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EDUCATION AND TRAINING


SCHOOLS

At February 2006, there were 139 primary and secondary schools operating in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), including one primary school in Jervis Bay Territory. Of these, 95 were government schools and 44 were non-government (Catholic and Independent). There were also 82 government preschools, 46 operating full-time and 36 operating part-time.

Government schools

Of the 95 government schools, 66 were primary schools (including the one in Jervis Bay), 13 were high schools, 4 were combined (primary/high) schools, 8 were secondary colleges and 4 were special schools.

There were 35,463 students attending ACT Government schools in February 2006, comprising 18,104 males (51%) and 17,359 females (49%). Primary schools accounted for the largest proportion (54%) of total students enrolled, followed by high schools (28%), secondary colleges (17%) and special schools (1%).

Non-government schools

In February 2006, the 44 non-government schools in the ACT were comprised of 23 Catholic systemic primary schools, four Catholic systemic secondary schools, and 17 independent schools (including one special school). Of the 24,679 students enrolled in these non-government schools in February 2006, 53% (13,059) attended Catholic systemic schools, and 47% (11,620) attended independent schools.

Close to half (48%, or 11,815 persons) of all non-government school students in February 2006 were attending primary schools. In comparison, 38% (9,342) were attending high schools, and 14% (3,522) were attending college/senior secondary schools. The proportions of male and female students attending non-government schools were the same as for government schools, namely 51% and 49% respectively.

6.1 SCHOOLS IN THE ACT - February 2006
			Government schools	Non-government schools
			no.	no.
Preschools
	Locations		82	. .
	Enrolments		3 369	. .
Schools
	Locations		95	44
	Enrolments(a)
		Primary	19 033	11 815
		High school	10 095	9 342
		College	6 013	3 522
	Students
		Males	18 104	12 552
		Females	17 359	12 127
		Persons	35 463	24 679
Special schools
	Locations		4	1
	Enrolments
		Males	216	. .
		Females	106	. .
		Persons	322	. .
. . not applicable
Source: ACT Department of Education and Training: Government Preschool Census Bulletin, February 2006; Government Schools Census Bulletin, February 2006; Non-government Schools Census Bulletin, February 2006.

Share of enrolments

The non-government schools share of total school enrolments varies according to the level of the school. In February 2006, non-government schools accounted for nearly half (48%) of all high school enrolments, however at the primary and college levels they accounted for 38% and 37% respectively. There has been no change in these proportions from February 2005. The non-government schools' share of all students also remained stable at 41% (for both male and female students) over the same period.

6.2 SHARE OF ENROLMENTS, ACT
		2005			2006
		Government schools	Non-government schools	Non-government schools share	Government schools	Non-government schools	Non-government schools share
Schools		no.	no.	%	no.	no.	%
Enrolments(a)(b)
	Primary	19 241	11 754	38	19 209	11 815	38
	High school	10 237	9 274	48	10 194	9 342	48
	College	5 903	3 526	37	6 060	3 522	37
Students(c)
	Males	18 237	12 440	41	18 104	12 552	41
	Females	17 484	12 114	41	17 359	12 127	41
	Persons	35 721	24 554	41	35 463	24 679	41
(a) Government Schools enrolment figures do not include special school students.
(b) Non-government school enrolment figures include special school students.
(c) Gender breakdown includes special school students.
Source: ACT Department of Education and Community Services: Government Schools Census Bulletin, February 2006; Non-Government Schools Census Bulletin, February 2006.

Apparent retention rate

The apparent retention rate for full-time school students is the percentage of full-time students in a designated year/level of education who continue to a particular year/level of education. It provides an indication of the proportion of students who continue on at school.

The apparent retention rate of full-time students from Year 7 to Year 12 in 2005 for the ACT was 88%. This was comparable with the retention rate in 2004 (89%). In 2005, the retention rate for females (88%) was similar to the rate for males (87%).

The ACT's apparent retention rate in 2005 was the highest of all states and territories, a position the ACT has held for a number of years. The apparent retention rate for Australia as a whole in 2005 was 75%.

