Higher levels of education are associated with better health and greater life satisfaction (OECD 2016a). In Australia, children must attend school until they complete Year 10. They then can participate in full-time education, employment or training (or a mix) until they are 17. This page presents national statistics to provide an overview of Australia’s performance in education (for these compulsory schooling years).
Student attendance rates refer to the number of days school attended as a percentage of the total number of possible school days. See glossary for more information.
In 2018, student attendance rates were:
- 93% for all students in years 1–6 and 90% for all students in years 7–10, similar to rates in 2014, which were 94% and 91% respectively
- lower in later year levels (89% in Year 10) than in earlier year levels (93% in Year 7)
- higher in non-government schools (93%) than government schools (91%) for years 1–10
- lower for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian children than for non-Indigenous children in years 1–10 (82% and 93% respectively). Attendance rates for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children remained relatively stable between 2014 and 2018
- higher in Major cities (93%) compared with Inner regional (91%), Outer regional (90%), Remote (87%), and Very remote (72%) areas for years 1–10 (SCRGSP 2019).
The National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment of students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9. NAPLAN assesses the types of skills essential for every child to progress through school and life:
- reading
- writing
- language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation)
- numeracy (ACARA 2018a).
NAPLAN results provide data to assess achievement against the national minimum standard and mean score. See glossary for more information.
NAPLAN mean scores generally range from 0–1,000 points, with higher scores indicating better performance, and are equated so that a score of 700 in Reading has the same meaning in 2008 and 2018 (ACARA 2018c).
Trends
Since NAPLAN was introduced in 2008, national mean scores have improved for all year levels across all domains, except Writing (Figure 1).
The largest improvements were in the Reading domain at Year 3 (33 points) and Grammar and punctuation at Year 3 (29 points). The greatest reductions in skill were in Writing for Year 7 (24 points) and Year 9 (27 points).
National mean scores on NAPLAN domains in 2018 did not change substantially from 2017. The only significant changes in the proportion of students at or above the national minimum standard were for years 5 and 9 students in the Grammar and punctuation domain, where increases of 2.5 and 2.4 percentage points were observed respectively (ACARA 2019).