EDUCATION GLOSSARY


Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

People who identify or are identified as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. May also include people who identified as both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin.

See also Indigenous.

Adult learning

See Non-formal learning.

Advanced Diploma, Diploma, Certificate III and IV

Includes qualifications at the Advanced Diploma Level, Associate Degree Level, Diploma Level, Certificate III Level and Certificate IV Level.

Apparent retention rate (ARR)

Provides an indicative measure of the number of school students who have stayed in school, as at a designated Year (level) and year of education. It is expressed as a percentage of the respective cohort group that those students would be expected to have come from, assuming an expected rate of progression of one Year (level) a year.

Relatively small changes in the absolute numbers of a population can create large movements in rates and ratios. These populations might include smaller jurisdictions, Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander students, and subcategories of the non-government affiliation and cross tabulated characteristics.

Care should be exercised in the interpretation of apparent retention rates as the method of calculation does not take into account a range of factors including: students progressing at a faster or slower than expected rate of one grade a year; students changing between full-time or part-time study; migration (interstate/ international); inter-sector (affiliation) transfer; enrolment policies (which contribute to different age/ grade structures between states and territories); the availability of alternative education and training pathways, vocational education and training; the minimum workload for a full-time student that would ensure that the student could complete a given grade in a year.

See Explanatory Notes, paragraphs 35 to 39 for further information on how this series is used in Schools, Australia, 2016 (cat. no. 4221.0).

Apprentices and trainees

Persons undertaking vocational training through contract of training arrangements. Contracts of training are legal agreements entered into by employers and trainees who are engaged in employment-based training.

Bachelor Degree or above

Includes qualifications at the Bachelor Degree Level (including Honours), Graduate Certificate Level, Graduate Diploma Level, Master Degree Level or Doctorate Degree Level.

Document literacy

The knowledge and skills required to locate and use information contained in various formats including job applications, payroll forms, transportation schedules, maps, tables and charts.

Educational attainment

Attainment is completion of education for any level. This can be completion of highest year of school completed or completion of any non-school level qualification completed.

Education participation

Participation relates to formal learning undertaken in last 12 months prior to the survey.

Education participation rate

For any group within the population, it is the number of people attending formal learning in an educational institution (either full- or part-time) expressed as a percentage of the population in that group.

Employed

Employed persons include all persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference week:

• worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind in a job or business, or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers);
• worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers);
• were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:
  - away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week;
  - away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week;
  - away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement;
  - on strike or locked out; or
  - on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job; or
• were employers or own account workers, who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.

Employed full-time

Persons employed full-time are those employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and those who, although usually working less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.

Employed part-time

Persons employed part-time are those employed persons who usually worked less than 35 hours a week (in all jobs) and either did so during the reference week, or were not at work in the reference week.

Enrolled

Refers to persons registered for a course of study in the particular reference period (e.g. survey month, or previous calendar year) at an educational institution (as defined).

Estimated Resident Population (ERP)

Comparison of data over time will be impacted by revisions to the Estimated Resident Population (ERP) following each Census and subsequent Post-Enumeration Survey (PES). Re-basing following the 2011 Census and subsequent PES appeared in the Survey of Education and Work (SEW) for the first time in the May 2014 estimates, but the new time series of benchmarks was not back-cast through the SEW time series. Hence, the ABS recommends caution in making such comparisons. The 2013 to 2014 comparison is most affected by this re-basing. While this issue may impact on estimates of proportions, its impact will be more prominent in estimates of counts of persons. See Tables 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 27.

Field of education

Field of education is defined as the subject matter of an educational activity. It is categorised according to the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0) Field of education classification. This publication presents the main field of education studied in non-school qualification.

Field not determined

Field not determined includes inadequately described responses or where no responses were given.

Formal learning

Refers to learning that is structured, taught learning in institutions and organisations and leads to a recognised qualification issued by a relevant body. It recognises that a person has achieved learning outcomes or competencies relevant to identified individual, professional, industry or community needs. A learning activity is formal if it leads to a learning achievement that is possible to position within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and includes workplace training if such training results in a qualification.

Formal qualification

A formal qualification is awarded for education attainment after completing formal learning. Formal qualifications are awarded based on Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and may include qualifications awarded after completing some formal workplace training.

Full-time student

A full-time student is one who undertakes a workload equivalent to, or greater than, that prescribed for a full-time student of that year level. This may vary between states and territories and from year to year.