Over the longer term, the apparent retention rate of Year 12 students in the ACT rose from 67% in 1980 to peak at 91% in 1995, and then fall by 3% over the following decade to 2005. While the ACT had a consistently higher retention rate than Australia as a whole between 1980 and 2005, the gap has been getting smaller. In 1980, the ACT's apparent retention rate was 32 percentage points higher than Australia (35%). In 2005, the rate for the ACT was 12 percentage points higher than Australia (75%).

6.3 APPARENT RETENTION RATE, From Year 7/8 to Year 12

For primary schools in the ACT, the ratio of students to teachers was 15.0, which was lower than the national ratio of 16.2. For government primary schools in the ACT, the ratio was 13.8 compared with 17.5 for non-government schools.

The ratio of secondary school students to secondary school teachers in the ACT was 12.3 in 2005, which was similar to the national ratio (12.2). In the ACT, the ratio for government secondary schools (11.8) was lower than non-government schools (13.0).

6.4 STUDENT/TEACHING STAFF(a)(b), ACT - 2005
	Teaching staff (FTE)		Student/teaching staff ratio
	Primary schools	Secondary schools	Primary schools	Secondary schools
1998	1 693	2 215	19.1	12.8
1999	1 794	2 220	18.0	12.7
2000	1 791	2 195	18.1	12.8
2001	1 853	2 256	17.6	12.5
2002	1 932	2 291	16.7	12.4
2003	1 980	2 321	16.1	12.3
2004	2 050	2 323	15.4	12.2
2005	2 077	2 323	15.0	12.3
(a) Full-time equivalent.
(b) Includes ACT and Jervis Bay Territory government and non-government schools.
Source: Schools, Australia, 2005 (cat. no. 4221.0).

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING

In 2005, there were a total of 69 registered training organisations who delivered publicly funded vocational education and training (VET), with Technical and Further Education (TAFE) provided by Canberra Institute of Technology. There were 23,000 students undertaking VET courses in 2005, compared with 22,300 in 2004.

Since 2003, more females have been undertaking vocational education and training in the ACT than males. In 2005, there were 11,800 female students compared with 11,100 male students.

6.5 STUDENTS ENROLLED IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING, ACT
	Males	Females	Persons
	'000	'000	'000
2000	10.5	9.7	20.2
2001	11.0	9.7	20.7
2002	10.0	9.8	19.7
2003	10.6	11.3	21.8
2004	10.8	11.5	22.3
2005	11.1	11.8	23.0
Source: National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd, Australian Vocational Education and Training Statistics: National VET provider collection, 2005.

In 2005, the most popular fields of education for VET students in the ACT were Management and commerce (6,900 enrolments), Society and culture (5,600 enrolments) and Engineering and related technologies (3,100 enrolments).

6.6 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING COURSE ENROLMENTS, By field of education - ACT - 2005
	Number of course enrolments
Field of education	'000
Natural and physical sciences	0.5
Information technology	1.9
Engineering and related technologies	3.1
Architecture and building	1.3
Agriculture, environment and related studies	1.1
Health	1.2
Education	1.0
Management and commerce	6.9
Society and culture	5.6
Creative arts	1.2
Food, hospitality and personal services	2.4
Mixed field programs	1.8
Total	28.1
Source: National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd, Australian Vocational Education and Training Statistics: National VET provider collection, 2005.

HIGHER EDUCATION

In 2004, there were 28,840 students enrolled in tertiary institutions in the ACT. The majority (64%, or 18,332 students) were completing a Bachelor degree. The second largest proportion (24% or 6,975) were completing a Higher degree, followed by other post-graduate studies (10% or 2,854). Most students (66%) were attending tertiary institutions full-time. Female students outnumbered male students (14,619 to 14,221).

Fifty per cent of all students (14,476) were studying at the Australian National University, followed by the University of Canberra (40% or 11,632).

6.7 TERTIARY STUDENTS ENROLLED, By course type - ACT - 2004(a)
	Higher degree	Other post-graduate	Bachelor	Other under-graduate	Enabling courses	Non-award courses	Total
	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.
Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)	717	332	1 002	-	-	85	2 136
Australian National University	4 089	1 239	8 766	77	-	305	14 476
University of Canberra	2 063	1 225	8 152	1	22	169	11 632
Australian Catholic University (Signadou campus)	106	58	412	-	-	20	596
Total	6 975	2 854	18 332	78	22	579	28 840
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Enrolments for the Australian Catholic University are as at 31 March 2004. Enrolments for all other institutions are for the full year 2004.
Source: Department of Education, Science and Training, Selected Higher Education Statistics, 2004; Australian Catholic University, unpublished data.

