4221.0 - Schools, Australia, 2015 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 18/03/2015   
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This document was added or updated on 06/04/2016.

COMMENTARY ON APPARENT RETENTION RATES

The 2015 apparent retention rate for all students, from Year 7/8 to Year 12, was 84.0%, a slight (0.4 percentage point) increase on the previous year. The rate for females remained unchanged at 87.4%, while the rate for males increased by 0.7 percentage points to 80.7%.

The apparent retention rate from Year 7/8 to Year 11 also rose slightly, from 95.6% to 96.0%, maintaining the large gap between the Year 11 and Year 12 rates, evident for more than a decade.


APPARENT RETENTION RATE, Year 7/8 to Year 12 by sex, Australia, 2010-2015
Graph shows the apparent retention rate for males and females for year 7 or 8 to year 12 across Australia for 2010 to 2015


At the affiliation level, the apparent retention rate from Year 7/8 to Year 12 in 2015 was 81.8% for government schools and 87.2% for the non-government sector.

Looking across the states and territories, for all schools, the highest rate was for the Australian Capital Territory (96.6%), reflecting an increase of 2.0 percentage points on 2014, while South Australia’s rate of 95.7% was an increase of 2.7 percentage points from the previous year. Most other states and territories recorded small rises, however, both Western Australia and the Northern Territory recorded falls, 6.5 and 5.9 percentage points respectively. The fall in the rate for Western Australia was affected by a change in the characteristics of the Year 12 cohort between 2014 and 2015. Due to a 2001 change in school enrolment policy, the 2014 cohort in Year 12 was smaller and structurally different to the student cohort in other years. The Year 12 cohort in 2015 was a full sized cohort.

APPARENT RETENTION RATE, Year 7/8 to Year 12 by sex, states and territories, 2015
Graph shows the apparent retention rate for males and females for year 7 or 8 to year 12 across states and territories for 2015

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, the overall retention rate to Year 12 remained steady at just below 60%, with the rate for males falling slightly from 55.1% in 2014 to 54.9% in 2015, while the rate for females increased from 63.8% to 64.1%.

APPARENT RETENTION RATE, Year 7/8 to Year 12, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, Australia, 2010-2015
Graph shows the apparent retention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male and female students for year 7 or 8 to year 12 across Australia for 2010 to 2015


When interpreting apparent retention rates for sub-populations such as states/territories, it should be noted that these rates are a simple calculation based on the number of students at the start and finish of the period in question. These indicators do not take account of factors such as population growth or student movements, whether geographical or across affiliations. See the Explanatory Notes for further details.