Schools

Latest release

Data on government and non-government students, staff and schools

Reference period
2025
Release date and time
05/03/2026 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

In Australia in 2025:

  • 4,160,918 students were enrolled in 9,673 schools
  • the apparent retention rate for full-time students in years 7/8 to 12 was 81.3%
  • the average student to teaching staff ratio for all schools was 12.8 students to one teacher. 

Students

In 2025:

  • 4,160,918 students were enrolled in schools across Australia, an increase of 28,912 students (0.7%) compared with 2024
  • the majority of students were enrolled in government schools (62.8%), followed by Catholic schools (20.0%) and independent schools (17.2%).

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 42b

Between 2021 and 2025, total student enrolments increased by 3.2%. Independent schools recorded the largest increase (15.3%), followed by Catholic schools (5.7%). Government schools recorded a decrease over this period (-0.4%).

Table 1. Student enrolments by school affiliation, 2021 to 2025
 202120222023202420252021-25 (% change)
Government2,622,7552,605,8262,614,0942,619,5132,613,404-0.4
Catholic787,181795,368806,323820,222831,6925.7
Independent620,781641,318666,581692,271715,82215.3
Total4,030,7174,042,5124,086,9984,132,0064,160,9183.2

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 42b

The highest growth rates of student enrolments in 2025 were in:

  • Western Australia: 1.5%
  • Australian Capital Territory and Victoria: 1.1%
  • Queensland: 0.7%.

Tasmania and the Northern Territory were the only states or territories where the growth rate fell (-0.5% and -0.1% respectively).

The highest estimated resident population growth rates for 5 to 19 year olds in 2025 were: 

  • Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia: 1.4%
  • Northern Territory and Victoria: 1.2%
  • Queensland: 0.9%.

The lowest was in Tasmania (-0.3%) which was the only state or territory to record a population decline.

Further information on population growth rates can be accessed from National, state and territory population, June 2025.

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 42b

In 2025, the growth rate for school enrolments was 0.7% (28,912 more students) compared with the year before. Since 2024:

  • government school enrolments recorded a decrease of 0.2% (6,109 less students)
  • non-government school enrolments recorded an increase of 2.3% (35,021 more students).


Primary school enrolments decreased by 7,013 students compared with the year before, a change of 0.3%. Since 2024

  • government primary school enrolments decreased by 1.1% (17,589 fewer students)
  • non-government primary school enrolments increased by 1.5% (10,576 more students).


Secondary school enrolments increased by 35,925 students compared with the year before, a change of 1.9%. Since 2024

  • government secondary school enrolments increased by 1.1% (11,480 more students)
  • non-government secondary school enrolments increased by 3.1% (24,445 more students).

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 42b

The proportion of students enrolled in non-government schools in 2025 was:

  • highest in the Australian Capital Territory (40.6%) and South Australia (39.1%)
  • lowest in the Northern Territory (28.2%).

Map 1 - Student enrolment counts by state and territory and school affiliation, 2025

A map of Australia showing student enrolment counts by state and territory and affiliation for 2025.

A map of Australia showing student enrolment counts by state and territory and affiliation for 2025. Western Australia 306,262 Government student enrolments; 160,023 Non-Government enrolments. Northern Territory 28,742 Government student enrolments; 11,263 Non-Government enrolments. South Australia 173,438 Government student enrolments; 111,121 Non-Government enrolments. Victoria 667,440 Government student enrolments; 397,098 Non-Government enrolments. Tasmania 52,489 Government student enrolments; 27,791 Non-Government enrolments. New South Wales 773,956 Government student enrolments; 483,774 Non-Government enrolments. Australian Capital Territory 46,231 Government student enrolments; 31,655 Non-Government student enrolments. Queensland 564,846 Government student enrolments; 324,789 Non-Government enrolments.

In 2025, the number of Full-Fee Paying Overseas Students (FFPOS) increased by 959 to 27,027, a rise of 3.7% from 2024, and the highest student numbers since 2019 (26,593). 

The highest percentage year-on-year growth between 2024 to 2025 was seen in:

  • Tasmania: 31.6% (an increase of 103 students)
  • New South Wales: 7.7% (an increase of 508 students).

