Highest Year of School Completed (HSCP)
This variable records the highest level of primary or secondary schooling a person has completed and is applicable to all persons aged 15 years and over.
How this variable is created
The responses to this question are captured automatically from mark box responses on the form so the risk of processing error is minimal. Respondents are asked to only mark one response. In 1.0% of pre-processed data, respondents provided more than one response. In these cases responses were accepted in the order they appear on the form and extra responses are rejected. An image of this question is provided below.
Variable history
The question relating to Highest Year of School Completed, where respondents reported their highest level of education attainment was first asked in the 1911 Census. The question related to highest level of education attainment was asked again in 1966 and 1971 and has been asked in every Census since 2001.
Some minor adjustment to the wording of the question instructions was made in 2016 for the purposes of clarity.
Non-response rate
Item non-response rates are a measure of how many people did not respond to a particular question as a proportion of the total number of people the question was applicable to. In this instance the response is left as not stated.
The majority of item non-response is attributable to the people who did not respond to the Census at all. Refer to item non-response rates for more information. The second and smaller contributor to item non-response is when people return a Census form but may not answer a particular question(s). For more information, refer to Understanding Census data quality.
The non-response rate for this variable was 8.6% (8.4 % in 2011).
Further information
This item is coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001.
A definition for HSCP is available in the 2016 Census Dictionary.
Household form question image
Question 27 as it appeared on the 2016 Census Household Paper Form:
A text only version of the online Census Household form is available from the Downloads tab.