4221.0 - Schools, Australia, 2001

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/02/2002

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Explanatory Notes Glossary	APPARENT RETENTION RATE This is the number of full-time school students in a designated level/year of education expressed as a percentage of their respective cohort group (which is either at the commencement of their secondary schooling or Year 10). In this publication, apparent retention rates are generally calculated for full-time school students who continued to Year 12 of secondary schooling. A separate comparison has been included for retention rates for Indigenous and non-Indigenous school students who continued to Years 9, 10, 11 or 12. Care should be exercised in the interpretation of apparent retention rates since a range of factors affecting calculation have not been taken into account. At the Australia level these include students repeating a year of education, migration and other net changes to the school population. At lower levels of disaggregation, additional factors affecting the data, such as enrolment policies (which contribute to different age/grade structures between States and Territories), inter-sector transfer and interstate movements of students have not been taken into account. See Explanatory Notes, paragraph 16, for an example of the calculation of apparent retention rates. Part-time students are currently excluded from apparent retention rates; the effect of this exclusion varies between States and Territories. CATEGORY OF SCHOOL This is the classification of schools to the government or non-government sector for the purposes of this collection. FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT (FTE) TEACHING STAFF This is a measure of the total level of teaching staff resources used. The FTE of a full-time teaching staff member (i.e. employed full-time and engaged solely on activities which fall within the scope of this collection) is equal to 1.0. The calculation of FTE for part-time teaching staff is as follows: the FTE of part-time teaching staff performing some activities which fall outside the scope of this collection (e.g. preschool or TAFE) is calculated on the basis of the proportion of time spent on in-scope activities compared with that spent by a full-time teaching staff member solely occupied by in-scope activities; and the FTE of part-time teaching staff performing activities which fall solely within the scope of this collection is calculated on the basis of time worked compared with that worked by full-time teaching staff performing similar duties. Some States and Territories are not able to calculate FTE on a time-spent basis for all teaching staff functions but use wages paid as a fraction of full-time rate, or a resource allocation based formula. Some also use a pro rata formula based on student or teacher numbers to estimate aggregate FTE for some categories of teaching staff. INDIGENOUS STUDENT An Indigenous student is a student of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. Note that at present the way in which Indigenous status is determined varies across States and Territories. LEVEL AND YEAR OF EDUCATION Level of education is split into primary and secondary school education. Year of education comprises Pre-year 1 through to Year 12, plus ungraded primary and ungraded secondary. OTHER EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT Other establishments within the scope of these statistics, but not defined as schools include: administrative offices which have as their major activity the administration of primary, secondary or special education; and teacher resource centres operated by a State or Territory Director-General of Education (or equivalent). PRIMARY EDUCATION Primary education typically commences at around age five and lasts for seven to eight years. It does not include sessional education such as preschool education. In New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, primary education may extend from Pre-year 1 to Year 6 (or equivalent). In South Australia and the Northern Territory it may extend from Pre-year 1 to Year 7 (or equivalent). In Queensland and Western Australia it may extend from Year 1 to Year 7 (or equivalent). SCHOOL A school (other than a special school) must satisfy the following criteria: its major activity is the provision of full-time day primary or secondary education or the provision of primary or secondary distance education; and it is headed by a principal (or equivalent) responsible for its internal operation; and it is possible for students to enrol for a minimum of four continuous weeks, excluding breaks for school vacations. The term ‘school’ in this publication includes schools in institutions and hospitals, mission schools and similar establishments. The term excludes preschools, kindergarten centres, pre-primary schools or pre-primary classes in or attached to non-special schools, senior technical and agricultural colleges, evening schools, continuation classes and institutions such as business or coaching colleges. SCHOOL AGE PARTICIPATION RATE The school age participation rate is the number of full-time school students of a particular age expressed as a proportion of the Estimated Resident Population of the same age at June (published in Cat No. 3201.0). It indicates the proportion of the resident population who are at school. Whereas apparent retention rates rely on students having to progress year by year through the school education system, participation rates relate to the resident population as a whole. In the Australian Capital Territory some rates exceed 100%. This is mainly due to the enrolment of secondary school students in Australian Capital Territory secondary schools who are not residents of the Australian Capital Territory, but live in the surrounding New South Wales area. SECONDARY EDUCATION Education which typically commences after completion of primary education, at around age 12, and lasts for five or six years. In New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, secondary education may extend from Year 7 to Year 12 (or equivalent). In Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory it may extend from Year 8 to Year 12 (or equivalent). Part-time secondary figures vary considerably between States and Territories, as each education authority has different policy and organisational arrangements. The number of part-time courses available also varies considerably between States and Territories. Age level data are not published as not all States and Territories collect the age of part-time students. SPECIAL SCHOOL A special school provides special instruction for physically and/or mentally disabled or impaired students, or those with social problems. Students must exhibit one or more of the following characteristics before enrolment is allowed: mental or physical disability or impairment; slow learning ability; social or emotional problems; and/or in custody, on remand or in hospital. STUDENT A student is a person who is formally enrolled in a school and active in a course of study other than preschool or TAFE courses. Students not present at school on the National Schools Statistics Collection census date were included if they were expected to be absent for less than four continuous weeks (excluding school vacations) and were excluded if they had left the school or had been absent without explanation for four continuous weeks (excluding school vacations) prior to the census date. A full-time student is one who undertakes a workload equivalent to, or greater than, that prescribed for a full-time student of that year level. This may vary between States and Territories and from year to year. A part-time student is one who undertakes a workload less than that specified as full-time. TEACHING STAFF Teaching staff are staff who spend the majority of their time in contact with students, i.e. support students either by direct class contact or on an individual basis, and have teaching duties, that is, are engaged to impart school curriculum. For the purposes of this collection, teaching staff includes principals, deputy principals and senior teachers mainly involved in administration. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.