Education and skills – From early childhood to tertiary education is an Australia's welfare topic

The early childhood years are a time when children begin to learn to communicate and build relationships with others, as well as adapt their behaviour, emotions, and attention (CDCHU 2011). These developmental skills play an important role when a child transitions to primary school and establish the foundations for academic and life success (Pascoe and Brennan 2017). 

Higher levels of education are associated with increased likelihood of being employed, being in good health and reporting higher life satisfaction (ABS 2022; OECD 2016). In Australia, children must attend school until they complete Year 10. After completing Year 10, people are required to engage in education, training, or employment until they are 17 years old. Post-school (tertiary) education options include Vocational Education and Training (VET) and higher education. 

For more information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people’s education see Education of First Nations people.

Early childhood education and care

High quality early childhood education and care contributes to the positive social, physical, emotional, and cognitive development of children from birth to school age. It is delivered by skilled educators and teachers following a nationally accredited framework that promotes children’s holistic growth while also preparing them for school.

In Australia, early childhood education and care services are provided by government and non-government organisations. They may be formal or informal.

Formal and informal care

Child care can be categorised as formal or informal. 

Formal care: The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) defines formal child care as regulated care away from the child’s home, including: 

  • outside school hours care 
  • centre-based day care 
  • family day care (ABS 2017).

Informal care: The ABS defines informal care as non-regulated care, paid or unpaid. Informal care can be provided by grandparents, other relatives (including siblings and a parent living elsewhere), other people (including friends, babysitters, and nannies), and other child-minding services (for example, a crèche) (ABS 2017).

Child Care Subsidy approved child care

The Australian Government provides a Child Care Subsidy to support children and families attending early childhood education and care services. In September 2024, 846,000 children (50.4%) used Australian Government subsidised child care, an increase from 49.0% in 2022. Among children aged 0 to 12 years, the proportion using approved care also increased slightly in 2024 to 35.4% from 34.4% in 2022. In 2024, of all the children attending child care, 58.2% attended Centre Based Day Care, 39% attended Outside School Hours Care, and 4.9% attended Family Day Care. The average weekly hours of child care use per child was 27.3 hours (DoE 2024).

Preschool and centre–based day care

According to the Australian Department of Education, a preschool program is defined as an educational program that is play-based and delivered to the children in the year before they start full-time school. It must be:

  • delivered by a qualified early childhood teacher
  • aligned with the Early Years Learning Framework V2 (or equivalent)
  • compliant with the National Quality Framework.

The goal of preschool is to help children develop foundational skills–social, emotional, cognitive, and physical–that prepare them for school and lifelong learning.

A preschool program can be delivered in a variety of settings such as stand-alone preschools, preschools co-located as part of a school (both government and non-government), and centre-based day care (CBDC) services. Government funded preschools typically provide 15 hours of education per week. A child may attend both a preschool and a separate or adjoined child care facility, such as family day care, outside school hours care, vacation care, in-home care and occasional care services (ABS 2023).

In August 2024, 342,000 4–5-year-olds were enrolled in a preschool program, a 1.3% increase compared with 2023 (ABS 2024a).

An estimated 90% of all children aged 4 and 22% of all children aged 5 were enrolled in preschool programs (based on counts of 305,000 children aged 4 years and 313,000 aged 5 years resident in Australia in June 2024) (ABS 2024a).

Of the 4–5-year-olds enrolled in a preschool program as at August 2024:

  • most (80%) were aged 4, with a further 20% aged 5
  • the majority (96%) were enrolled for 15 hours per week or more
  • more were enrolled in a preschool program through a centre-based day care service (50%) than in a dedicated preschool (35%), while the remaining (15%) were enrolled in preschool programs across multiple provider types
  • families of around 4 in 5 (78%, or 266,000) 4–5-year-olds paid $4 or less out of pocket per hour after subsidies, including the families of 105,000 children who paid no fees; the remaining (22%, or 75,000) paid $5 or more per hour (ABS 2024a).

Transition to school

This section presents information on the development of children in Australia by the time they reach primary school, using data from the 2024 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC).

What is the Australian Early Development Census?

The AEDC was introduced nationally in 2009 to measure the development of children at the time they start their first year of full-time schooling. Every three years, teachers provide data on children's developmental vulnerability using the Australian version of the Early Development Instrument. The proportion of eligible children participating in the AEDC has been above 95% in all collection cycles (AEDC 2022).

