What are the education prospects for my children?

Australian educational institutions generally have a good international reputation, particularly universities and tertiary-level colleges, and there are some 250,000 foreign students in Australian higher education establishments. Australian schools provide a high standard of teaching and produce good academic results, and the country has a proud record of academic and scientific achievement. In international surveys, Australian students score highly in mathematics and science.

   Full-time education was introduced in Western Australia in 1871, other states following suit shortly afterwards, and it’s now compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15 (16 in Tasmania). Around 75 per cent of pupils complete 12 years of schooling, although this varies with the state or territory. Primary education lasts for six or seven years up to the age of 12 or 13 and secondary schooling for a further five or six years. Students are encouraged to remain at school until the completion of their 12th year (around the age of 18). The government has cut unemployment benefits for young people in recent years to ‘encourage’ them to stay at school or take up training rather than search for non-existent jobs. This has led to overcrowding in many high schools, where classes are crammed with students who don’t want to be there.

   Education in Australia is mainly the responsibility of state and territory governments, each of which has its own education system and provides most funding, supported by the federal government. States administer their own primary and secondary schools, and are also responsible for technical and further education. The federal government, via the Department of Education, Science and Training (www.dest.gov.au), is responsible for tertiary education and provides supplementary funding for schools and technical and further education. It’s also responsible for education in the Australian territories of Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands and Norfolk Island.

   Illiteracy is a problem in Australia and is exacerbated by the thousands of migrant families who don’t speak English or where English isn’t spoken at home. Aboriginal children also have a low rate of literacy – generally three to four years behind other pupils. It has been estimated that as many as half of all Australians aged 15 to 74 have poor or very poor literacy skills, just 2mn people (15 per cent) have good literacy skills and a mere 300,000 very good skills. Adults with the poorest skills are (not surprisingly) mostly from non-English speaking backgrounds.

   There’s no legal obligation for parents to educate their children at school and they may educate them themselves or employ private tutors (with the advent of the internet, it’s possible for children to be educated almost exclusively at home). Parents educating their children at home don’t require a teaching qualification, and in Victoria they aren’t even required to inform the Education Department of their decision. In other states, however, they must satisfy the local education authority that a child is receiving full-time education appropriate to his age and aptitude (the authorities may test your child). Information can be obtained from the Alternative Education Resources Group in most states.

   Many schools have special programmes for children with learning difficulties and for gifted children, and there are also hospital schools, where children who need prolonged hospitalisation are educated, and schools for blind and deaf children. However, whenever possible, children with disabilities attend regular schools in which support is provided for them. Parents can obtain information from the Specific Learning Difficulties Association (www.speld-sa.org.au).

Australian Schools

The Australian term public school (or government school) refers to a non fee-paying school funded wholly from state and federal government budgets. However, in this book the term state school is used, to avoid confusion with the English term public school, which means a private school.

   Australia has around 9,600 primary and secondary schools, some 27 per cent of which are private (mostly Catholic church schools plus some Church of England and other parochial schools). Most state schools are co-educational (mixed) day schools, with the exception of a few secondary schools that accept boarders. It’s generally considered that private schools are superior to state institutions and, although there’s little difference between the best state and private schools, it’s true that the worst-performing private schools are generally streets ahead of the worst state schools.

   There are many books and magazines for parents who wish to choose between state and private education, including Choosing a School magazine (published in separate editions for Victoria and New South Wales), available from Universal Magazines (Unit 5, 6-8 Byfield Street, North Ryde, NSW 2113, 02-9805 0399, www.universalmagazines.com.au). Information about education in individual states and territories is available from their education departments, the website addresses of which are shown in the table below.

Education Department Websites

State/Territory      Website

ACT                       www.det.act.gov.au

NSW                      www.schools.nsw.edu.au

NT                         www.det.nt.gov.au/education

QLD                       http://education.qld.gov.au

SA                         www.decs.sa.gov.au

TAS                        www.education.tas.gov.au

VIC                        www.education.vic.gov.au

WA                        www.det.wa.edu.au/education

For more information see Living and Working in Australia by David Hampshire