State of Our Schools Report 2010
State of Our Schools Report 2010
State of Our Schools Report 2010
AEU
October 2010
DEMOGRAPHICS
1.a. In which state or territory is your school located? (Percentages) Respondents = 11,694
8% 2%
3%
ACT
NSW
35%
QLD
20%
SA
NT
VIC
1%
TAS
6%
WA
25%
4%
14% 4%
1 ‐ 50
51 ‐ 100
101 ‐ 500
36% Over 1000
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2.b. How many students are at your school? (State and territory)
1 - 50 51 - 100 101 - 500 501 - 1000 Over 1000
ACT 1% 1% 43% 47% 8%
NSW 4% 4% 43% 41% 9%
QLD 4% 4% 31% 40% 21%
SA 5% 10% 50% 22% 13%
NT 8% 5% 61% 14% 12%
VIC 4% 5% 48% 27% 16%
TAS 3% 4% 69% 23% 1%
WA 3% 3% 40% 35% 19%
3.a. In which of the following area is your school located? (National) Respondents = 11,694
7% 1%
Major city
42%
28% Inner regional
Outer regional
Remote
Very remote
22%
3.b. In which of the following area is your school located? (State and territory)
3
4.a. School type. (National) Respondents = 11,694
3% 1%
7%
Primary
Secondary
51% Primary/ Secondary
Special
38%
Other
4
5.a. Which one of the following best describes your position in the school? (National)
Respondents = 11,694
Principal
7%
13%
Mainly classroom
15%
teaching
Mainly managing an area
or department in the
school
8% Mainly providing
specialist support to
students
6% A combination of
classroom teaching and
management
50%
Other
5.b. Which one of the following best describes your position in the school? (State and
territory)
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PART A: PRINCIPALS ONLY
6. Number of principal respondents. (Exact number of respondents per question varies)
Note: Due to the small numbers of principal respondents from the ACT, TAS and the NT,
figures for these jurisdictions should be viewed with caution.
CLASS SIZES
7.a. Number of general classes in primary schools [not including specialist classes]. (National)
Respondents = 1,566
40% 37%
35%
30%
25% 25%
25%
20%
15%
10%
10%
5% 2% 1%
0%
0%
7.b. Number of general classes in primary schools [not including specialist classes]. (State and
territory)
51 or
1 - 10 11 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 50
more Unspecified Mean
classes classes classes classes classes
classes
ACT 10% 45% 7% 0% 3% 0% 34% 17.0
NSW 37% 26% 9% 1% 0% 0% 26% 12.3
QLD 35% 20% 15% 7% 1% 0% 21% 14.8
SA 52% 23% 4% 0% 0% 1% 20% 9.4
NT 17% 35% 13% 0% 0% 0% 35% 15.3
VIC 39% 24% 9% 3% 0% 1% 24% 15.5
TAS 43% 24% 5% 0% 0% 0% 29% 9.3
WA 28% 31% 11% 0% 0% 0% 31% 12.7
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8.a. Percentage of different class sizes in all primary schools surveyed. (National)
Respondents = 1,566
3%
24% 30%
20 or less
21‐25
26‐30
Over 30
43%
8.b. Percentage of different class sizes in all primary schools surveyed. (State and territory)
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SCHOOL FUNDRAISING
9. Has your school engaged in fundraising in the past year? Respondents = 1,566
100% 0%
10% 8% 9% 8% 9%
90% 13% 13%
19%
80%
70%
60%
50% No
40% Yes
30%
20%
10%
90% 92% 91% 87% 100% 92% 81% 87% 91%
0%
ACT NSW QLD SA NT VIC TAS WA AUST
10.a. How important are school fundraising and voluntary contributions to your school
budget? (National) Respondents = 1,420
6%
Very important
33%
Important
Not important
61%
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10.b. How important are school fundraising and voluntary contributions to your school
budget? (State and territory)
11.a. What was fundraising money used to pay for? [Select all that apply] (National)
Respondents = 1,420
Basic maintenance on existing school
21%
infrastructure
Salaries for teachers and educational support
10%
staff
New buildings and facilities 15%
Classroom equipment 71%
ICT hardware/ software 57%
Library resources/ textbooks 58%
Study trips/ performance trips 29%
Sporting items/ equipment/ play equipment 57%
Special programs 29%
Other 11%
Other reasons cited in the ‘other’ option for this question include school camps, air conditioning,
grounds improvement and maintenance.
