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). |