4211.0 - Education and Training Newsletter, Aug 2010  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 06/09/2010   
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Expansion of the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC)

Expansion of the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC)
Working with education departments in several jurisdictions, NCETS are trialling conversion of the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) into a collection of unit record files which, as well as expanding the available information and flexibility of the data collected, will for the first time enable a longitudinal analysis of students at a national level. The expansion is based around the collection of information that is already collected in school administrative systems across Australia. This unit record data will be linked over time, from early childhood through into primary and secondary school enrolment information within Government and Non-Government sectors.

This collection offers several advantages over the current NSSC collection of aggregate measures, including:
  • the capacity to track student progress through education and training systems;
  • being able to address the complexities with measuring student participation and outcomes;
  • reducing the need to survey in rural areas; and
  • being able to better inform education policy development and research.

To date, a great deal of goodwill has been afforded to the project by state and territory education departments. High quality pilot data was received from five jurisdictions, enabling the creation of a comprehensive foundation for the collection to come.