Report on Government Services 2025

PART B: RELEASED ON 11 FEBRUARY 2025

B Child care, education and training

Data downloads

These data tables relate to the sector as a whole. Data specific to individual service areas are in the data tables under the relevant service area.

Child care, education and training data tables (XLSX 39.3 KB)
Child care, education and training dataset (CSV 60.0 KB)
Refer to the Sector overview text and corresponding table number in the data tables for detailed definitions, caveats, footnotes and data source(s).

Note: Data tables are referenced by table xA.1, xA.2, etc, with x referring to the section or overview. For example, table BA.1 refers to data table 1 for this sector overview.

Main aims of services within the sector

The early childhood education and care, school education and vocational education and training sector provides a range of services that support the development, learning and well-being of children and students. The main aims include:

provide high-quality and accessible child care and early childhood education that support children’s development, and prepare them for school readiness and lifelong learning
deliver education and training programs that equip students with the knowledge, skills and competencies they need to ensure they have the necessary knowledge, understanding, skills and values for a productive and rewarding life.

Expand all Collapse all

The education and training system

In Australia, the education and training system consists of four main sectors.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC)

These services provide education and care to children aged 0–⁠⁠12 years from infancy to preschool and out-of-school care during the primary school years.

Total government real recurrent expenditure on ECEC services was $17.9 billion in 2023‑24.
14,732 Australian Government child care subsidy (CCS) approved child care services in Australia in 2024¹.
13,284 ECEC services delivered preschool programs in 2023, of which 67.6% were within a centre based day care.
1,423,979 (34.5%) of children aged 0–⁠12 years attending CCS approved child care services in 2024¹.
560,384 children aged 3–⁠6 years were enrolled in a preschool program in 2023.

School education

Formal schooling in Australia, consists of primary school from pre-Year 1 to Year 6, and secondary school from Year 7 to Year 12 in all states and territories.

Total government real recurrent expenditure on school services was $85.9 billion in 2022‑23.
9,629 schools in Australia in 2023 – 69.7% were government-owned and managed.
4.1 million full time equivalent students enrolled in school in 2023 – 63.9% in government schools and 36.1% in non-government schools.

Vocational education and training (VET)

Tertiary or post-school education includes vocational education and training delivered by technical and further education (TAFE) institutes and other registered training organisations (RTO).

Total government real recurrent expenditure on VET services was $8.1 billion in 2023.
1,285 RTOs delivered government-funded nationally recognised training in Australia in 2023 (35.6% of all RTOs delivering nationally recognised training).
Over 1.2 million students participated in government-funded VET in 2023 – majority in Certificate III or IV qualifications (802,000).

Higher education

Education delivered by universities (not included as a service-specific section in this report).

Detailed information on the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of service provision and the achievement of outcomes for the ECEC, school education and VET service areas is contained in the service-specific sections.

Government expenditure in the sector

Total government recurrent expenditure for ECEC, School education and VET services for the latest years covered in this report was $112.0 billion. For the 2022‑23 financial year (the most recent financial year for which data are available across all sections) this represented around 28.8% of total government expenditure covered in this report.

For higher education, expenditure data are not collected for this report. According to the ABS’s Government Finance Statistics (GFS) report, the total operating expenditure on university education was $33.7 billion in 2022-23 (ABS unpublished).

Flows in the sector

Formal learning is not always in a straight line from preschool to school (primary and secondary) to VET or university, as there are many learning pathways an individual could take over their lifetime (figure B.1).

Figure B.1 Outline of the Australian child care, education and training system^a,b,c

Figure B.1 – Diagram showing an outline of the Australian child care, education and training system. The formal education and training system starts with child care and preschool and progresses up through primary education, secondary education, senior secondary to higher education or vocational education and training.

a There are different starting ages and names for preschool (refer to section 3, table 3.1) and school education (refer to section 4, context) across jurisdictions. b Since 2022, Year 7 has been the first year of secondary schooling in all states and territories in Australia. c Providers can deliver qualifications in more than one sector, all subject to meeting the relevant quality assurance requirements.

Source: Australian, state and territory governments (unpublished).

Sector-wide data

This section reports on sector-wide statistics on Australia’s education and training system, including participation and attainment:

Participation in education and training – proportion of people aged 15–⁠64 years participating in education and training.
Achievement of foundation skills – the literacy, numeracy and digital literacy skill levels of Australian adults.
Attainment of qualifications – proportion of people aged 20–⁠64 years with qualifications at Certificate III level or above.

High or increasing levels of the achievement of foundation skills or attainment of qualifications indicates an improvement in education and training outcomes.

Participation in education and training

Participation in education and training is particularly important for young people.

Nationally in 2024, 62.4% of people aged 15–⁠24 years participated in education and training (82.3% of people aged 15–⁠19 years and 44.0% of people aged 20–⁠24 years), compared to 7.6% of people aged 25–⁠64 years (figure B.2).

In 2024, 11.7% of people aged 20–⁠⁠64 years were studying towards a non-school qualification (table BA.2).

Achievement of foundation skills

Achievement of foundation skills is a proxy indicator as it measures only a subset of the skills and values needed for a productive and rewarding life. However, foundation skills including the ability to read, write and engage with technology, are a critical foundation for participating in education, training and secure work and active participation in the community.

Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) is leading the development of a new national study on adult literacy, numeracy and digital skills with data to be considered for reporting against this indicator in future years. The first data release from the study will be from the National Survey of Adult Literacy and Numeracy Skills, due for release in 2026. More information on the project is available on the JSA website.

