DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION

Our report card

Key performance measures
  2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
Achievement  
Students above the national reading benchmark (error margins not included):  
Year 3 91.2% 95.1% 96.3% 96.4% N/A1
Year 5 81.4% 94.4% 96.3% 95.2% N/A1
Year 7 - - 88.6% 88.3% N/A1
Students above the national numeracy benchmark (error margins not included):  
Year 3 92.8% 95.6% 94.1% 93.9% N/A1
Year 5 87.6% 91.7% 89.2% 92.4% N/A1
Year 7 - - 84.0% 80.6% N/A1
Participation  
Average daily absentee rate:  
Term 1     6.37% 5.92% 6.11%
Term 2     9.16% 9.24% 8.37%
Term 3     7.73% 7.27% 7.98%
Overall     7.69% 7.40% 7.41%
Proportion of students suspended     3.50% 4.11% 4.22%
Suspensions per 100 students     6.67 8.38 8.79
Access  
Ratio of students to teaching staff in government schools in Tasmania:  
Primary students per member of teaching staff     16.1 16.0 15.9
Secondary students per member of teaching staff     13.4 13.4 13.2
All students per member of teaching staff     14.8 14.8 14.6

 

Key performance measures
  2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
Average class sizes (numbers):  
Kindergartens:  
Kindergarten-only classes 20.2 20.3 19.5
Kindergarten in combined classes 17.8 18.1 18.2
Primary schools:  
Preparatory 22.2 22.0 22.2
Year 1 23.8 23.6 23.3
Year 2 24.3 24.3 24.1
Year 3 25.0 24.7 24.5
Year 4 25.3 24.9 24.7
Year 5 25.3 25.4 25.1
Year 6 25.2 25.3 25.1
P-6 overall 24.8 24.6 24.5
Secondary schools2 by school type:  
Secondary schools 24.5 24.5 24.4
Combined schools 22.9 22.8 23.2
All secondary classes 24.3 24.2 24.2
Access to internet-connected computers in classrooms (number of students per computer):  
Primary schools 5.6 5.9 5.9
High schools 3.7 3.9 3.8
Combined schools - 3.4 3.5
Colleges 3.8 3.3 3.2
Special schools 2.6 3.1 2.9
Average across all sectors 4.5 4.5 4.5
Community use of Tasmanian government school facilities:  
Average annual hours per school - 410 392
Duration of community activity per school (range of hours per week) 0.1-124 0.1-100 0.1-70

 

Proportion of base-grade teachers and other professional staff with at least 4 years of training

Graph showing proportion of base-grade teachers and other professional staff with at least 4 years of training.

 

