Release of the National Report on Schooling in Australia 2023
26 February 2025 The full
National Report on Schooling 2023 has been published. It outlines the national policy for school education in Australia and reports against key performance measures for schooling.
ACARA progressively releases chapters of this report throughout the year in a commitment to support transparency and accountability by making information more accessible.
This release includes a new chapter about government funding of schools, as well as information on school income and school expenditure.
Each section of the report includes corresponding data portal pages which provide interactive data visualisations to enable data breakdowns, including by state, territory, and equity group.
Some of the highlights include:
School funding – 2022–23 financial year
- Total recurrent government funding for schooling was $85.92 billion. This was made up of $58.85 billion (68.5%) from state and territory budgets and $27.08 billion (31.5%) from the Australian Government (Commonwealth) budget.
- Total recurrent government funding was $24,857 per student in government schools and $14,561 per student for non-government schools.
- Overall, 75.4% ($64.75 billion) of total recurrent government funding was allocated to government schools and 24.6% ($21.17 billion) to non-government schools.
School income – 2023 calendar year
- The average school income per student was $19,428 in government schools, $21,114 in Catholic schools and $27,279 in independent schools.
- In government schools, state and territory governments provided 75.1% of total gross income, Australian Government funding accounted for 21.0%, and the remaining 3.9% came from fees, charges, parent contributions and other private sources.
- In Catholic schools, the Australian Government contributed 60.4% of gross income, state and territory governments provided 15.1%. Fees, charges, and private contributions made up 24.5% of Catholic sector income.
- In independent schools, income from fees, charges and parent contributions made up 46.5% of total gross income, with income from other private sources contributing an additional 4.9%. Australian Government funding accounted for 38.6% of total gross income, and state and territory governments provided 10.0%.
School expenditure
In government schools – 2022–23 financial year:
- Average total government recurrent expenditure (money spent on the daily operations of schools) was $24,857 per student.
- $11,378 per student (45.8% of total government recurrent expenditure) was spent on teaching staff salaries.
In non-government schools - 2023 calendar year:
- Average total recurrent expenditure was $21,252 per student.
- $9,461 per student (44.5% of total recurrent expenditure) was spent on teaching staff salaries.
Capital expenditure – 2023 calendar year
Capital expenditure (money spent to buy or improve long-term fixed assets, such as renovating classrooms, or constructing a new library) was $5.37 billion in government schools, $2.37 billion in Catholic schools, and $3.64 billion in independent schools.
New report shows students value civics and citizenship education despite a fall in results
18 February 2025 Australian students continue to value the importance of learning about our country’s history and civic institutions according to the latest National Assessment Program report released today by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). The report however also shows that students’ knowledge and understanding of Australia’s democracy, our political system and civic processes has fallen.
The 2024 National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship (NAP–CC) report provides results from the NAP Civics and Citizenship Sample assessments undertaken in 2024. The assessments test students’ civics and citizenship knowledge and understanding in a sample of schools across the country.
The 2024 report reveals that Year 6 and 10 students have a high degree of trust in civic institutions, but considerably less trust in the media or social media. In addition, students have also expressed concerns about a range of issues affecting Australia, including pollution, climate change, crime, and racism.
The 2024 report also shows that, at the national level, results have fallen since the last assessment undertaken in 2019 and to the lowest levels since the assessment began in 2004:
- 43 per cent of Year 6 students attained the proficient standard in 2024 compared to 53 per cent in 2019.
- 28 per cent of Australian Year 10 students met the proficient standard in 2024 compared to 38 per cent in 2019.
This declining trend in student performance has also been observed in other recent international civic and citizenship assessments.
Commenting on the report, ACARA’s CEO Stephen Gniel said, “Civics and Citizenship has always been a key part of the Australian Curriculum, including in the latest version. The results of the latest NAP-CC report highlight how we need to continue to support our teachers and educators with high-quality training and resources to help them effectively deliver engaging civics and citizenship education in classrooms across the country.”
Release of the latest data on the My School website – February 2024 update
12 February 2025 The latest information on school attendance and post-school destinations has been released on the My School website.
ACARA has published the 2024 Term 3 School attendance and 2023 Post-School destinations (where students have gone after school) data.
The My School website provides information that helps parents and the community in understanding the performance of schools over time. It contains data on every school in Australia. This includes information on a school’s student profile, NAPLAN performance, funding, enrolment numbers and attendance rates.
For more information, please visit the My School website.