In a significant boost for Australian education, more students are choosing to complete their secondary education, with retention rates reaching their highest levels since 2017. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed today that 79.9% of students now stay in school from Year 7/8 through to Year 12, marking a notable increase from 79.1% in 2023.
Government Schools Lead the Way
The most substantial growth was observed in government schools, where Year 10 to 12 retention rates jumped by 1.3 percentage points to 74.3%. Non-government schools maintained their traditionally high retention rates, with a 0.9 percentage point increase bringing their figure to 88.1%.
Indigenous Education Milestone
In a positive development for Indigenous education, the retention rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students increased from 55.9% to 56.7%. This improvement, while modest, represents ongoing progress in closing the education gap. Indigenous student enrolments grew by 3.7% over the past year, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students now comprising 6.6% of all school students.
Better Teacher-Student Ratios
Cassandra Elliott, ABS head of education statistics, highlighted another encouraging trend: “We’re seeing the best student-to-teacher ratios since 2006, with an average of 12.9 students per teacher.” This improvement comes as the number of full-time equivalent teaching staff increased by 2.8% to 320,377 in 2024.
Independent schools reported the most favourable ratios at 11.7 students per teacher, while government and Catholic schools maintained competitive ratios of 13.1 and 13.3 respectively.
Growing Education Sector
The overall education landscape continues to expand, with total school enrolments exceeding 4.1 million across 9,653 schools in 2024, representing a 1.1% increase from the previous year.
These figures paint a picture of a strengthening education sector, with more students staying in school longer and receiving more personalised attention from teachers than ever before.