The AEDC measures early childhood development across 5 domains: 

  • Physical health and wellbeing – physical independence, motor skills, energy levels, ability to physically cope with the school day.
  • Social competence – self-control and self-confidence, ability to work and play well with others, respect for others, responsibility, ability to follow instructions.
  • Emotional maturity – absence of anxious and fearful behaviour, ability to concentrate, ability to provide assistance to other children.
  • Language and cognitive skills (school based) – interest and ability relating to literacy, numeracy, memory.
  • Communication skills and general knowledge – communication with children and adults, articulation, ability to tell a story (AEDC 2016).

The AEDC scores are grouped into 3 categories using benchmark scores calculated in 2009:

  • developmentally on track (above the 2009 25th percentile)
  • developmentally at risk (between the 2009 10th and 25th percentile)
  • developmentally vulnerable (below the 2009 10th percentile).

How many children were developmentally on track?

Based on the most recent data in 2024, 52.9% of children were developmentally on track across all 5 domains. While this reflects a slight decrease of 2.5% from the 2018 peak of 55.4%, the overall trend continues to demonstrate strong developmental outcomes for the majority of children. The proportion of children in the first year of full-time school who were developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains was 23.5%, while the proportion classified as developmentally vulnerable on 2 or more domains was 12.5% (AEDC 2025).

In 2024, the developmental vulnerability of children in the first year of full-time school also differed across demographic factors:

  • Children living in low socioeconomic areas were more likely to be developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains than children living in other socioeconomic areas. In 2024, 34.7% of children in the lowest socioeconomic areas were developmentally vulnerable, compared with 16.2% of children in the highest areas (AEDC 2025).

School attendance

Attendance is an indicator of a child’s participation in school. Each day of attendance in school contributes towards a child’s learning. There does not appear to be a ‘safe’ threshold for which school absences do not have an impact (Hancock et al. 2013).

Student attendance rates refer to the number of actual full-time equivalent days attended by full-time students as a percentage of the total number of possible school days over the period (usually Semester 1). 

In 2024, student attendance rates were:

  • 90% for all students in Years 1–6 and 86% for all students in Years 7–10. This is a decrease since 2015 (94% and 91% respectively) 
  • lower in later year levels (84% in Year 10) than in earlier year levels (89% in Year 7)
  • higher in non-government schools (91%) than government schools (87%) for Years 1–10
  • higher in Major cities (89%) compared with Inner regional (87%), Outer regional (86%), Remote& (81%), and Very remote (66%) areas for Years 1–10 (ACARA 2024).

School attendance level refers to the proportion of full-time students whose attendance rate is equal to or greater than 90%. In 2024, student attendance levels were 65% for all students in Years 1–6 and 53% for students in Years 7–10. This is a decrease since 2015 (from 80% and 74% respectively). Student attendance rates and attendance levels have not returned to their pre-COVID levels. In 2019, national attendance rates were 91% and attendance levels were 73% for Years 1–10 (ACARA 2024; Figure 1).

Figure 1: Rate and level of school attendance by year level group, 2015 to 2024

The figure shows student attendance levels in Years 1–10 fell from 77.8% in 2015 to 61.6% in 2023, while the overall attendance rate declined from 92.6% to 88.6% over the same period.

The figure shows student attendance levels in Years 1–10 fell from 77.8% in 2015 to 61.6% in 2023, while the overall attendance rate declined from 92.6% to 88.6% over the same period.

School achievement

School student achievement refers to the extent to which a student has attained their short or long-term educational goals. Ongoing assessment of student achievement can be used to help teachers monitor student learning, identify gaps in a student’s knowledge, and target teaching to each student’s needs.

States and territories require schools to measure, monitor, and report on students’ school achievement across the school’s curriculum. However, the nature and format of this reporting is often specific to schools or jurisdictions. School-reported student achievement data are not collated nationally.

This section reports on national data sources on student achievement. These sources tend to focus on literacy and numeracy measured through standardised tests.

NAPLAN

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) runs and reports on the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). NAPLAN assesses students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 on reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

Changes to NAPLAN in 2023

From 2023 onwards, student achievement in NAPLAN has been reported against 4 levels of proficiency – ‘Exceeding’, ‘Strong’, ‘Developing’, and ‘Needs additional support’. This replaced the previous national minimum standards and 10 proficiency bands.

This change means achievement data from 2022 (and before) cannot be compared with results from 2023 onwards.

In 2025, the average achievement, or national mean score, was close to the 2024 results for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. In all domains, the differences in average scores since 2024 were negligible.