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11.b. What was fundraising money used to pay for? [Select all that apply] (State and territory)
10
PART B: TEACHERS ONLY
EMPLOYMENT
12. Number of teacher respondents. (Exact number of respondents per question varies)
100%
9% 10%
90% 13%
19% 20% 21% 20%
80% 27%
70% 35%
60%
50% Part‐time
40% Full‐time
30%
20%
10%
87% 81% 80% 73% 91% 79% 65% 90% 80%
0%
ACT NSW QLD SA NT VIC TAS WA AUST
14.a. How many years have you been teaching for? (National) Respondents = 10,128
1%
9%
Non‐teaching duties or
less than 1 year
1 ‐ 3 years
44% 24%
4 ‐ 10 years
11 ‐ 20 years
Over 20 years
21%
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14.b. How many years have you been teaching for? (State and territory)
Non-
teaching or 11 - 20
1 - 3 years 4 - 10 years Over 20 years Mean
less than 1 years
year
ACT 1% 11% 30% 24% 34% 16.4
NSW 1% 8% 24% 20% 47% 19.2
QLD 1% 11% 28% 24% 36% 16.5
SA 2% 3% 16% 20% 59% 23.1
NT 1% 14% 27% 24% 34% 16.1
VIC 2% 13% 26% 19% 40% 17.0
TAS 1% 7% 21% 19% 53% 20.4
WA 0% 5% 18% 24% 53% 21.5
15.a. How long do you see yourself teaching? (National) Respondents = 1,075
7%
22% 8%
1‐3 years
14% 4‐5 years
6‐10 years
More than 10 years
Don't know
48%
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15.b. How long do you see yourself teaching? (State and territory)
More than 10
1-3 years 4-5 years 6-10 years Don't know
years
ACT 3% 19% 19% 42% 17%
NSW 9% 7% 11% 46% 27%
QLD 8% 9% 17% 47% 20%
SA 7% 27% 13% 33% 20%
NT 6% 17% 6% 39% 33%
VIC 6% 7% 16% 52% 18%
TAS 5% 0% 0% 79% 16%
WA 0% 8% 8% 50% 33%
WORKLOAD
16.a. In a typical week, how many hours do you spend on all school-related activities
[including work days, evenings and weekends]? (National) Respondents = 10,128
7%
19%
13%
Less than 29 hours
30‐ 40 hours
41‐45 hours
46‐50 hours
17%
18% 51‐55 hours
55+ hours
26%
16.b. In a typical week, how many hours do you spend on all school-related activities
[including work days, evenings and weekends]? (State and territory)
Less than 29
30- 40 hours 41-45 hours 46-50 hours 51-55 hours 55+ hours
hours
ACT 4% 9% 18% 29% 19% 22%
NSW 8% 13% 19% 25% 16% 19%
QLD 7% 14% 19% 25% 16% 19%
SA 6% 11% 16% 26% 21% 19%
NT 3% 9% 13% 30% 18% 27%
VIC 6% 12% 17% 26% 20% 19%
TAS 7% 18% 19% 29% 13% 13%
WA 2% 11% 17% 30% 18% 21%
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17.a. In the last year have the hours you spend on school-related activities increased,
decreased or stayed about the same? (National) Respondents = 10,128
31%
Increased
Decreased
Stayed about the same
64%
5%
17.b. In the last year have the hours you spend on school-related activities increased,
decreased or stayed about the same? (State and territory)
14
18.a. Which of these do you think would most assist you to improve student outcomes?
[Place a one in the box next to the most important and a two in the second most
important] (National) Respondents = 10,128
Smaller class sizes 43%
15%
Upgraded classroom facilities 8%
11%
Better access to information technology 5%
such as computers 9%
More classroom assistance (e.g. teacher 8%
aides) 19%
1st
Additional specialised programs for literacy 7%
and numeracy 10% 2nd
Additional support for students with 18%
disabilities or behavioural issues 24%
Greater professional development for 5%
teachers 7%
Other 6%
5%
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18.b. Which of these do you think would most assist you to improve student outcomes?
