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EDUCATION AND TRAINING STATISTICS

OBJECTIVES

The ABS Education and Training Statistics Program aims to understand and support high priority and emerging needs for early childhood education and care, schooling and further education through providing statistical solutions and analysis. The program has a focus on transforming the information base for education and training policy in Australia through the integration of existing administrative and population data sources to provide an integrated, longitudinal and outcomes focussed view of education and training.

The activities of the Education and Training Statistics Program are led by the National Centre for Education and Training Statistics, and are delivered through collaboration with the many areas of the ABS which contribute education and training data such as the Census of Population and Housing.

Key elements of the program include the annual National Schools Statistics Collection, the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection, and regular household surveys related to child care, education, training and work. The program produces a range of outputs including: frameworks and standards; statistics, microdata and associated metadata; information and technical papers; and analytical articles. This information is used by Australian and state and territory governments for performance assessment and policy making, by organisations involved in educational research and analysis, and by the community to inform decision making.


OUTPUTS

The main outputs of the program are:

• annual statistics from the National Schools Statistics Collection and the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection
• summary publications, Confidentialised Unit Record Files and datacubes from regular household surveys such as the Survey of Education and Work, the Survey of Qualifications and Employment Outcomes and the Childhood Education and Care Survey
• provision of expertise, advice and data in supporting national performance reporting for a range of government activities
• a statistical information and dissemination service for education and training statistics; and periodic snapshots on thematic issues
• advice and contributions to key government advisory groups on education and training information.

• compile and publish statistics for the 2014 National Schools Statistics Collection, including progressing a program of work to improve the quality of this collection - due March 2015
• compile and publish statistics for the 2014 National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection - due March 2015
• undertake a review of information requirements required for policy in the early childhood education, schools and higher education and training with a view to strengthening the evidence base - due 2015
• conduct and publish results from the new 2014-15 ABS Survey of Qualifications and Employment Outcomes, formerly known as the Learning and Work Survey, which examines people's qualification history and employment outcomes - due 2016
• lead the transformation of Australia's education and training statistics by building the evidence base to better understand educational outcomes across the life course - ongoing
• build collaborative working arrangements with users and producers of early childhood education and care, schooling and further education statistics, including for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples - ongoing
• stay abreast of evolving governance arrangements for education and training policies in Australia to ensure their statistical requirements are coordinated and met, including the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Education Council and COAG Industry and Skills Council, and the Australian Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs Senior Officials Committee - ongoing.