The Australian Capital Territory and South Australia reported the only declines (-4.8% or 43 less students and -0.8% or 24 less students respectively).

FFPOS numbers are collected in the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) but not published in the Schools data cubes.

Data unavailable for Northern Territory government schools in 2019 and 2020.

Retention rates

Apparent retention rates (ARR) show the percentage of students who stay in school from an earlier year (such as Year 7/8) to a later year (usually Year 12). For example, the Year 7/8 to 12 ARR compares the number of students enrolled in Year 12 with the number who were enrolled in Year 7/8, five or four years earlier, giving an estimate of how many students progress through school over time. See the Methodology for further information.

In 2025:

  • the Year 7/8 to 12 full-time ARR increased to 81.3%, from 79.9% in 2024, and was higher for females (85.3%) than for males (77.6%).

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 64a

Independent schools had the highest Year 7/8 to 12 full-time ARR (99.1%), followed by Catholic schools (82.7%) and government schools (75.4%). 

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 64a

The Year 10 to 12 full-time ARR shows the percentage of students who started Year 10 in 2023 and were still enrolled in Year 12 in 2025.

In 2025:

  • the Year 10 to 12 full-time ARR increased to 81.5%, from 79.9% in 2024 and was higher for females (85.2%) than for males (78.0%)
  • independent schools had the highest Year 10 to 12 full-time ARR (91.8%), followed by Catholic schools (86.2%) and government schools (76.4%).

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 64a

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

In 2025:

  • there were 283,611 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled in Australian schools, 3.2% more than in 2024
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students accounted for 6.8% of all students
  • four in five (80.7%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were enrolled in government schools
  • there was an increase in the full-time apparent retention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students:
    • the Year 7/8 to 12 rate was 58.6%, 1.9 percentage points higher than in 2024
    • the Year 10 to 12 rate was 59.7%, 2.7 percentage points higher than in 2024.

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 42b

Schools

In 2025:

  • there were a total of 9,673 schools in Australia
  • there was a net increase of 20 schools since 2024, consisting of a further 10 government and 11 independent schools, and a reduction of 1 Catholic school.
Table 2. School counts by affiliation, 2024 to 2025
 20242025Difference
Government6,7276,73710
Catholic1,7591,758-1
Independent1,1671,17811
Total9,6539,67320

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 35b

New South Wales reported the largest increase in total school counts (schools), followed by Queensland (5 schools) and Victoria (3 schools).

Table 3. School counts by state and territory, 2024 to 2025
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACTAust.
20243,1322,2921,7987141,1252611931389,653
20253,1392,2951,8037141,1262631941399,673

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 35b

Staff

In 2025:

  • there were 325,190 full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching staff in Australian schools, an increase of 1.5% from 2024, of which almost 3 in 4 were female (72% or 234,099) and 91,091 (or 28%) were male
  • of these, there were 162,819 teachers in primary schools (up 0.5% from 2024) and 162,372 teachers in secondary schools (up 2.6% from 2024)
  • there was a higher proportion of male teachers in secondary schools (38.5%) than in primary schools (17.6%) compared to a higher proportion of female teachers in primary schools (82.4%) than in secondary schools (61.5%). 

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 51a

The student to teaching staff ratio for all schools in 2025 was 12.8 students to one teacher and was higher in primary schools (13.9 students to one teacher) than in secondary schools (11.7 students to one teacher).

Independent schools had a lower student to teacher ratio in 2025 (11.7 students to one teacher) than government (13.0 students to one teacher) and Catholic schools (13.3 students to one teacher).

Student to teaching staff ratio should not be used as a measure for class sizes. See the Methodology for further information.

Source: Schools, 2025, Table 53a

Data downloads

Data files

Methodology

Scope

Data on government and         non-government primary, secondary and special schools, students and staff.

Geography

Data available for:
 

  • Australia
  • States and territories
  • Remoteness areas

Source

The National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) is an administrative data collection sourced from Commonwealth, state and territory education departments. 

Collection method

Data on government and         non-government schools are collected from administrative school enrolment databases and collated by the ABS through the NSSC.

Concepts, sources and methods

The NSSC is based on data collected from the national school census. 

The annual census is held on the first Friday in August by each state and territory education department and the non-government education systems.

History of changes

Not applicable for this release. 

View full methodology
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