Independent School - Australia

Australia

In Australia, independent or private schools are the fastest growing education sector, and over 85% of them have a religious or church affiliation. In 2009, there were 1,022 independent schools catering for around 500,000 students in Australia. Some independent schools are prestigious and enrolment highly sought after, with tuition fees to match, however since the 1980s the number of low-fee schools catering for 'average' Australians, and in some cases without any religious affiliation, has increased significantly. Independent schools in Australia receive approximately 75% of Federal Government school educational funding.

Independent schools in Australia make up nearly 15% of total enrolments while Catholic schools, which usually have lower fees, also make up a sizeable proportion (18%) and are usually regarded as a school sector of their own within the broad category of independent schools (some independent schools are affiliated with Catholic religious orders). Enrolments in non-government schools has been growing steadily at the expense of enrolments in government schools which have seen their enrolment share reduce from 78% to 67% since 1970.

Australian independent schools differ slightly from those in the United States as the Australian Government provides funding to all schools including independent schools using a 'needs-based' funding scheme based on a Socio-Economic Status (SES) score. The school's SES score is derived by selecting a sample of parent's addresses and mapping these to a Census Collector District from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census. The household income and education data are then used to derive an SES score for each school, which places it on a sliding scale of funding entitlement. On average, funding granted to an independent school is 47% of that required to operate a government school, the residual being made up by tuition fees paid by parents.