National Schools Statistics Collection

The National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) provides nationally consistent school, student and staff data for government and non-government schools, across all states and territories. The NSSC is a rich source of statistics for informing education policy development, research and analysis. Data has been released annually since 1960 through Schools Australia (cat. no. 4221.0).

The 2012 edition of Schools, Australia is scheduled for staged release from February, 2013 when student data will be made available. Subsequent releases will include schools and staff data, and measures of student participation.

The ABS continues to work with education data stakeholders to:

• review and develop standards,
• progress unit level data collection,
• and develop concepts and methods for reporting education data.

Collaboration between the ABS and education data stakeholders has informed the expansion of the range of outputs, including the release of counts of schools and students (full-time equivalent) by geographical remoteness classification for the first time in 2012 (for 2011 data).

The publication draws extensively on information provided by state and territory departments responsible for school education, and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).

The data published through the National Schools Statistics Collection can be found in the latest issue of Schools Australia (cat no 4221.0).

For more information, contact the National Information Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or email education.statistics@abs.gov.au.