Report on Government Services 2020

Part B, section 4: RELEASED ON 4 FEBRUARY 2020

4 School education

This section focuses on performance information for government-funded school education in Australia.

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Key Facts
Indicator Framework
Indicator Results
Indigenous Data

Nationally in 2018:

there were 3.9 million full time equivalent students enrolled in school
the majority of students (65.7 per cent of full time equivalent students) were enrolled in a government school. The majority of schools were government owned and managed.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students accounted for 7.3 per cent of full time students at government schools and 2.7 per cent of full time students in non-government schools

Recurrent expenditure by Australian, State and Territory governments on school education in 2017‑18 was $61.5 billion, of which $46.6 billion was spent on government schools.

Australian schooling aims for all young Australians to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens positioning them to live fulfilling, productive and responsible lives. It aims for students to excel by international standards, while reducing educational disadvantage.

To meet this vision, the school education system aims to:

engage all students and promote student participation
deliver high quality teaching with a world-class curriculum.

Governments aim for school education services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.

The performance indicator framework provides information on equity, efficiency and effectiveness, and distinguishes the outputs and outcomes of school education. The performance indicator framework shows which data are complete and comparable in this Report.

Indicator framework

An overview of the School education performance indicator results are presented. Information to assist the interpretation of these data can be found in the indicator interpretation boxes in the School education section and data tables.

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Equity — Access indicators

Attendance by target group

Years 7–10 attendance rate, all schools — comparison of the attendance rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with the attendance rate of non–Indigenous students, 2019 (per cent)

Most recent data for these measures are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students	79.0	82.0	80.2	68.0	75.8	82.4	78.5	57.1	76.5
Non-Indigenous students	90.6	91.3	90.5	90.6	90.7	88.8	89.4	88.9	90.7

Source: Data table 4A.20

Effectiveness — Access indicators

Attendance

Years 7–10 attendance rate, all students, 2019 (per cent)

Most recent data for these measures are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Government schools	88.2	90.1	88.4	87.0	88.7	86.5	87.3	74.0	88.4
Non-government schools	92.2	92.6	91.9	92.2	92.3	91.2	91.1	79.9	92.1
All schools	89.9	91.1	89.7	89.0	90.0	88.3	89.0	76.0	89.9

Source: Data tables 4A.18—20

Effectiveness — Appropriateness indicators

Student engagement

Sense of Belonging index, all students, 2018

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Index	-0.18 ± 0.04	-0.12 ± 0.05	-0.23 ± 0.04	-0.24 ± 0.04	-0.23 ± 0.06	-0.37 ± 0.08	-0.26 ± 0.08	-0.27 ± 0.14	-0.19 ± 0.02

Source: Data table 4A.25

Retention

Apparent retention rate, year 10–12, the number of full time school students in year 10 that continue to year 12, 2018 (per cent)

Most recent data for these measures are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Government schools	71.4	79.9	83.7	83.9	88.4	76.5	102.9	66.9	79.2
Non–government schools	83.4	91.0	94.3	86.6	94.3	66.7	75.5	61.5	88.0
All schools	76.3	84.7	87.8	85.0	90.8	73.2	90.0	65.1	82.8

Source: Data tables 4A.28–30

Efficiency — Inputs per output unit indicators

Recurrent expenditure per student

Government expenditure per FTE student, government schools, 2017-18 — includes user cost of capital

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
$	18 965	16 939	18 071	19 406	18 059	18 632	21 299	26 296	18 387

Source: Data table 4A.14

Government expenditure per FTE student, non‑government schools, 2017-18

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
$	11 142	10 469	11 758	11 700	10 630	12 913	10 049	20 028	11 193

Source: Data table 4A.14

Outcome indicators

Student outcomes (national testing)

NAPLAN Reading — proportion of students achieving at or above national minimum standard, 2019 (per cent)

Most recent data for these measures are incomplete for the current reporting period. Data for 2019 are not available.
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
All students — Year 3	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
All students — Year 9	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students — Year 3	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students — Year 9	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na

Source: Data table 4A.32

NAPLAN Numeracy — proportion of students achieving at or above national minimum standard, 2019 (per cent)

Most recent data for these measures are incomplete for the current reporting period. Data for 2019 are not available.
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
All students — Year 3	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
All students — Year 9	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students — Year 3	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students — Year 9	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na

Source: Data table 4A.48

NAP Science literacy — proportion of all students achieving at or above the proficient standard, 2018 (per cent)

Most recent data for these measures are incomplete for the current reporting period. Data for 2018 are not available.
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Year 6	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na