In 2025:

  • across all assessed year levels, female students attained a higher mean score than males in the 4 literacy domains of reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation. On the numeracy domain, females attained a lower mean score than males. For example, a higher proportion of Year 9 females (21% on average) than males (16%) were in the ‘exceeding proficiency’ level in the 4 literacy domains. However, in the numeracy domain, a higher proportion of Year 9 males (14%) were in the exceeding proficiency level than female students (9%)
  • students from Very remote areas scored lowest across all NAPLAN domains when compared with students in other remoteness areas, with average scores increasing with decreased remoteness
  • about one-third (32% to 36%) of First Nations students met or exceeded NAPLAN expectations, one-third (29% to 32%) were developing, and the remaining one-third (31% to 34%) needed additional support across all year levels and subjects.

Programme for International Student Assessment

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial global survey conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), assessing the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students in over 70 countries. It focuses on the core school subjects of science, reading and mathematics. 

The latest PISA results from 2022 revealed that in Australia:

  • average results were about the same as in 2018 in mathematics, reading and science
  • the gap between the top 10% and bottom 10% students increased in mathematics and science but was similar in reading. In mathematics, the percentage of low performing students increased, while top students also increased. In science, low performers remained the same, while high performers slightly increased
  • students scored higher than the average across OECD countries in mathematics, reading and science with a higher proportion excelling at top levels and achieving minimum proficiency across all 3 subjects (ACER 2023).

Year 12 attainment

The Year 12 certification rate (previously known as the Year 12 Attainment rate) is the proportion of all estimated Year 12 students who meet the requirements of a Year 12 or equivalent qualification (SCRGSP 2025). In 2022 (the most recent certification data available), the Year 12 certification rate was 76%. This rate steadily increased to 79% in 2021, following a decline to 72% in 2019 (SCRGSP 2025).

In 2024, 4 in 5 (79%) people aged 15–74 had attained Year 12 or equivalent or non-school qualification at certificate III level or above (ABS 2024b).

In 2024, of people aged 20–24:

  • 90% had attained a qualification at Year 12 or equivalent or certificate III level or above
  • women (93%) were more likely than men (87%) to have completed Year 12 or equivalent or a certificate III or above, consistent with previous years
  • people living in Major cities (92%) were more likely than those living in other remoteness areas to have completed Year 12 or a certificate III or above (ABS 2024b). The attainment rate increased as remoteness decreased (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Proportion of people aged 20–24 with Year 12 or equivalent, or non-school qualification at certificate III level or above, by remoteness area, 2013 to 2024

The figure shows that the percentage of people aged 20–24 with year 12 or equivalent, or non–school qualification at certificate III level or above has increased from 85.7% in 2013 to 90.4% in 2023.

The figure shows that the percentage of people aged 20–24 with year 12 or equivalent, or non–school qualification at certificate III level or above has increased from 85.7% in 2013 to 90.4% in 2023.

Tertiary education

In Australia tertiary education can be broadly categorised as higher education or vocational education and training (VET). Higher levels of educational attainment are associated with better employment opportunities and higher earnings. On average, across countries in the OECD, adults with a tertiary degree earn twice the amount of their secondary-educated peers (OECD 2022).

What are non-school qualifications?

Non-school qualifications include Certificate I to Certificate IV, Diploma, Bachelor, Master and Doctoral level qualifications.

When determining an individual’s highest level of educational attainment, the ABS considers non-school qualifications at a Certificate III level or above to be higher than a Year 12 level of education (ABS 2021). However, other measures of school attainment consider non-school qualifications at a Certificate IV level or above to be higher than a Year 12 level of education (ACARA 2020).

In Australia, non-school education can be broken into 2 categories:

Higher education, which: 

  • usually leads to the attainment of a Bachelor, Master or Doctoral degree, Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma
  • is provided by universities, for-profit or not-for-profit institutions, or Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes and regulated by Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).

VET, which:

  • provides training focused on technical skills and knowledge for a particular job or industry, with apprenticeships and traineeships forming a core part
  • usually leads to the attainment of Certificate or Diploma qualifications
  • is offered by private providers, enterprise providers, community education providers, schools, universities, and TAFE institutes (NCVER 2024a).

Pathways after leaving school

Students who completed year 12 had different rates of enrolment in further study, compared with students who did not. The type of further study pursued was also different for these 2 cohorts. Of people aged 15–20 who left school in 2023, having completed Year 12 or equivalent, 61.1% were enrolled in non–school study in 2024; 46.9% in higher education, 10.1% in TAFE and 3.1% in another type of study institution. Among people who left school having completed Year 11 or below, 42.2% were enrolled in non–school study the following year; 14.7% in higher education, 23.5% in TAFE and 8.1% in another type of study institution (ABS 2024b).