6.8 TERTIARY STUDENTS, Enrolment type and gender - ACT - 2004(a)
	Internal		External and Multi-modal
	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time	Males	Females	Persons
	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.
Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)	1 159	722	10	245	1 741	395	2 136
Australian National University	10 533	3 755	115	73	7 231	7 245	14 476
University of Canberra	1 095	1 250	5 802	-	5 103	6 529	11 632
Australian Catholic University (Signadou campus)	322	266	-	8	146	450	596
Total	13 109	5 993	5 927	326	14 221	14 619	28 840
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Enrolments for the Australian Catholic University are as at 31 March 2004. Enrolments for all other institutions are for the full year 2004.
Source: Department of Education, Science and Training, Selected Higher Education Statistics, 2004; Australian Catholic University, unpublished data.

Indigenous enrolments

There were 216 Indigenous students attending tertiary institutions in the ACT during 2004. This was higher than the 2003 figure (200). The institution with the largest number of Indigenous students in 2004 was the University of Canberra (97, or 45% of Indigenous students) followed by the Australian National University (88 or 41%). In total, Indigenous tertiary students made up 0.8% of all tertiary students in the ACT.

6.9 INDIGENOUS TERTIARY STUDENTS, ACT(a)
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Number (no.)
Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)	2	1	19	27	28
Australian National University	80	67	75	70	88
University of Canberra	81	67	101	98	97
Australian Catholic University (Signadou campus)	8	7	7	5	3
Total	171	142	202	200	216
Proportion(b) (%)
Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)	0.1	0.1	1.0	1.3	1.4
Australian National University	0.9	0.7	0.6	0.5	0.6
University of Canberra	0.9	0.8	1.0	0.9	0.9
Australian Catholic University (Signadou campus)	1.3	1.1	1.2	0.8	0.5
Total	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.8
(a) Enrolments at the Australian Catholic University are as at 31 March 2004. Enrolments for all other instituions are for the full year 2004.
(b) Proportion of all students attending institution.
Source: Department of Education, Science and Training, Selected Higher Education Statistics, 2004; Australian Catholic University, unpublished data.

Overseas students

In 2004, there were 5,633 overseas students studying at ACT tertiary institutions. Of these, 3,249 (58%) were male and 2,384 (42%) were female. Twenty-six per cent (1,471 overseas students) were located offshore whilst undertaking their studies.

The two largest tertiary institutions in the ACT, the Australian National University and the University of Canberra account for the majority of overseas tertiary students. In 2004, 24% of enrolments (3,087 persons) at the Australian National University and 27% of enrolments at the University of Canberra (2,425 persons) were for overseas students.

6.10 OVERSEAS STUDENTS, Gender and onshore/offshore status - ACT - 2004(a)
	Gender		Onshore/Offshore status
	Males	Females	Onshore	Offshore	Total overseas students	Overseas proportion of all students
	no.	no.	no.	no.	no.	%
Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)	104	13	117	-	117	5.5
Australian National University	1 799	1 288	2 638	449	3 087	23.6
University of Canberra	1 346	1 079	1 403	1 022	2 425	26.8
Australian Catholic University (Signadou campus)(b)	-	4	4	-	4	0.7
Total	3 249	2 384	4 162	1 471	5 633	23.0
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Enrolments at the Australian Catholic University are as at 31 March 2004. Enrolments for all other institutions are for the full year 2004.
(b) The gender split is an estimate.
Source: Department of Education, Science and Training, Selected Higher Education Statistics, 2004; Australian Catholic University, unpublished data.

STUDENT ASSISTANCE

Austudy is provided to students aged 25 and over, while the Youth Allowance is provided to students under 25. Both Austudy and Youth Allowance are designed to aid full-time students with living costs while they are studying.

At July 2005, 5,664 students at educational institutions in the ACT were receiving financial assistance. Austudy assistance went to 506 students (9%), while 5,292 were receiving Youth Allowance (87%). The number of students receiving Austudy in July 2005 was down 25% on June 2004, whilst the number receiving Youth Allowance was down by 7%.