Source: Data table 4A.55

Attainment

Year 12 certificate attainment rate, all students, 2018

Most recent data for this measure are not comparable but are complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
%	73	82	84	79	87	59	84	48	79

Source: Data table 4A.70

Student outcomes (international testing)

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) — proportion of Australian 15 year old students who achieved at or above the national proficient standard, 2018 (per cent)

Most recent data for these measures are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
Reading literacy	55.5 ± 2.6	62.3 ± 3.0	60.0 ± 2.7	63.3 ± 3.2	57.6 ± 3.1	50.2 ± 4.5	69.9 ± 3.8	50.3 ± 6.4	59.3 ± 1.3
Mathematical literacy	52.4 ± 3.1	56.5 ± 3.7	53.9 ± 3.1	58.1 ± 4.0	50.3 ± 3.5	42.2 ± 4.9	66.1 ± 4.9	42.6 ± 7.6	54.2 ± 1.6
Scientific literacy	55.1 ± 2.9	60.4 ± 3.5	58.6 ± 3.0	62.9 ± 3.6	55.4 ± 3.4	48.9 ± 4.7	70.6 ± 3.7	48.2 ± 6.7	58.1 ± 1.5

Source: Data tables 4A.64–66

Destination

Proportion of school leavers aged 15–24 years who left school in 2018 and who in 2019 were fully engaged in further education, training and/or employment

Most recent data for this measure are comparable and complete, subject to caveats
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Aust
%	63.5 ± 7.5	85.1 ± 7.6	56.5 ± 11.6	62.4 ± 10.7	55.1 ± 17.2	48.1 ± 16.0	73.6 ± 24.5	np	68.0 ± 3.5

Source: Data table 4A.72

Notes

FTE = Full time equivalent. NAPLAN = National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy.

These data and caveats for these data are available in section 4 and relevant data tables.

Some percentages reported in these tables include 95 per cent confidence intervals (for example, 80 per cent ± 2.7 per cent). Confidence intervals for the Student outcomes (national testing) indicator are calculated by ACARA and take into account sampling and measurement error. See definitions of key terms (sub-section 4.4) for more information.

* Indicates the estimate or proportion has a relative standard error between 25 per cent and 50 per cent and should therefore be used with caution.

na Not available. np Not published.

Performance indicator data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this section are available in the data tables listed below. Contextual data and further supporting information can be found in the section.

School education data disaggregated for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Table number	Table title
Attendance
Table 4A.18	Student attendance rates, government schools, by Indigenous status (per cent)
Table 4A.19	Student attendance rates, non-government schools, by Indigenous status (per cent)
Table 4A.20	Student attendance rates, all schools, by Indigenous status (per cent)
Table 4A.21	Student attendance rates, by Indigenous status and remoteness (per cent)
Table 4A.22	Student attendance level, government schools, by Indigenous status (per cent)
Table 4A.23	Student attendance level, non-government schools, by Indigenous status (per cent)
Table 4A.24	Student attendance level, by Indigenous status and remoteness (per cent)
Student Engagement
Table 4A.26	PISA Sense of Belong at School Index, by special needs group
Retention
Table 4A.28	Apparent retention rates of full time secondary students, all schools (per cent)
Table 4A.29	Apparent retention rates of full time secondary students, government schools (per cent)
Table 4A.30	Apparent retention rates of full time secondary students, non-government schools (per cent)
Student outcomes (National testing)
Table 4A.31	NAPLAN reading: Proportion of students who achieved at or above the national minimum standard, by Indigenous status and geolocation (per cent)
Table 4A.33	NAPLAN reading: Mean scores, by Indigenous status and geolocation (score points)
Table 4A.39	NAPLAN writing: Proportion of students who achieved at or above the national minimum standard, by Indigenous status and geolocation (per cent)
Table 4A.41	NAPLAN writing: Mean scores, by Indigenous status and geolocation (score points)
Table 4A.47	NAPLAN numeracy: Proportion of students who achieved at or above the national minimum standard, by Indigenous status and geolocation (per cent)
Table 4A.49	NAPLAN numeracy: Mean scores, by Indigenous status and geolocation (score points)
Table 4A.57	National Assessment Program, proportion of Year 6 students at or above proficient standard in science achievement performance, by equity group, Australia
Table 4A.60	National Assessment Program, proportion of students at or above proficient standard in civics and citizenship achievement performance, by equity group, Australia
Table 4A.63	National Assessment Program, information and communication technologies: proportion of students attaining the proficient standard, by equity group, Australia