Schools methodology

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

Overview

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. 

Introduction

Schools contains statistics on students, schools, and the staff involved in the provision or administration of school education. It includes the government and non-government school populations for all Australian states and territories.

Data used in the compilation of these statistics are sourced from the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) (non-finance), which is a joint undertaking between state and territory government departments of education, the Australian Government Department of Education, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Data from the collection support national education reporting through the Report on Government Services, the National Report on Schooling in Australia, and Closing the Gap.

Data collection

Scope and Coverage

Schools

The scope of the statistics in this publication includes establishments which have, as their major activity, the administration and/or provision of full-time day primary, secondary or special education, or primary or secondary distance education. 

The statistics do not include school-level education conducted by other institutions, in particular technical and further education establishments (commonly known as TAFEs), unless it is part of the student’s school enrolment.

Schooling structure

The structure of primary and secondary schooling is the same across all states and territories in Australia.

Formal schooling in Australia, consists of Primary school from Pre-Year 1 to Year 6, and secondary school from Year 7 to Year 12 in all states and territories.

Naming conventions for the first year of primary school (Pre-Year 1) differ between states and territories. Pre-Year 1 is known as:

  • foundation year in the Australian Curriculum
  • kindergarten in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales
  • preparatory in Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria
  • pre-primary in Western Australia
  • reception in South Australia
  • transition in the Northern Territory. 

Information on preschool education is available annually through Preschool Education.

School commencement ages

The age at which children must attend school is the subject of specific legislation within each state and territory. In 2025, the minimum starting ages for Pre-Year 1 generally restricted enrolment to children aged between four and a half and five years at the beginning of the year.

  • New South Wales - children must attend school from the age of six
  • Victoria - children must attend school from the age of six; however children turning five before 30 April may start school in that year
  • Queensland - children must attend school from the age of six years and six months
  • South Australia - children must attend school from the age of six; Children turning five before 1 May can start school in term 1. Children turning 5 by 31 October can start school in term 3 and undertake 6 terms of reception
  • Western Australia - children must start school from the beginning of the year if they are to reach the age of five years and six months during the year
  • Tasmania - children must attend school from the age of five
  • Northern Territory - children must attend school from the age of six
  • Australian Capital Territory - children must attend school from the age of six

Changes to schooling structures over time are described under Processing the data.

Students

All students attending an Australian government or non-government primary, secondary or special school are in scope for the collection.

Students undertaking 'home schooling' are only included if they are formally enrolled and active in a course of study at an in-scope establishment. No part of a student’s home schooling is included in the NSSC.

Part-time student data by age are available only from 2006 onwards.

Staff

All in-school and out-of-school staff in Australian government and non-government schools are considered in scope. Staff data are available as counts of staff or full-time equivalent value of staff.

To avoid double counting, emergency and relief teaching staff employed on a casual basis are not included in this collection, as their role is to replace permanent teaching staff when they are absent for short periods of time.

Collection date

The NSSC is based on the national school census that is conducted annually on the first Friday in August by each state and territory department of education and the non-government education systems. For 2025, the census enrolment reference date was 1 August. Information is disseminated through the ABS website the following March.

There are a small number of schools who do not receive government funding and are not obliged to report data for this collection. 

Age reference date

The age reference date for students is 1 July.

Data sources

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

Government

The compilation of government sector data varies between the different state and territory departments of education. Data may be accessed from central administrative databases, sourced from education sectorial bodies or collected directly from education establishments. Data are provided to the ABS for the compilation of these statistics.

Statistics for the government series include:

  • all establishments administered by the departments of education under the director-general of education (or equivalent) in each state/territory
  • students attending those establishments, and
  • all staff engaged in the administration or provision of school education at those establishments.

Non-government 

The Australian Government Department of Education collects data for establishments in the non-government sector for all states and territories for administrative purposes. The non-government sector statistics in this publication are a summary of results from that collection. 

Statistics for the non-government series include:

  • all in-scope establishments not administered by the state/territory departments of education
  • students attending those establishments, and
  • all staff engaged in the administration or provision of school education at those establishments.

Data for non-government establishments are reported by schools through the SchoolsHUB, which is managed by the Australian Government Department of Education to support schools in meeting their mandatory reporting requirements under the Australian Education Act 2013. These data are then collated by the department and a subset is provided to the ABS for the NSSC. While schools who do not receive government funding are not obliged to report, evaluation of the 2025 NSSC identified that almost all schools are represented in the collection.

Other territories

Education services in Jervis Bay Territory are provided by the Australian Capital Territory Education Directorate. Figures for Jervis Bay Territory are included with those for the Australian Capital Territory.

