The ACT's indigenous retention rates to year 12 have fallen despite a national surge in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students reaching year 12.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Schools Australia 2012 publication by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that, for the first time, Australia has broken the 50 per cent barrier in supporting indigenous students to reach year 12.
The report found that last year, 51.1 per cent of indigenous students enrolled in year 12, or 6701 students, compared with 48.7 in 2011. But in the ACT, which has always posted the nation's top retention rates for all students, indigenous year 12 retention fell from 76.3 per cent in 2011 to 63.1 per cent last year, the largest single drop in the country.
ACT Education Minister Joy Burch disputed the validity of the data on Wednesday, saying collection methods and the small number of indigenous students in the ACT made the statistics unreliable.
She said ABS data considered apparent retention rates, not actual retention numbers. ''Being a smaller jurisdiction, percentages used in data sets such as these are more susceptible to noticeable swings, particularly after an upward swing in the previous year, and students moving out of the ACT during that time can have a significant impact on the data,'' Ms Burch said.
ACT figures for last year show 70 indigenous students reached year 12 from 111 indigenous students who were in year 7 in 2007.
''The 70 students in 2012 represent the largest recorded number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in year 12, and the group of 111 students in year 7 five years ago is also the largest recorded cohort,'' Ms Burch said. An ABS spokesperson said the apparent retention rates provided an accurate representation but acknowledged data sets could be volatile with small changes in numbers having a large impact on retention rates.
The ACT's overall retention is 89.8 per cent, compared with the national average of 79.9 per cent.
The territory's overall retention rate was up slightly from 89.4 per cent the year before.
But the 63.1 per cent indigenous retention rate is the single biggest fall of any state or territory and takes the ACT's rate below 2002, when it was 69.5 per cent.
ABS director of the national centre for education and training statistics, Alan Herning, said the Schools Australia 2012 publication had good news for indigenous students as, ''for the first time over half of indigenous students stayed on to year 12''.
South Australia recorded the highest indigenous retention rate with nearly 70 per cent staying on to year 12, while Northern Territory had the lowest at 32 per cent.
Along with the ACT, the Northern Territory also showed a decline in last year's retention, down to 32.7 per cent from 32.9 per cent in 2011.
The report also confirmed a decade-long trend towards faster growth in the independent school sector than the government sector.
In the past 10 years, Catholic and independent schools have had a 12 per cent and 31 per cent increase in student numbers respectively, compared with just a 2.6 per cent increase in government school students.
''The data shows that 65 per cent of Australian students still attend government schools. However, the number of students attending non-government schools is growing at a much faster rate,'' Mr Herning said.
In the ACT there was strong growth in government enrolments last year, to 35,649 students compared with 34,644 in 2011.
Independent school enrolments grew slightly to 17,486 compared with 17,250 and Catholic enrolments grew by just 34 on 2011, to 9073.