Australia Yearbook - 2001

404 Year Book Australia 2001
institutions, and provides supplementary funding
for schools and for VET. The States and
Territories also receive special grants from the
Commonwealth Government for areas of
particular need. Apart from its significant financial
role, the Commonwealth is also involved in
promoting national consistency and coherence in
the provision of education and training across
Australia.
For 1998–99, total operating expenses on
education under accrual measures (table 10.30)
for all Australian governments were $31,546m
and comprised 5.3% of Gross Domestic Product
(GDP). Total expenditure on non-financial assets,
a cash measure, for all Australian governments
was $1,718m, 0.3% of GDP. Cash-based private
expenditure on education (final consumption
expenditure plus gross fixed capital formation)
amounted to $9,019m and comprised 1.5% of
GDP. Because total operating expenses are an
accrual measure, while both expenditure on
non-financial assets and private expenditure on
education are cash measures, the three should
not be aggregated together.
Preschool education
All States and Territories have a policy of making
preschool education available for children in the
year prior to school entry. However, there is no
national policy on the provision of preschool
education and there are considerable differences
among the States and Territories in the
regulation, administration and organisation of
preschools. The age at which children may attend
preschool varies between three and five years,
reflecting the different school commencement
ages in each State or Territory.
In recent years, the differences between
preschool and long day care centres have become
less distinct, with many long day care centres
offering a preschool program as part of their
services, and some preschools extending their
hours. These circumstances have made it difficult
to clearly determine the number of children
attending preschool.
The 1999 Child Care Survey provides information
on children attending preschool. In this survey,
preschool refers to a type of formal care generally
available in school hours during school terms for
children from three years of age (younger
children are sometimes accepted) up to the
school starting age. Children usually have fixed
attendance times. In 1999, 231,600 children
attended preschools in Australia. Of those aged
three to five years, 30% attended preschool.
Almost half (49%) of children aged four years
were attending preschool. This pattern is related
to the fact that preschool generally lasts one year
and most of the States and Territories require
children to be five years old to start school.
Primary and secondary
education
School attendance
School attendance is compulsory throughout
Australia between the ages of 6 and 15 years
(16 years in Tasmania). Most children start
primary school at five years of age. Compulsory
attendance was introduced by Western Australia
in 1871, with other States introducing similar
legislation around the same time, and with the
ages for compulsory education varying between
six and 14 years of age.
Each State and Territory has developed its own
approach to schooling, particularly in relation to
the structure of pre-Year One education and the
transition from primary to secondary schooling.
Primary schooling in most States and Territories
begins with a preparatory or kindergarten year,
followed by six or seven primary grades, then a
further five or six years to complete a full
secondary course of study. In total, most States
and Territories have 13 years of schooling (except
Queensland and Western Australia, which
have 12). While the final two years of schooling
generally fall outside the compulsory stage of
education, in 1999, 86% of students remained
at school until Year 11 and 72% remained until
Year 12.
School organisation and operation
Primary schooling provides a general elementary
program lasting for seven or eight years until
Year 6 or 7. Students enter secondary schools at
Year 7 in some State (or Territory) systems and at
Year 8 in others. Primary and secondary schools
are usually separate institutions, but in some
areas there are central or area schools which
provide both levels of schooling. In Tasmania and
the Australian Capital Territory, attendance for
the final two years of government schooling is at
separate secondary colleges.
Generally, schools in Australia have a
considerable degree of autonomy. Most States
and Territories have established regional
administrations which are responsible for matters
such as planning school buildings and deploying
staff, while a central curriculum unit provides