would be reported as the sum of the enrolments). Where amalgamations have occurred they may affect comparisons of schools counts and characteristics with those for previous years. For more information on specific programs on management of schools please refer to the relevant state or territory department website.

For further information see the Explanatory Notes.

ROUNDING

Where estimates are rounded, discrepancies may occur between component items and their totals.

PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY

Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act, 1905 and in line with the Privacy Act, 1988. Small values have been perturbed to maintain confidentiality.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.