Staff numbers dataset
Download the
Staff numbers dataset
Notes and caveats
- Data is drawn from the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) collected in August each year and published in ABS, Schools, Australia.
- In 2020 and 2021, restrictions due to COVID-19 may have impacted on this data collection. However, staff who were working remotely, or whose work was temporarily disrupted 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.
- Categories used in tables and graphs showing "school level" are "primary" and "secondary".
- Staff employed in combined schools and special schools and non-teaching staff are allocated to either primary or secondary school level on a pro-rata basis.
- From 2015 Primary education comprises a 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. This affects the numbers and proportions of primary and secondary school staff in those states and nationally from 2015.
- 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. Year 7 in SA will be moved progressively from a primary school year to a secondary school year (from 2022 for government schools).
- In 2019, Year 7 was moved from a primary school year to a secondary school year in some South Australian non-government schools. This may affect the number and proportion of primary and secondary school staff in SA in 2019.
- In 2020, the Victorian Government provided revised 2019 teaching staff FTE data.
- 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 the National Report on Schooling, Catholic non-systemic schools are counted as Catholic rather than as independent
- In 2018, NSW introduced a new payroll system that is used to report staffing levels in government schools. This system provides stricter controls and validation over the way casual and temporary teachers are engaged and improved the information available to better identify teachers that should be included as "generally active" in schools. This led to a fall in the number of FTE NSW government school teachers reported in 2019 and to a small fall in the number of FTE teaching staff nationally. Care should be taken when comparing NSW government in-school staff time series data.
- In 2018, the Australian Capital Territory provided revised 2017 staff data, which have been included in this release.
- From 2018 there are a small number of staff whose sex was reported as neither male nor female.
- In order to protect the confidentiality of these individuals the ABS has randomly assigned them either a male or female status. The ABS will review this approach as input data quality improves.
- In addition, some providers supply gender data, rather than sex, for this classification
- See Glossary for definitions of school level, school sector, special school, staff and staff functions, full-time equivalent of staff (FTE) and for further information on the NSSC.
Sources: ABS, Schools, Australia
This information relates to Part 1 of the National Report on Schooling in Australia.
User guide
Please refer to the user guide for information on how to use the data portal.