Education services in the Territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the Territory of Christmas Island are provided by the Department of Education Western Australia. Figures for these territories are included with those for Western Australia.

Education services in Norfolk Island are provided by the Queensland Department of Education. Figures for Norfolk Island are included with those for Queensland.

Processing the data

Data quality

The NSSC is based on enrolment information from education administrative data systems at the time of the school census, collected in accordance with agreed national standards and definitions. 

School and student information is a subset of the enrolment information provided by the various education authorities. Staff information is a subset of those authorities’ administrative staff and human resources data.

For government data, each school provides and/or validates the information reflecting their enrolments to the relevant state education department. Each state and territory education department processes the data so that data forwarded to the ABS represents, or can be used to derive, student counts (a count of natural persons within a system of education).

Non-government data are co-ordinated through the Australian Government Department of Education.

Due to the different enrolment systems, the ability to manage multiple records of enrolment for a student may vary among jurisdictions. This may result in a small degree of over-reporting of student numbers in some jurisdictions.

Some minor differences exist across jurisdictions in the interpretation of the standards applying to the collection and the ability of systems to collect data to the specifications of the collection. This may affect comparisons of school counts, student counts and student full-time equivalent values. Any differences are annotated in the tables where relevant.

Most education authorities supply the ABS with unit record level data for students and schools, which are subsequently processed and output in aggregate format.

All data received by the ABS undergo rigorous validation prior to publication, ensuring outputs are nationally comparable and consistent with historical series.

Data comparability

The application of NSSC business rules may result in counts which differ from those in other datasets originating from the same education authorities. For example, student counts may not reconcile to enrolment counts available in alternate datasets where multiple enrolments were reported for those students enrolled in more than one school. Similarly, Schools’ counts may not reconcile to school counts reported elsewhere due to differences in the definition of a school. These issues are addressed under Interpretation of results.

Over time, the comparability of collection statistics can be impacted by changes to administrative systems. The most significant changes from 2012 onwards are listed below. For changes prior to 2012 please refer to previous releases.

2025 – ACT Education Directorate changed the wording of the enrolment form question about students’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status for all new student enrolment applications. The impact of this on counts is expected to be minimal.

2024 – Australian Government Department of Education revised 2023 non-government out-of-school staff data. Relevant revisions were updated in the 2024 release.

2024 – Queensland Department of Education revised 2023 government school counts. Relevant revisions were updated in the 2024 release.

2024 – South Australian Department for Education implemented a mid-year intake for reception students at government primary schools. These students will undertake 6 terms of reception. To be eligible for the mid-year intake the student must turn 5 by 31 October.

2022 – South Australia completed transition to year 7 secondary for all government and non-government schools.

2020 – South Australia commenced year 7 secondary schooling for three government schools.

2020 – NSW first recorded support students in government mainstream schools against their grade of enrolment to be more aligned with national counting rules. Only students in Schools for Specific Purposes (SSP) are now recorded as ungraded. Care should be taken when comparing with previous years as enrolments by grades will be higher due to the revised methodology.

2020 – Victorian Department of Education revised 2019 teaching staff FTE data. Relevant revisions were included in this release. 

2019 – in South Australia, some non-government schools changed their structure, with Year 7 becoming the first year of secondary schooling. Previously it was Year 8.

2018 – South Australian Catholic primary schools implemented a mid-year intake for reception students. These students will undertake 6 terms of reception. To be eligible for the mid-year intake the student must turn 5 by 31 October.

2018 to 2022 – a proportion of South Australian government school students undertook a study load greater than 1 full-time equivalent (FTE) load. The component exceeding 1.0 FTE for a single student has been excluded from these data.

2018 – NSW Department of Education transitioned to a new payroll system. This provided stricter controls and validation of casual and temporary teacher engagement. This improved the information available to distinguish and better identify teachers that should be included as ‘generally active’ in schools. Care should be taken when comparing NSW government in-school staff time series data.

2018 – ACT Education Directorate provided revised 2017 staff data.

2015 – Queensland and Western Australian schooling structure changed, with Year 7 becoming the first year of secondary schooling. Previously it was Year 8.

Commencing in 2015 – Queensland government schools were expected to provide a language program in Years 5 to 8. Students enrolled in a school of distance education for their language program were recorded as a part-time enrolment in addition to their full-time enrolment at their base government school, resulting in dual enrolments for 2015 and 2016. The addition of these dual enrolments were not reconciled in student counts, resulting in an increase to the number of part-time students reported in Years 5 to 8 between 2014 and 2015, most noticeably in Year 5. This treatment of dual enrolments in Queensland government school student counts will also be present in other totals to which these counts contribute. This increase is expected to be small.

