4221.0 - Schools, Australia, 2005  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/02/2006   
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MEDIA RELEASE

February 23, 2006
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
15/2006
Proportion of students attending non-government schools continues to rise
An Australian Bureau of Statistics report released today highlights the growth in the proportion of students attending non-government schools.

Data from the National Schools Census reveals that, in August 2005, the proportion of full-time students attending non-government schools was 32.9% compared to 29.0% a decade earlier. This shift was the result of a 22.2% (200,600) increase in the number of full-time students attending non-government schools, compared with a 1.7% (38,200) increase in the number of students attending government schools over the ten year period from 1995.

The Schools Census also showed that over the decade to 2005:

  • The proportion of 17-year-olds enrolled as full-time students has increased from 58.6% to 63.5%.
  • The number of full-time Indigenous students has increased from 87,200 to 135,100, while the number of full-time Indigenous students in Year 12 has risen from 1,800 to 3,400.
  • The apparent retention rate of full-time students from Year 10 to Year 12 has increased from 73.4% to 76.5%.
  • The Year 10 to Year 12 retention rate for full-time female students was 10.3 percentage points higher than for male students in 1995 (78.7% to 68.4%) and 10.1 percentage points higher in 2005 (81.6% and 71.5%).
  • The proportion of male school teachers (full-time equivalents) has declined from 24% to 20% in primary schools, and from 48% to 44% in secondary schools.
  • In primary schools the average number of full-time equivalent students per full-time equivalent teachers fell to 16.2 in 2005, compared to 18.2 in 1995. In secondary schools the student/teacher ratio decreased from 12.7 to 12.2.

Further details are in Schools Australia, 2005 (cat. no. 4221.0).