National Comparison

Australian Education: State by State

How does each state compare on school outcomes, ICSEA scores, participation rates, and educational disadvantage? ACARA + ROGS 2026 data.

9,755

Schools nationally

4.2M

Total enrolments

1,058

Schools below ICSEA 900

1002

Weighted avg ICSEA

School Landscape by State

ACARA MySchool data — school counts, ICSEA scores, disadvantage indicators.

State	Schools	Students	Avg ICSEA	<900 ICSEA	Indigenous %	Gov / Non-Gov
NSW	3,196	1,257,719	1004	399 (12%)	12.5%	2,214 / 982
VIC	2,310	1,067,614	1032	62 (3%)	3.6%	1,586 / 724
QLD	1,808	900,051	984	251 (14%)	14.6%	1,257 / 551
WA	1,132	489,697	994	125 (11%)	13.7%	815 / 317
SA	715	287,325	1003	56 (8%)	10%	508 / 207
TAS	261	84,104	969	45 (17%)	14.3%	189 / 72
ACT	139	77,902	1082	1 (1%)	5.2%	92 / 47
NT	194	40,136	794	119 (61%)	62.7%	150 / 44

Participation, enrolments, student-teacher ratios, and VET completion.

Metric	QLD	NSW	VIC	WA	SA	NT	TAS	ACT	National
Total enrolments	566,517	780,336	662,242	303,143	174,484	28,724	53,167	45,896	2,614,508
Primary enrolments	327,931	467,885	395,002	184,731	98,569	18,038	30,537	26,229	1,548,923
Secondary enrolments	238,587	312,451	267,239	118,412	75,914	10,686	22,629	19,667	1,065,585
Student-teacher ratio (primary)	14.1:1	14.1:1	13:1	15.4:1	13.6:1	11.3:1	12.7:1	13:1	13.8:1
Participation rate 15yo	95.3%	95.7%	98.5%	93.3%	100.1%	85.9%	95.8%	109.4%	96.4%
Participation rate 16yo	87.3%	86.7%	96.2%	85.7%	99.2%	78.1%	92.1%	110.3%	90.3%
Participation rate 17yo	78.7%	74.1%	86.2%	77%	85.8%	61.5%	77.2%	99.3%	79.5%
VET completion rate	34.4%	19.3%	28.9%	30.1%	21.2%	15.6%	16.4%	16.2%	26.1%
Attendance rate (Yr 1-10)	87.3%	88.2%	87.8%	86.9%	88.1%	74.4%	85.8%	88.7%	87.6%
Year 12 retention rate	81.2%	73.8%	84%	83.7%	85.3%	63.9%	69.7%	87.6%	79.9%
Disability adj. (supplementary)	11%	12%	9.9%	9.5%	14.5%	12.3%	9.7%	10.5%	11.1%
Disability adj. (substantial)	5.4%	4.3%	5.2%	3.3%	4.2%	10.5%	6.2%	4.5%	4.7%
Disability adj. (extensive)	2.1%	2.4%	3.6%	1.2%	2.6%	5.4%	1.8%	1.3%	2.5%