Grade range

Grade is year of school education, and grade range is a range between two grades or years of education.

Indigenous

Refers to people who identify or are identified as being of Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander origin. See also Aboriginal and Torres Islander people.

Informal learning

Refers to unstructured, non-institutionalised learning activities that are related to work, family, community or leisure. Activities may occur on a self-directed basis, but are excluded from scope if there is no specific intention to learn.

Labour force status

Labour force status is a classification of the civilian population aged 15 years and over into the labour force (those employed or unemployed) or into not in the labour force, as defined. The definitions conform closely to the international standard definitions adopted by the International Conferences of Labour Statisticians.

Level of education

Level of education is a function of the quality and quantity of learning involved in an educational activity. It is categorised according to the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0) Level of Education classification.

Level of highest non-school qualification

The highest qualification a person has attained, other than qualifications associated with school education.

Main field of education

The subject matter of an educational activity. It is categorised according to the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0) Field of Education classification

Main field of highest non-school qualification

The main field of study undertaken by a person in completing the person's highest educational qualification, other than attainments of primary or secondary education.

Median

Median is the midpoint or middle value of set of values when the values are sorted in order.

Level not determined

Level not determined includes inadequately described responses or where no response was given.

Non-formal learning

Non-formal learning (adult learning) refers to structured, taught learning, but differs from formal learning in that it does not lead to a qualification within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). It includes non-accredited workplace training, i.e. training that does not lead to a recognised qualification.

Some examples of types of non-formal courses include:

• Adult education courses (e.g. introduction to computing)
• Hobby and recreation courses (e.g. ceramics, jewellery making, dancing)
• Personal enrichment courses (e.g. personal finance, sports instruction, public speaking)
• Work-related courses (e.g. manager development, job search training, induction courses)
• First aid courses
• Bridging courses
• Statements of attainment.

Non-Indigenous

Refers to people who don't identify themselves, or were not identified by another household member, as being of Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander origin.

Non-school qualification

Non-school qualifications are awarded for educational attainments other than those of pre-primary, primary or secondary education. They include qualifications at the Postgraduate Degree level, Master Degree level, Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate level, Bachelor Degree level, Advanced Diploma and Diploma level, and Certificates I, II, III and IV levels. Non-school qualifications may be attained concurrently with school qualifications.

Not fully engaged in education and/or employment

Those not fully engaged in education and/or employment are those who in the survey reference week were: not studying or working (and therefore unemployed or not in the labour force); were studying part-time and not working (therefore unemployed or not in the labour force); or were not studying but were in part-time work.

Not in the labour force

Persons not in the labour force are those people who, during the reference week, were not in the categories 'employed' or 'unemployed'. They include people who were keeping house (unpaid), retired, voluntarily inactive, permanently unable to work, in jail, trainee teachers, members of contemplative religious orders, and persons whose only activity during the reference week was jury service or unpaid voluntary work for a charitable organisation.

Numeracy

The knowledge and skills required to effectively manage and respond to the mathematical demands of diverse situations.

Qualification

Formal certification, issued by a relevant approved body, in recognition that a person has achieved an appropriate level of learning outcomes or competencies relevant to identified individual, professional, industry or community needs. Statements of attainment awarded for partial completion of a course of study at a particular level are excluded.

Salary

For the purpose of this domain, the gross cash income received as return to labour from an employer or from a person's own incorporated business. It includes additional payments such as overtime and bonuses.

School

An educational institution whose major activity is the provision of formal classes of primary or secondary education, or the provision of primary or secondary distance education.

Unemployed

Persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and:

• had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week; or
• were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.

Work

Work is a physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something.

In this domain work refers to only economic activities conducted as part of paid employment. The concept of employment is based on the principle that a person must have been engaged in some economic activity (work) over a short reference period. These economic activities (work) are undertaken for remuneration or salary in the production of goods or services. The Economic Security domain also uses this definition of work.

The Work and Family Balance domain uses a broader definition of work and includes both paid and unpaid work. Paid work includes activities undertaken for remuneration or salary in the production of goods and services, and unpaid work is primarily household or community work undertaken without pay that could be replaced by market goods and services.

Work-related learning/ training

Non-formal learning undertaken to obtain, maintain or improve employment related skills and/or to improve employment opportunities (i.e. seeking employment, promotion or starting own business). Work-related training courses have a structured format but do not lead to a qualification.