Schools

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Data on government and non-government students, staff and schools

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Reference period
2024

Key statistics

In Australia in 2024:

  • 4,132,006 students were enrolled in 9,653 schools.
  • the Year 7/8 to 12 full-time apparent retention rate was 79.9%.
  • the average student to teaching staff ratio for all schools was 12.9 students to one teacher. 

Students

In 2024:

  • 4,132,006 students were enrolled in schools across Australia, an increase of 45,008 students (1.1%) compared with 2023.
  • the majority of students were enrolled in government schools (63.4%), followed by Catholic schools (19.9%) and independent schools (16.8%).

Over the five years to 2024, total student enrolments increased by 4.6%. Independent schools recorded the largest increase (18.5%), followed by Catholic schools (6.6%) and government schools (1.0%).

Student enrolments by school affiliation, 2019 to 2024
 2024202320222021202020192019-24 (% change)
Government2,619,5132,614,0942,605,8262,622,7552,629,1432,594,8301.0
Catholic820,222806,323795,368787,181778,605769,7196.6
Independent692,271666,581641,318620,781599,226584,26218.5
Total4,132,0064,086,9984,042,5124,030,7174,006,9743,948,8114.6

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 42b

The highest annual growth rates of student enrolments in 2024 were in:

  • South Australia and Western Australia: 2.2%
  • Victoria: 1.6%
  • Queensland: 0.7%

Tasmania was the only state or territory where the overall growth rate fell (-0.5%).

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 42b

In 2024, the annual growth rate for school enrolments was 1.1% (45,008 more students). Since 2023:

  • government school enrolments recorded an increase of 0.2% (5,419 more students).
  • non-government school enrolments recorded an increase of 2.7% (39,589 more students).


There were 9,859 more primary school student enrolments in 2024, an increase of 0.4% since 2023. Since 2023: 

  • government primary school enrolments decreased by 0.3% with 4,312 fewer students.
  • non-government primary school enrolments increased 2.0%, with 14,171 more students.


Secondary school student enrolments increased by 35,149 students compared to 2023 (a change of 1.9%). Since 2023: 

  • government secondary school enrolments increased 0.9% with 9,731 more students.
  • non-government secondary school enrolments grew by 3.3% with 25,418 more students.

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 42b

In 2024, the percentage of students enrolled in non-government schools was lowest in very remote areas (11.6%) compared to remote areas (23.9%), outer regional areas (30.3%), inner regional areas (37.0%) and major cities (37.6%). 

In 2024, the number of Full-Fee Paying Overseas Students (FFPOS) increased by 4,944 to 26,068, a rise of 23.4% from 2023. The highest percentage year-on-year growth between 2023 to 2024 was seen in:

  • Tasmania: 39.9% (an increase of 93 students)
  • Australian Capital Territory: 28.0% (an increase of 198 students)
  • Victoria: 27.5% (an increase of 2,024 students)

FFPOS numbers are collected in the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) but not published in the Schools data cubes.
 

Data unavailable for Northern Territory government schools in 2019 and 2020.

Retention rates

The Year 7/8 to 12 full-time apparent retention rate measures the number of secondary students who were enrolled in Year 12 in 2024, as a proportion of student enrolments from Year 7/8, five or four years prior. See the Glossary for further information.

In 2024:

  • the Year 7/8 to 12 apparent retention rate for Australia had an annual increase of 0.8 percentage points to 79.9%.
  • the Year 7/8 to 12 apparent retention rate remained higher for females (83.5%) than for males (76.5%).
  • independent schools had the highest Year 7/8 to 12 apparent retention rate (96.6%), followed by Catholic schools (81.6%) and government schools (74.1%). 

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 64a

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 64a

The Year 10 to 12 full-time apparent retention rate measures the number of students in 2024 that were enrolled in Year 12 as a proportion of students enrolled in Year 10 in 2022.

In 2024:

  • the Year 10 to 12 apparent retention rate for Australia increased by 1.2 percentage points between 2023 and 2024 to to 79.9%.
  • the Year 10 to 12 apparent retention rate was 83.5% for females and 76.4% for males.
  • independent schools had the highest Year 10 to 12 apparent retention rate (91.0%), followed by Catholic schools (85.3%) and government schools (74.3%).

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 64a

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

In 2024:

  • there were 274,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled in Australian schools, 3.7% more than in 2023.
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students accounted for 6.6% of all students.
  • four in five (81.2%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were enrolled in government schools.
  • the Year 7/8 to 12 full-time apparent retention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students was 56.7%. This was 0.8 percentage points higher than 2023, but 2.7 percentage points less than a decade ago (59.4% in 2014).
  • the Year 10 to 12 full-time apparent retention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students was 57.0%. This was 1.2 percentage points higher than 2023, but 3.4 percentage points less than a decade ago (60.4% in 2014).

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 42b

Schools

In 2024:

  • there were a total of 9,653 schools in Australia.
  • there was a net increase of 24 schools since 2023, consisting of a further 15 government and 14 independent schools, and a reduction of 5 Catholic schools.
School counts by affiliation, 2023 to 2024
 20242023Difference
Government6,7276,71215
Catholic1,7591,764-5
Independent1,1671,15314
Total9,6539,62924

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 35b

Staff

In 2024:

  • there were 320,377 full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching staff in Australian schools, an increase of 2.8% from 2023, of which 230,809 were female and 89,569 male.
  • there were 162,083 teachers in primary schools, and 158,295 teachers in secondary schools.
  • there was a higher proportion of male teachers in secondary schools (38.5%) than primary schools (17.6%).
  • for female teachers, there was a higher proportion in primary schools (82.4%) than secondary schools (61.5%). 

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 51a

The student to teaching staff ratio for all schools in 2024 was 12.9 students to one teacher, and was higher in primary schools (14.0 students to one teacher) than secondary schools (11.7 students to one teacher).

Independent schools had a lower student to teacher ratio in 2024 (11.7 students to one teacher) than government (13.1 students to one teacher) and Catholic schools (13.3 students to one teacher).

Source: Schools, 2024, Table 53a

Data downloads

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Data cubes

Data files

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 4221.0.

Post release changes

28/02/2025 - The ABS is releasing an update to the Schools 2024 publication. The release will add data about Full-Fee Paying Overseas Student enrolments. 

Methodology

Scope

Data on government and         non-government primary, secondary and special schools, students and staff.

Geography

Data available for:
 

  • Australia
  • States and territories
  • Remoteness areas

Source

The National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) is an administrative data collection sourced from Commonwealth, state and territory education departments. 

Collection method

Data on government and         non-government schools are collected from administrative school enrolment databases and collated by the ABS through the NSSC.

Concepts, sources and methods

The NSSC is based on data collected from the national school census. 

The annual census is held on the first Friday in August by each state and territory education department and the non-government education systems.

History of changes

Not applicable for this release. 

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