Data Collections Non-Government Schools Census
The Census provides the community and the Australian Government with information about schools and students in Australia. The annual Census collects information about:
Census informs the My School website, helping parents and the community to learn more about Australian schools. The data collected highlights some of the needs of each school’s students. The Government also uses this Census data to calculate funding and to create informed and tailored policies for Australian Schools. Important dates for the 2022 CensusMonday 1 August 2022 Census opens in SchoolsHUB Friday 5 August 2022 Census Day Friday 12 August 2022 Census declaration due Friday 19 August 2022 Special Circumstances Applications due Reference PeriodThe Census Reference Period for students is the 20 school days leading up to and including Census Day, Friday, 5 August 2022. School holidays, public holidays, and weekends that fall within the 20-day Census Reference Period are not included. Pupil free days within the 20-day Reference Period are included. Report all staff employed or engaged during the Reference Period (the five school days leading up to and including Census Day). Census reporting is required under the Australian Education Act 2013. Non-government schools provide Census data in August each year. Census Instructional VideosTo make Census reporting easier, please select one of the links below to watch our new instructional videos. In SchoolsHUB, you can submit your Census data in two ways. You can enter all information at once by using the Census Upload Tool. You can also enter data into each Census reporting field manually. To access Census reporting:
Data UploadTo upload your data using our Census Upload Tool, click on the Data Upload tab. You will find a link to the tool under ‘How to upload data’. You can also find the tool in the Downloads section on this page. Watch a video to find out more about the Census Upload Tool. Manual ReportingTo manually enter your data in each field, click on the school name you wish to report on and click start. You must have an active SchoolsHUB account. Your account must have the appropriate access role, and must be linked to your location, school, diocesan office, system office, or approved authority. The table below shows Census roles available in SchoolsHUB. For SchoolsHUB access details, visit the Using SchoolsHUB help and support page.
Watch a video to find out more about the Data Declarer Role The information collected in the Census is different for each school or location. The below table outlines the information each organisation type will provide.
The Census consists of the following data entry pages:
Note: The data entry pages shown will vary depending on your user access level. Watch a video to find out more about the Census and Reporting Cohort Data
Legal obligationsYou are required to complete the Census under section 77 of the Australian Education Act 2013. Providing Census data is an ongoing requirement for approved authorities of non-government schools. Failure to complete the Census on time and through the requested channel may result in a delay to recurrent funding. Continued failure to complete the Census may lead to the department varying or revoking an approved authority’s approval. Providing false or misleading Census information to the Commonwealth is a serious offence and may result in prosecution under Section 137.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995. Recordkeeping and Census Post EnumerationYour approved authority must maintain records verifying the eligibility of all students reported in the Census for a minimum of seven years. This is a requirement under section 37 of the Australian Education Regulation 2013 (the Regulation). Each year after the Census, the department conducts the Post Enumeration exercise to review a sample of schools’ Census records. If the department selects a school for Post Enumeration, participation is mandatory under section 39 of the Regulation. Privacy informationYou must inform parents, guardians and staff about the department’s use of Census data. A privacy notice is available on SchoolsHUB. The privacy notice provides information on how we will handle the personal information collected in the Census. The department uses information collected in the Census under our privacy policy. We collect, hold, use, and disclose personal information for a lawful purpose that is reasonably necessary or directly related to one or more of our functions or activities or where otherwise required or authorised by law. We will only use your personal information for secondary purposes according to the Privacy Act 1988. For queries or more information about privacy-related matters, please email privacy@dese.gov.au. Eligible studentsStudents are eligible to be reported in the Census if they meet all the following criteria:
Do not report students who did not attend during the Reference Period. You can apply to include these students in your final Census count by submitting a Special Circumstances application. Ineligible studentsStudents ineligible to be reported in the Census are students who:
Special Circumstances Application to include a student in CensusStudents who did not attend during the Census Reference Period are not eligible for reporting in the Census. In some circumstances, students who did not attend at all during the Reference Period may qualify to be counted under special circumstances provisions. These students must meet the Census and special circumstances eligibility criteria. You must make a separate Special Circumstances Application for these students. The Department is currently reviewing the Special Circumstances application process. Regardless of the outcome of this review, the eligibility rules and required information will not change. To best prepare your application, please ensure you have the following supporting documents:
Submit all Special Circumstances applications and supporting documents by Friday, 19 August 2022. For more information about Special Circumstances applications visit SchoolsHUB news. We'll also email any news about Special Circumstances Applications. Full-time studentsFull-time students must be enrolled and participating in primary or secondary education at the school location. They must be studying at a full-time workload (as prescribed by the relevant State or Territory). Part-time studentsPart-time students must be enrolled and participating in primary or secondary education at the school location. They must have a workload less than that of a full-time student (as prescribed by the relevant state or territory). Part-time students must have an FTE between 0.1 and 0.9. TAFE, Tertiary Studies and alternative pathways activitiesStudents may be studying school-based subjects while also undertaking alternative pathways activities. To be included as part of the student’s workload, these studies must be state or territory accredited as contributing to the Year 12 certificate (or equivalent). Alternative pathways may include:
