Hon Donna Faragher asked about student to teacher ratios in WA government schools for 2021-2023. The Minister provided average ratios for various school types and tabled a list of individual school ratios for 2023.

AnsweredQoN 1617Legislative Council
Asked
14 September 2023
Portfolio
Education

QuestionView source ↗

(1) I refer to student to teacher ratios in Western Australian government schools, and I ask: For the years 2021, 2022, 2023 (current), what was the median student to teacher ratio in: (a) primary schools; (b) secondary schools; (c) curriculum and re-engagement in education (CARE) schools; (d) school of special education needs (SSEN); (e) language development centres; and (f) overall? (2) For each government school, will the Minister table a list of the individual student to teacher ratios in 2023 (current)?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
17 October 2023
Responded by
Leader of the House representing the Minister for Education
Response time
7 days
(1)         Median calculations are not used for the reporting of student-to-teacher ratios. Student-to-teacher ratios for selected school groups 2021 to 2023 as follows:
Ratio 2021
Ratio 2022
Ratio 2023
(a) Primary schools 1
16.2
16.0
16.1
(b) Secondary 1
14.2
14.0
14.1
(c) Curriculum and re-engagement in education (CARE) schools 2
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
(d) Schools of special educational needs 3
0.5
0.4
0.4
(e) Language development centres
8.6
8.5
8.9
(f) Overall 4
14.6
14.5
14.5
1 Distance education, district high schools, K-12 schools, and education support schools/centres are excluded from the responses to (a) and (b).
2 The public school sector does not have any schools that can be classified as CARE schools.
3 Two of the SSENs enrol students: Sensory, and Behaviour and Engagement. The ratio calculation does not take into account that the teachers at the SSENs provide extensive services to many students in their home schools.
4 The response to question (f) includes distance education schools, district high schools, K-12 schools, and education support schools/centres.
·         The student-to-teacher ratios are based on Semester 1 (February) student and staff data as at the student census.
·         Kindergarten students are nominally reported as 0.6 FTE when calculating the student-to-teacher ratios.
(2)          See tabled paper.

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