Attainment of qualifications

Attainment of qualifications is a proxy indicator for skills as it understates the skill base because it does not capture skills acquired through partially completed courses, courses not leading to a formal qualification, and informal learning.

Nationally in 2024, 66.1% of people aged 20–⁠64 years had a qualification at the Certificate level III or above (figure B.3).

Performance outcomes summary

A summary of the ECEC, school education and VET services performance indicator results are presented. Detailed information is in the service-specific sections.

3 Early childhood education and care

Over the last ten years, more children have been attending child care services that are approved by the Australian Government for financial support to eligible families.
In 2024¹, the attendance rates at child care services was:
- over one-third (34.5%) for all children aged 0–⁠12 years, compared to 30.4% in 2015
- even higher for children aged 0–5 years at over half (50.4%), up from 42.0% in 2015.
Enrolments in preschool programs in the state-specific year before full-time schooling (YBFS) has fluctuated over the last several years. The state-specific YBFS definition takes into account the preschool and school age entry provisions of each state or territory.
In 2023, of children in the state-specific YBFS:
- 89.2% were enrolled in preschool program, up from 84.7% in 2020 but down from 92.4% in 2016.
The CCS has significantly reduced out-of-pocket costs for families, particularly at the lower income levels.
In 2024¹, the out-of-pocket costs (as a proportion of weekly disposable income) for families with gross annual income of up to $215,000 with one child in 30 hours of child care:
- for centre based day care was, on average, 3.8% after CCS, down from 21.6% before CCS
- for family day care was, on average, 3.7% after CCS, down from 20.9% before CCS
- fell for both centre based day care and family day care, after CCS, from an average 5.7% in 2023. These further reductions were due to changes made to CCS introduced in July 2023².

More information: section 3 Early childhood education and care (ECEC)

4 School education

Over the last nine years, student attendance rates in all Year levels have fallen.
In 2024, student attendance rates for Years 1 to 10:
- were 88.3% in all schools, down from 92.6% in 2015
- decreased by a larger amount in government schools (−4.9 percentage points) compared to non-government schools (−3.2 percentage points) over the nine-year period.
Recent assessment results indicate that Australian student outcomes have generally remained steady:
- Nationally, 2024 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results were similar to the results in 2023. In 2024, the proportion of students achieving 'Exceeding' or 'Strong' proficiency levels ranged from:
  - in reading – 63.0% for Year 9 students to 71.3% for Year 5 students
  - in writing – 61.0% for Year 9 students to 76.8% for Year 3 students
  - in numeracy – around 63% for Year 3 and Year 9 students to 67.8% for Year 5 students.
- Results from the 2023 National Assessment Program (NAP) – Science Literacy assessment show the proficiency standard was attained by:
  - 57% of Year 6 students, statistically similar to 58% in 2018
  - 54% of Year 10 students, statistically similar to 50% in 2018.
- Nationally the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2023 results show the proportion of students who achieved at or above the national proficient standard was:
  - for the mathematical assessmentIn 2023, the proportion of: – 71.9% for Year 4 students and 64.1% for Year 8 students, statistically unchanged from the 2019 results
  - for the science assessment – 83.3% for Year 4 students (significantly higher than 78.3% in 2019) and 69.8% for Year 8 students (significantly lower than 74.2% in 2019).
The proportion of school leavers aged 15–24 years who are fully engaged in work or study the following year has fallen in recent years.
- In 2024, 63.9% of school leavers were fully engaged, down from 74.6% in 2021.
- School leavers who had completed Year 12 were more likely to be fully engaged in work or study (68.7%) than those who had completed Year 11 and below (52.6%).

More information: section 4 School education

5 Vocational education and training

The number of government-funded qualification completions has fallen over the last four years.
In 2023, there were over 322,800 government-funded VET qualifications completed:
- this is equivalent to a rate of 18.7 completions per 1,000 people aged 15–⁠64 years, a decrease of 7.9% from 2019 (20.3 completions per 1,000 people)
- 19,600 of these qualifications were completed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (31.0 completions per 1,000 people).
Employer and student satisfaction with VET provide an indication of whether the national training system is meeting the needs of students, employers and industry. Over the last four years, student satisfaction has slightly increased whereas employer satisfaction has decreased.
In 2023, the proportion of:
- government-funded VET qualification completers satisfied with the overall quality of their training was 89.1%, slightly higher than 2019 (88.6%)
- employers satisfied with all forms of VET engagement was 66.4%, down from 69.2% in 2019.
Over the last few years, more qualification completers achieved their main reason for training and had improved employment and further study outcomes.
In 2023, the proportion of government-funded VET qualification completers:
- who achieved their main reason for training was 88.2%, up from 82.1% in 2019
- aged 20–⁠64 years who:
  - improved their employment status was 72.3%, up from 64.7% in 2019
  - were employed and/or in further study after training was 88.9%, up from 84.4% in 2019.

More information: section 5 Vocational education and training

References

ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) unpublished, Government Finance Statistics, Annual.

Footnotes

Data for 2024 related to Australian Government CCS approved child care services are for the March quarter.
More information on the changes to the Child Care Subsidy from July 2023 is available at: https://www.education.gov.au/early-childhood/resources/changes-child-care-subsidy-fact-sheet.

We value your comments about this publication and encourage you to provide feedback.

Submit publications feedback