ABOUT SCHOOLS, AUSTRALIA, 2013

Schools, Australia (cat. no. 4221.0) is an annual publication of data on schools, students and staff involved in the provision or administration of primary and secondary education, for all Australian states and territories. Data are drawn from the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) which is managed by the ABS, as at the schools census date, which for 2013 was Friday 2 August. All data are available by year; state and territory; and affiliation (government or non-government) with some data also available in further subcategories of the non-government classification (Catholic or Independent).

Schools are classified by:

• school type (primary, secondary, combined, special), and
• size of primary and secondary enrolments.

Student data are available as counts of students and counts of full-time equivalent (FTE) students, and are classified by:

• full-time or part-time status
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status
• sex
• school level (primary, secondary)
• grade
• age of student (as at 1 July), and
• category of school.

In-school staff are available as counts of staff and counts of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, and are classified by:

• school level (primary, secondary)
• sex, and
• major function (broad position role).

Outputs published in Schools, Australia (cat. no. 4221.0) include:

• number of students
• number of full-time equivalent students
• number of schools
• number of schools and student full-time equivalent by SCSEEC remoteness indicator
• number of in-school staff
• number of full-time equivalent in-school staff
• ratio of full-time equivalent students to teaching staff, and
• measures of student engagement, including apparent retention rates.

Comparable statistics are provided for each state and territory, and nationally.

Data from the collection support national education reporting through the National Education Agreement (NEA), Report on Government Services (ROGS), the National Report on Schooling in Australia (ANR), and the National Indigenous Reform Agreement.


GENERAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This publication draws extensively on information provided freely by state and territory departments with responsibility for school education and the Australian Government Department of Education. Their continued co-operation enables the ABS to publish a wide range of education statistics. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905 and according to the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 and applicable state and territory legislation.


SOURCE DATA

These data are sourced from the NSSC (non-finance), which is a joint undertaking of the various state and territory departments of education, the Australian Government Department of Education, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and the Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood (SCSEEC). The scope of the collection is bound by the definitions of schools, students and staff published in the NSSC Data Collection Manual, which is available on request from the ABS. For further information, see the Glossary and Explanatory Notes of this publication.


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. Some figures have been proportionally adjusted in order to prevent the disclosure of information that may allow the identification of individuals or organisations.


INQUIRIES

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