If your state or territory government does not recognise the alternative pathway as contributing to a Year 12 Certificate or equivalent, then you must only report the student’s school-based subject workload. AgeStudent ages must be reported in the Census as of 1 July 2022. GenderThe Australian Government recognises that individuals may identify, and be recognised within the community as, a gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth or during infancy or as a gender not exclusively male or female. Options to report students are male (M), female (F) and indeterminate, intersex, or unspecified (X) Indigenous studentsIndigenous students are students of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent who self-identify as and are acknowledged by the community in which they live as being of that descent. In situations where school’s either do not have sufficient evidence to confirm a student is an ‘Indigenous student’, or where parents may choose not to identify a student as Indigenous or non-Indigenous, you must report these students as Indigenous non-stated. Options to report Indigenous students are yes (Y), no (N) and non-stated (N/S) Day studentsA day student is a student who attends school during normal business hours only. They are not engaged in distance education and are not accommodated in the school's residential facilities. Boarding studentsA boarding student attends the school location for their schooling, but is accommodated in the school’s residential facilities rather than staying with a parent or guardian. Distance education studentsDistance education students can only be reported at schools that have been approved by the relevant State or Territory for distance education, and where the State or Territory provides funding for the school (other than financial assistance provided to the State or Territory for the school in accordance with the Act), for primary or secondary education for students enrolled and receiving distance education from the school. To be reported in the census, a distance education student must:
Students on visasStudents on visas are students who are not Australian citizens. This includes both permanent residents and New Zealand citizens. Students on bridging visasWhere a student may present a bridging visa, check if their previous substantive visa is still valid at Census day. If the substantive visa is valid, the student must be reported according to the substantive visa. If the substantive visa is no longer valid, report the student according to the subclass of their bridging visa. Overseas studentsOverseas students are students who are on a visa that permits them to travel to Australia to undertake education. Overseas student visa subclasses include 500, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, and 575. Overseas students do not include:
Can I report exchange students in the Census?Exchange students are students participating in an authorised Student Exchange Program. The exchange program must be registered with the state or territory education authority. To be eligible for the Census, an exchange student must:
The department collects data on students with disability using the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) model. Report a student as having a disability if they meet the following criteria
The school must ensure that it has documented evidence of adjustment(s) provided. For more information on the types of supporting evidence, see section C.4 of the 2021 NCCD Guidelines. For guidance on what constitutes ten weeks of school education as it relates to the NCCD, see section C.2.1 of the 2021 NCCD Guidelines. What information is reported for each student with disability?In reporting students with disability, you will provide the department with:
Visit the NCCD Portal for further information and resources. Useful information includes:
Staff reference periodReport all staff employed or engaged during the Reference Period (the five school days leading up to and including Census Day). Eligible Staff
Emergency and casual relief staff (teaching or non-teaching) are not included in the Census unless they are employed in the position of a staff member who is absent for four continuous weeks or longer. Ineligible staff
Report staff according to their ‘major function’ rather than their type of appointment. If a staff member spends 70 per cent of their time at work teaching and 30 per cent on administration duties, report them under their ‘major function’ of teaching. Include a staff member in either the full-time or part-time only section of the staff tables. Executive staff (system/diocesan offices only)Executive staff undertake functions such as Directors, Inspectors, Superintendents or Administrators. PrincipalA principal is a person responsible for the overall control and administration of the school. The approved authority nominates who the principal is. You may report different principals if your school has multiple campuses. If one principal works across multiple campuses, report the principal as part-time at each campus (total FTE must not exceed 1.0). Teaching staffTeaching staff impart the school curriculum and provide information and support services to students. Teaching staff spend most of their work time with students either in direct class contact or on an individual basis. These include:
Specialist supportSpecialist support functions help students or teaching staff in developing the school curriculum. While these staff may spend most of their time in contact with students, they are not employed or engaged to impart the school curriculum. These include:
Building operations and otherBuilding operations, general maintenance and other staff are those involved in the care of buildings and grounds. These include those staff providing associated technical services and other janitorial staff. This includes:
Administrative and clericalAdministrative and clerical staff are responsible for the general administrative functions at the school. This includes:
Eligible staff with a full-time workload at the school location are reported as full-time staff. These staff have an FTE of 1.0. Eligible staff with a less than full-time workload at the school location are reported as part-time staff. These staff have an FTE between 0.1 and 0.9. The Census Upload Tool is an excel document that contains Macros. Macros are a series of commands used to automate and perform tasks that may otherwise take a significant amount of time. The Census Upload Tool uses macros to convert data from a format that is easy to enter and read into an XML file, which is the upload format that SchoolsHUB can accept. To protect you from viruses, Excel will block all macros by default. After opening a file you trust, Excel gives you the option to enable macros for that document. If you try to use Census Upload Tool without first enabling macros, you will get an error message saying that the content is disabled. When you open the file using:
If the warning bar does not appear when you open the document, you will need to update your macros settings manually. More information about enabling Macros is available on the Microsoft support website. Security settings at your school or office may prevent you from changing these settings yourself. Talk to your school’s IT professionals for assistance with enabling macros for the Census Upload Tool. We're here to help, contact us if you have any queries. Non-Government Schools Census
SchoolsHUB technical support
Students with disabilityThe Census Post Enumeration Exercise validates whether a school's Census information is accurate, complete, and reliable. It forms part of the department’s Schools Funding Assurance Framework. Each year, the department visits a number of schools to verify their Census information. After assessing enrolment records, the department adjusts census information and funding where applicable. Under the Australian Education Regulation 2013, schools must participate in the Census Post Enumeration Exercise if they are selected. The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) provides the community and government with information about Australian school students who receive adjustments due to disability. Adjustments help a student with disability take part in education on the same basis as other students. A school's Approved Authority must provide information for each student with disability that is reported in the Census. This includes:
Funding from the Australian Government for students with disability is based on the NCCD. NCCD data is also used to inform improvements to students with disability programs. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) annually publish high-level, de-identified NCCD data. NCCD reporting is required under the Australian Education Regulation 2013. Non-government schools provide NCCD data in August each year. To find out more:
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