ABSTUDY provides a means-tested living allowance and other supplementary benefits to eligible Indigenous secondary and tertiary students. Primary students living at home and aged 14 years or more on 1 January in the year of study may also be eligible for assistance.

At January 2005, there were 222 students receiving ABSTUDY in the ACT (4% of all students receiving assistance). This was an increase of 9% from January 2004.

6.11 STUDENTS RECEIVING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR EDUCATION(a), ACT
	2003	2004	2005
	no.	no.	no.
Austudy	798	679	506
Youth Allowance(b)	5 558	5 292	4 936
ABStudy(c)	356	389	222
Total	6 712	6 360	5 664
(a) Due to a change in the way student assistance data is collected in 2000, these data are not directly comparable with data before that time.
(b) Youth allowance includes full-time students only. Excludes students receiving other forms of assistance while doing part-time study. Introduced in July 1998.
(c) ABStudy data is calendar year based, the data has been souced from Centrelink.
Source: Department of Education, Science and Training.

HOUSEHOLD USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Households with access to home computers

In 2004-05, 99,000 ACT households had access to home computers, representing 79% of all households in the ACT. The ACT continued to record the highest proportion of households with access to a home computer of all states and territories.

6.12 HOUSEHOLDS WITH ACCESS TO HOME COMPUTERS
	2003		2004-05
	Number of households	Proportion of all households(a)	Number of households	Proportion of all households(a)
	'000	%	'000	%
Australian Capital Territory	99	80	99	79
New South Wales	1 653	65	1 723	67
Victoria	1 278	68	1 306	68
Queensland	957	65	1 026	67
South Australia	390	62	409	64
Western Australia	512	67	545	69
Tasmania	111	57	119	61
Northern Territory	np	np	38	71
Total	5 038	66	5 266	67
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Proportions are of all households with access to home computers.
Source: Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2004-05 (cat. no. 8146.0).

Households with home Internet access

In 2004-05 in the ACT, 84,000 households had home Internet access, an increase of 2,000 households from 2003 (82,000). The proportion of ACT households with Internet access in 2004-05 (67%) continued to be higher than any other state or territory.

6.13 HOUSEHOLDS WITH HOME INTERNET ACCESS
	2003		2004-05
	Number of households	Proportion of all households(a)	Number of households	Proportion of all households(a)
	'000	%	'000	%
Australian Capital Territory	82	66	84	67
New South Wales	1 365	54	1 455	56
Victoria	1 019	54	1 085	57
Queensland	757	52	861	56
South Australia	300	48	323	50
Western Australia	406	53	456	58
Tasmania	78	41	94	48
Northern Territory	np	np	34	61
Total	4 039	53	4 393	56
np not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated
(a) Proportions are of all households with access to home computers.
Source: Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2004-05 (cat. no. 8146.0)

BIBLIOGRAPHY


ABS

Schools, Australia, 2005, cat. no. 4221.0.

Household Use of Information Technology, 2004-05, cat. no. 8146.0.

NON-ABS

ACT Department of Education and Training 2006a, Census of ACT Government Preschools - February 2006, last viewed 2 August 2006, <http://www.det.act.gov.au/publicat/pdf/Preschool_Census_Bulletin_Feb2006.pdf>.

ACT Department of Education and Training 2006b, Census of ACT Government Schools - February 2006, last viewed 2 August 2006, <http://www.det.act.gov.au/publicat/pdf/Govt_School_censusFeb2006.pdf>.

ACT Department of Education and Training 2006c, Census of ACT Non Government Schools - February 2006, last viewed 2 August 2006, <http://www.det.act.gov.au/publicat/pdf/census_06feb_nongov.pdf>.

Australian Catholic University, Statistics Unit, email correspondence 20 February 2006 <p.schooling@mary.acu.edu>.

Centrelink, unpublished data on Austudy, ABSTUDY and Youth Allowance Customers by Federal Electorate, 19 May 2006.

Department of Education, Science and Training, Students 2004 [full year]: Selected higher education statistics, last viewed 2 August 2006, <http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/publications_resources/>.

National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd, Australian vocational education and training statistics: National VET provider collection 2005, last viewed 2 August 2006 <http://www.ncver.edu.au/statistic/publications/1701.html>.