[Place a one in the box next to the most important and a two in the second most
important] (State and territory)
ACT NSW QLD SA NT VIC TAS WA
Smaller class sizes
1st 6% 8% 8% 4% 8% 10% 5% 7%
2nd 7% 11% 12% 9% 14% 11% 9% 13%
Better access to information
technology such as computers
1st 4% 4% 6% 6% 3% 6% 4% 8%
2nd 9% 7% 9% 9% 7% 11% 9% 8%
More classroom assistance
(e.g. teacher aides)
1st 10% 7% 10% 7% 11% 10% 9% 6%
2nd 13% 17% 21% 20% 21% 18% 21% 16%
Additional specialised
programs for literacy and
numeracy
1st 6% 6% 5% 4% 4% 9% 9% 11%
2nd 12% 10% 8% 11% 11% 12% 13% 11%
Additional support for students
with disabilities or behavioural
issues
1st 23% 18% 18% 20% 15% 18% 26% 16%
2nd 25% 26% 23% 24% 24% 22% 23% 27%
Greater professional
development for teachers
1st 8% 6% 4% 6% 6% 3% 4% 5%
2nd 9% 8% 6% 7% 9% 6% 7% 8%
Other
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19. What difference do you personally believe you could make to student outcomes with
additional resources? [Open response box] (National) Respondents = 10,128
I honestly believe that with a smaller numbers of students in my class and with extra help in the
classroom I could give more attention to each child, differentiating instruction and helping them
make even greater improvements in all areas of the curriculum, but in particular with literacy
and numeracy.
I know how effective direct-instruction literacy programs are for below-benchmark students. If I
had increased staffing and financial resources to be able to effectively remediate those with
literacy issues during secondary school then I could improve the outcomes and engagement of
those students and assist other staff and teachers across the school.
The children we see in schools today have much shorter attention spans and are less able to
work independently. Teachers have a lot of special needs to accommodate and all of these things
require careful programming, more activities of shorter duration, more use of technology and
more one- to-one help than we used to provide.
There would be a greater capacity to meet the individual learning needs of children at both ends
of the spectrum. I could better assist students who are not at the expected level and I could
extend high-achieving students.
I believe I could significantly increase the literacy levels of students if I had smaller class sizes
and more time to focus on specific activities for specific students.
Having more frequent access to class sets of computers would improve ICT skills such as
researching, investigating, communicating and collaborating with students beyond the
classroom.
As I am a science teacher, I could apply more relevant contexts to the content that I am
teaching; be able to involve the parent community more so that they better understand the
direction that education is taking and how this is different to their own education, be able to
better assist those students with welfare issues that are affecting their educational and
emotional progress and improve the delivery of mandatory applications of technology.
Additional resources always make teaching easier. Engagement is always higher and lessons
are more interesting and perhaps relevant. It not only motivates students but teachers as well. It
makes sure that teachers stay up- to-date with new initiatives and teaching methods.
By having additional support for students with disabilities or behavioural issues it means I am
then not monitoring behaviour but working with students to build on their knowledge.
Learning environments could be greatly improved and would keep up with a modern workplace
where we expect our students to flow through to after leaving school.
Individualised programs to make the most effective use of the existing resources such as
computers that have already been delivered would enhance student outcomes in all our key
learning areas.
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TEACHER SUPPLY
20.a. In your opinion, do schools as a whole currently have difficulty in retaining teachers in
the profession? (National) Respondents = 9,695
18%
Yes
15% No
Don't know
68%
20.b. In your opinion, do schools as a whole currently have difficulty in retaining teachers in
the profession? (State and territory)
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21.a. Which of the following in your view would most help retain teachers in the profession?
[Select one](National) Respondents = 9,695
1% 3%
7% Reduced workloads
More classroom assistance
33%
Smaller class sizes
Fewer student management
issues
35%
Higher pay for teachers who
demonstrate advanced
competence
8% Cash bonuses for teachers judged
to be high performing
13%
21.b. Which of the following in your view would most help retain teachers in the profession?
[Select one](State and territory)
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22.a. Do you plan to leave teaching permanently prior to retirement?
(Answered only by teachers with greater than 3 years service – National)
Respondents = 8,752
Yes 15%
No 44%
Possibly 28%
Don't know 12%
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