Prior to 2014 – in South Australia, most children started school at age five, and it was common for children to start school at the beginning of the school term following their fifth birthday. From 2014 onwards, children will usually commence school at the start of the year in which they turn five.

From 2012 – Victorian Department of Education and Training assigned a proportion of the full-time equivalent of staff working at combined schools, or at more than one school, at the school level. This was previously done at the state level. This results in a more accurate estimate of full-time equivalent staff.

2012 – Queensland Department of Education and Training noted continuing improvements in the response to identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status in government schools, along with a considerable reduction in the number of 'not stated' responses. This may affect comparisons of students by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status with previous years.

Tasmania has alternated between a single and multiple entity college structure. This has impacted on the number of students included in the NSSC as these structural changes have seen some Year 11 and 12 students change classification between school and the vocational education and training sector and hence move in and out of scope of the NSSC.

The number of schools in a particular jurisdiction may vary from year to year due to administrative changes which alter the composition of schools. For example:

  • secondary schools may split to create middle schools and senior secondary schools
  • schools may fall in or out of scope based on changes in the major activity of the establishment, or
  • two or more schools may be amalgamated to form one school. Such changes may also result in a changed profile of school characteristics (e.g. the merger of the primary and secondary school to form a combined school means that the amalgamated school's enrolment size would be reported as a sum of the enrolments).

For more information on specific changes in individual jurisdictions, please refer to the relevant state or territory department website.

Data release

Overview of Schools

The annual Schools publication releases data on students and schools, and the staff involved in the provision or administration of primary and secondary education. It covers all Australian states and territories. 

All data are available by year, state and territory, and affiliation (government or non-government) with some data also available in further subcategories of the non-government classification (Catholic and independent).

Schools are classified by:

  • school type (primary, secondary, combined, special), and
  • size of primary and secondary enrolments.

Student data are available as counts of students and counts of full-time equivalent (FTE) students, and are classified by:

  • full-time or part-time status
  • Indigenous status
  • sex
  • school level (primary, secondary)
  • year level
  • age of student (as at 1 July of the reference year), and
  • affiliation of school.

In-school staff data are available as counts of staff and counts of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, and are classified by:

  • school level (primary, secondary)
  • sex, and
  • major function (broad position role).

Out-of-school staff data are available as counts of staff and counts of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, and are classified by:

  • sex, and
  • major function (broad position role).

Outputs published in Schools include:

  • number of students
  • number of full-time equivalent students
  • number of schools
  • number of schools and number of full-time equivalent students by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) remoteness area
  • number of in-school staff
  • number of full-time equivalent in-school staff
  • number of out-of-school staff
  • number of full-time equivalent out-of-school staff
  • ratio of full-time equivalent students to teaching staff, and
  • measures relating to students, including apparent retention rates.

Interpretation of results

The comparability of these statistics may vary between state and territories, and that of schooling sectors, where different policies and administrative arrangements may affect:

  • the organisation of year levels
  • timing and rates of student intake and advancement
  • flows from secondary to vocational education, or
  • the recruitment and employment of teachers.

There is no national standard covering the allocation of all students and classes to a particular year level of school education. A number of schools (other than special schools) do not maintain a formal year level structure. Where possible, students at these schools have been allocated to equivalent values by the relevant education authorities, but otherwise appear against the ungraded category in either the primary or secondary level of school education.

Relatively small changes in some small populations between years can create large movements in rates and ratios. These populations might include smaller jurisdictions, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and subcategories of the non-government sector.

Estimated resident population (ERP)

The ABS estimated resident population (ERP) series is used in the calculation of some student-related measures in this publication. It is used as a denominator to calculate students as a proportion of the Australian population by state and territory, age and sex, and in the calculation of some apparent rates.

These measures are subject to estimation error where the conceptual basis under which the data are collected and compiled differ. For example, there are a very small number of students counted in the Schools collection that are not included in the ERP (i.e. students who are children of foreign diplomats). For further information, see Glossary.

Privacy and confidentiality

Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905 and the Privacy Act 1988. Some figures in this publication have been perturbed to prevent the disclosure of information that may allow the identification of individuals or organisations.

General acknowledgement

This publication draws extensively on information provided by state and territory government departments with responsibility for school education and the Australian Government Department of Education. The information is provided to the ABS under applicable state and territory legislation. The continued co-operation of these agencies enables the ABS to publish a wide range of education statistics.

Enquiries

For enquiries about these and related statistics, contact the Customer Assistance Service via the ABS website Contact Us page. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.

Glossary

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