The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) collects the data from individual data providers: Departments of Education in each state and territory, for the government sector and the Australian Department of Education, and Training (AGDET) for the non-government sector.

Individual data providers collect information from schools under the relevant legislation/agreement in each state/territory and sector.

Summaries of key points from individual data providers’ Data Quality Statements are available (contact [email protected]).

ACARA requests aggregate data, from data providers, in October of the year of the collection period.

Data in this format are published by ACARA, on the National Report on Schooling in Australia Data Portal.

Each state/territory and sector publishes variations of their data through their own websites/publications.

For further information contact [email protected]

Further information on the differences in methodologies and counting rules between state/territory and sector can be found in the Explanatory notes for student attendance data in the National Report on Schooling in Australia 2013 (ACARA 2016a).

Data represents student attendance rates (per cent) for all schools in all sectors in Australia by Year level for Years 1-10 and ungraded students, State and Territory, Sex, and Indigenous status.

Sex and Indigenous status are defined as per the ACARA Data Standards Manual: Student Background Characteristics (ACARA 2016b).

The collection period for all schools was Semester 1 for each state/territory. Note that actual dates of Semester 1 may vary between state/territory.

Attendance data are collected through various school management systems at the school, before then being collated into a central database by Departments of Education in each state/territory and by the AGDET, for the government and non-government systems respectively.

Note that student attendance data are not always captured consistently by schools.

The below only relates to ACARA's activities in relation to the accuracy of collation. ACARA has taken necessary steps to ensure that the collated data are accurately based on the data provided. Data providers were requested to provide data in predefined templates.

ACARA has undertaken rigorous internal quality assurance processes to ensure the collated data are accurately reflective of the source datasets.

From 2014, all jurisdictions adopted the National standards for student attendance data reporting. Whilst minor deviations from the standards remain, the data are generally comparable across state/territory and sector.

2018 ACARA National Student Attendance Data Collection (unpublished)

ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) 2016a. National Report on Schooling in Australia 2015. Sydney: ACARA.

ACARA 2016b. Data standards manual: student background characteristics, 6th edn. Sydney: ACARA