Australia Yearbook - 2001

406 Year Book Australia 2001
10.2 STUDENTS(a), By Category of School and Sex
1984 1989 1994 1997
’000 ’000 ’000 ’000 ’000 ’000
Government schools
Males 1 163.0 1 124.0 1 133.5 1 140.9 1 144.8 1 148.4
Females 1 097.6 1 070.4 1 081.4 1 089.2 1 094.6 1 099.2
Persons 2 260.6 2 194.4 2 214.9 2 230.1 2 239.4 2 247.7
Non-government schools
Males 379.7 420.2 445.8 473.9 482.4 491.7
Females 377.4 416.8 438.7 467.7 476.9 487.3
Persons 757.1 837.0 884.4 941.6 959.3 979.0
All schools
Males 1 542.6 1 544.2 1 579.2 1 614.8 1 627.2 1 640.1
Females 1 475.0 1 487.2 1 520.1 1 556.9 1 571.4 1 586.5
Persons 3 017.6 3 031.4 3 099.4 3 171.6 3 198.7 3 226.7
(a) Full-time students only.
Source: Schools, Australia (4221.0).
1998
1999
In 1999, 3.2 million students were attending
primary and secondary schools on a full-time
basis, comprising 2.2 million (70%) in
government schools and 1.0 million (30%) in
non-government schools. The number of
students attending government schools increased
by 8,300 (0.4%) from the previous year while the
number of students attending non-government
schools increased by 19,700 (2%) (table 10.2).
In 1984, the full implementation of the National
Schools Statistics Collection allowed for greater
comparability of school statistics between the
States and Territories. Table 10.2 illustrates that
from 1984 until 1999 there was an increase of
209,000 (7%) students attending school. The
number of students attending government
schools between 1984 and 1989 fell by 66,200
(3%), but then increased by 53,300 (2%) in the
ten year period between 1989 and 1999.
Attendance at non-government schools increased
by 80,000 (11%) between 1984 and 1989, and
141,900 (17%) between 1989 and 1999. In 1984
non-government schools comprised 25% of the
student population. In 1999 this had increased
to 30%.
Table 10.3 shows the number of students in
1999 by level of education. Of all primary school
students, 27% went to non-government schools,
compared with 35% of all secondary school
students. One-fifth of all school students went to
non-government Catholic schools (19% of
primary school students and 21% of secondary
school students).
Graphs 10.4 and 10.5 provide a historical
perspective by showing the proportion of
government and non-government schools,
students and staff for the years 1949 and 1999.
Care should be taken when comparing data from
these two years, as prior to 1984 there was no
national framework governing definitions and
collection methods.
Between 1949 and 1999, the proportion of the
non-government share has grown in each
category: by 8% for total schools, 7% for total
students and 6% for total teaching staff (full-time
teaching staff plus full-time equivalents of
part-time teaching staff).
Between 1949 and 1999, the number of
government schools has fallen by 904 (11%),
while non-government schools have increased
by 777 (42%). The numbers of students at such
schools have increased by 1.3 million (132%) and
0.7 million (234%) respectively. The numbers of
teachers in government and non-government
schools have increased by 110,800 (279%) and
52,700 (421%) respectively. The teacher/student
ratio has decreased for both government schools
(from 1:24 to 1:15) and non-government schools
(from 1:23 to 1:15).