Other performance measures
  2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
Achievement  
Performance of students in Years 3, 5, and 7 in literacy:  
Year 3: Achieved Tasmanian Literacy Outcomes at Year 2 or better 97.3% 96.9% 97.4%
Year 5: Achieved Tasmanian Literacy Outcomes at Year 4 or better 89.9% 90.3% 90.4%
Year 7: Achieved Tasmanian Literacy Outcomes at Year 6 or better 78.9% 78.1% 80.1%
Performance of students in Years 3, 5, and 7 in numeracy:  
Year 3: Achieved Key Intended Numeracy Outcomes at Year 2 or better 95.0% 96.1% 95.5%
Year 5: Working towards Key Intended Numeracy Outcomes at Year 5 or better 97.6% 98.5% 97.8%
Year 7: Achieved Key Intended Numeracy Outcomes at Year 5 or better 92.3% 91.6% 89.6%
Performance of students in Year 10:  
Percentage of students achieving at least the English syllabus EN416B or better:  
Males 77.9% 78.0% 78.3%
Females 90.2% 87.4% 89.4%
Aboriginal students 69.5% 63.4% 65.7%
All students 83.8% 82.4% 83.7%
Percentage of students who achieved at least the mathematics syllabus MT421B or better:  
Males 72.3% 74.2% 77.8%
Females 79.5% 76.2% 82.9%
Aboriginal students 55.7% 52.8% 61.2%
All students 75.8% 75.3% 80.2%
Percentage of school partnership agreements which have a clear statement about literacy and numeracy outcomes that the school is aiming to achieve and which support the achievement of state targets.3 100% 100% 100%
Participation  
Student exclusions for the year (number and percentage) 122 (0.17%) 118 (0.17%) 80 (0.12%)
Student expulsions for the year 2 4 0
Number of licensed child care centres/services:  
Centres with a licence to care for 0-5 year olds4 132 129 120
Centres with a licence to care for 5-12 year olds5,6 - - 89
Centres with a licence to care for 0-12 year olds6 - - 29
Family day care schemes6 - - 11
Number of licensed child care places:  
Long day care 2,848 3,222 4,076
Occasional care 968 858 919
After school care6 - - 2,937
Before school care6 - - 703
Vacation care6 - - 2,594
Total 3,816 4,080 11,229
Number of children who attended government kindergartens 4,980 5,100 5,091
Percentage of parents who considered their child’s school to be a safe environment:7  
Mildly, moderately or strongly agreed 92% 91% 91%
Mildly, moderately or strongly disagreed 8% 9% 9%
Number of students participating in home education 424 438 485
Participation of students with disabilities in special and regular education and early special education:  
Students attending early Special Education Centres:  
Number 323 378 380
Full-time equivalents 110.9 127.5 126.8
Students with the highest support needs (Category A) in special schools:8  
Number 150 140 138
Full-time equivalents 148.1 138.1 136
Category A students in regular schools:8  
Number 426 442 465
Full-time equivalents 422.9 430.39 454.15
Early Learning Category A students:8  
Number 5 6 3
Full-time equivalents 1.5 2.1 1.1
Access  
Child care in schools on government and non-government school sites (number of licensed services):9  
Long day care services:  
Government 13 15 18
Non-government 11 11 10
Occasional care services:  
Government 5 4 8
Non-government 0 0 4
Outside school hours care (after school care):10  
Government - - 47
Non-government - - 19
Outside school hours care (before school care):10  
Government - - 15
Non-government - - 8
Outside school hours care (vacation school care):10  
Government - - 24
Non-government - - 11
Total services:  
Government - - 100
Non-government - - 46
Students enrolled in distance education:  
Number 2,425 2,146 1,877
Full-time equivalents 1,531.8 1,392.9 1,173.6
Community involvement in and satisfaction with DoE  
Percentage of students enrolled in out-of-area primary schools 30.5% 30.9% 32.1%
Parents’ satisfaction with their child’s education (schools participating in SIR):  
Mildly, moderately or strongly satisfied 94% 92% 90%
Parents’ satisfaction with school reporting processes (schools participating in SIR):  
Mildly, moderately or strongly believed that their child’s school reports were informative in that they indicated achievement levels 93% 90% 90%
Mildly, moderately or strongly believed that their child’s school reports were comprehensive 93% 90% 90%
Mildly, moderately or strongly believed that their child’s school provided helpful information about their child’s progress 92% 89% 89%
High performing, motivated and supported workforce  
Proportion of base-grade teachers and other professional staff with at least 4 years of training:  
5 years 9% 10% 12%
4 years 84% 81% 82%
Unplanned absences by staff 3.0% 3.24% 3.17%
Separation rates for staff aged under 55 years:  
Admin/clerical 2.0% 2.6% 1.1%
Operational 2.7% 3.2% 2.2%
Professional 4.4% 1.4% 0.9%
Teaching services 1.6% 1.3% 2.0%
Technical 2.4% 1.4% 1.2%
Total 1.9% 1.8% 1.7%
Efficiency and resource management  
Real government expenditure ($) per student (FTE) in government schools11 9,555 9,828 N/A
Area per student in government schools (square metres):  
Primary schools 9.12 9.12 9.27
High schools 15.18 14.79 14.76
Combined schools 14.33 14.46 14.95
Colleges 14.76 15.12 15.01
Special schools 51.96 54.32 49.92
Average 12.04 11.99 12.11
Energy cost per student in government schools ($):  
Primary schools 65 70 70
High schools 99 107 109
Combined schools 111 119 126
Colleges 143 155 138
Special schools 460 525 538
Average 90 96 96

 

Licensed child care places - long day care

Graph of licensed child care places - long day care.

Long day care services - government school sites

Graph of long day care services - government school sites.

Real government expenditure ($) per student (FTE) in government schools

Real government expenditure per student in government schools.

 

1 Results will be available once approved by MCEETYA (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs).
2 As secondary school students are not organised into classes which exclusively undertake a complete education program, the department has adopted English class size as a proxy measure.
3 Data collected from schools finalising partnership agreements during the reporting year.
4 Long day care and occasional care centres only.
5 Outside school hours care centres only.
6 These services were licensed for the first time in 2004-05.
7 Data collected from parent surveys in schools participating in school improvement reviews (SIR) during the reporting period.
8 2002-03 and 2003-04 figures adjusted to align with reporting period of High Needs Register (figures of previous annual reports drawn from August census).
9 Categories adjusted from previous years to reflect new licensing arrangements.
10 These services were licensed for the first time in 2004-05.
11 Includes notional user cost of capital and payroll tax. Excludes capital investing costs.