School numbers

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Key Facts

In Australia in 2023:

There were 9,629 schools – an increase of 15 schools since 2022
69.7% of schools were government schools, 18.3% were Catholic and 12.0% independent
64.8% of schools were primary, 15.1% secondary, 14.8% combined and 5.4% were special schools.

Why does ACARA collect and report on school numbers?

Data about the number of schools in Australia provides insights into demographic changes and enables planning and allocation of educational resources.

The number of schools in each state and territory is largely determined by the size and geographical distribution of the school-age population, but changes in school numbers from year to year may be due to administrative or structural changes in schooling as well as to changes in student populations.

What information is reported?

Schools data is drawn from the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) collected in August each year and published in Schools by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The number of schools in Australia, by school type, school sector and state/territory is reported.

The ABS defines a school as education establishment which satisfies all of the following criteria:

its major activity is the provision of full-time day primary or secondary education or the provision of primary or secondary distance education
it is headed by a principal (or equivalent) responsible for its internal operation, and
it is possible for students to enroll for a minimum of four continuous weeks, excluding breaks for school vacations.

The Australian Schools List, maintained by ACARA, provides a quarterly update of all schools and campuses in Australia, based on data collected from the 14 Australian school registration authorities. Differences in the number of schools reported on the ASL compared to the NSSC are likely to be due to differences in the timing of the data collections, and inclusion of schools in hospitals, mission schools and similar establishments in the NSSC data, if they meet the school definition criteria.

Information about specific schools, including student attendance, school finances and NAPLAN is available on the My School website.

Notes and caveats

Categories used in tables and graphs showing ‘school type’ are:
- "Primary" - school delivers primary education
- "Secondary" - school delivers secondary education
- "Combined" - school delivers both primary and secondary education
- "Special" - students may include primary students, secondary students, ungraded students or a combination of primary, secondary and ungraded students.

Data is drawn from the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) collected in August each year and published by the ABS, Schools, Australia.
In 2020 and 2021, restrictions due to COVID-19 may have impacted on NSSC data. However, schools delivering programs remotely or that were temporarily closed due to COVID-19 at the time of the collection were included in the count. Overall, it is estimated that the impacts of COVID-19 on the data were minor. For further details see Schools, Australia 2020 and 2021.
From 2015, primary education comprises Foundation (pre-Year 1) followed by Years 1-6 in New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (Vic.), Queensland (Qld), Western Australia (WA), Tasmania (Tas.), Northern Territory (NT) and Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Secondary education consists of Years 7-12 in these jurisdictions.
In 2015, Year 7 in Qld and WA was moved from a primary school year to a secondary school year.
Until 2019 in South Australia (SA), primary education comprised Foundation (pre-Year 1) followed by Years 1-7. Secondary education consisted of Years 8-12.
In 2019, Year 7 was moved from a primary school year to a secondary school year in some South Australian non-government schools. In 2020, three government schools also moved Year 7 to become the first year of secondary schooling. Year 7 in SA will be moved progressively from a primary school year to a secondary school year (from 2022 for most government schools).
In 2022, all remaining South Australian government and non-government schools completed the transition to Year 7 as the starting school grade of secondary schooling. This meant that 2022 is the first year South Australian schools across all affiliations had Year 7 as their starting secondary school grade.
Categories used in tables and graphs showing "school sector" are "government", "Catholic" and "independent". In some tables, the category "total non-government" (total of Catholic and independent data) is also used.
In Schools Australia, and in this publication, Catholic non-systemic schools are counted as Catholic rather than as independent.
See Glossary for definitions of school, school level, school sector, school type and special school and for further information on the NSSC.

Source: ABS, Schools.