Another major pathway after leaving school is entering the labour force. As of May 2024, 39.2% of 2023 school leavers were employed and not enrolled in study, 15.4% in part-time and 8.3% in full-time jobs. Among those who left school in Year 11 or earlier, 57.3% were employed, with 20% in full-time and 22.2% in part-time roles (ABS 2024b).

Enrolments in non-school qualifications

In 2024, 3.2 million people aged 15–74 (16%) were studying, including school students. Of these, 30% were in school, 42% in higher education, 16% in TAFE, and 12% in other training institutions. Seven in 10 students were studying full time (ABS 2024b).

In May 2024:

  • people aged 20–24 were the most likely to be enrolled in a non-school qualification (44% of the population of that age), followed by those aged 15–19 (25%), and 25–29 (17%)
  • most enrolments were for a bachelor’s degree (38%), followed by Certificate III or IV level study (23%), postgraduate level degree (14%) and diploma or advanced diploma (12%)
  • among people enrolled in a non-school qualification, a similar proportion of female (11%) and male (12%) students were enrolled in a Certificate III or IV. Female students were more likely than male students to be studying for a bachelor’s degree (22% and 16%, respectively) and a postgraduate level degree (9% and 6%, respectively)
  • the most common fields of study were Society and culture (22%) followed by Management and commerce (18%), Health (16%) and Engineering and related technologies (11%) (ABS 2024b; Figure 3).

Figure 3: Percentage of people aged 15–74 studying for a non-school qualification, by field of study, 2013 to 2023

The figure shows that proportion of people aged 15 –74 studying for a non–school qualification by field of study ranged from 1.7% to 22.3% in 2023. 

The figure shows that proportion of people aged 15 –74 studying for a non–school qualification by field of study ranged from 1.7% to 22.3% in 2023. 

Attainment of non-school qualifications

In May 2024, just over 6 in 10 (63%) people aged 15–74, had attained a non-school qualification (certificate, diploma, or degree) – the same proportion as in 2023. Between 2015 and 2024, the percentage of people aged 15–74 with a non-school qualification increased – from 59% to 63% (ABS 2024b).

In May 2024:

  • people aged 35–44 were most likely to have a non-school qualification (78%), with the rate of attainment decreasing with increasing age (45–54 years, 72%; 55–64 years, 63%; 65–74 years, 55%)
  • among people aged 60–74, men (52%) were more likely than women (48%) to have a non-school qualification. For people aged 20–29, women (52%) were more likely to have a non-school qualification than men (48%)
  • among people aged 15–74, 33% held a bachelor’s degree or above. Women (37%) accounted for a higher percentage compared with men (30%)
  • people born overseas (69%) were more likely than people born in Australia (60%) to have a non-school qualification
  • people living in the highest socioeconomic area, using the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage, were more likely to have a non-school qualification (70%) than people in the lowest socioeconomic area (52%)
  • people living in Major cities (65%) were more likely to have a non-school qualification than those living in regional or remote areas (Inner regional, 61%; Outer regional, 57%; Remote and very remote, 52%) (ABS 2024b).

Apprenticeships and traineeships

Apprenticeships and traineeships are central components of the vocational education and training system. They provide the opportunity to train and study toward a nationally recognised qualification, combining on and off-the-job training to enable individuals to develop their skills while participating in the workforce and earning an income.

As at 30 September 2024, 334,000 apprentices and trainees were training in Australia, a decrease of 7.8% since September 2023. Of these apprentices and trainees in training:

  • 70% were training for a trade and 30% were training for a non-trade
  • 33% were aged under 19, 33% were aged 20–24, 31% were aged 25–49, and 3% were aged 50 or older
  • 74% were males and 26% were females.

Completion of apprenticeships and traineeships

By 30 September 2024, almost 100,020 people had completed an apprenticeship or traineeship, with 49,070 (49%) completing a trade occupation and 50,935 (51%) completing a non-trade occupation in 4 years after commencement (NCVER 2024a).

As at 30 September 2023, more than half (55%) of apprentices and trainees who started training in 2019 completed their apprenticeship or traineeship requirements. Completion rates were slightly higher for those in a non-trade occupations (56%) compared to those in trade occupation (54%) (NCVER 2024b).

Where do I go for more information?

For more information, on education and skills, see: