Our students and schools in 2021
For further enrolment data, refer to Appendix 1. For further workforce data, refer to Staff.
Year scorecard
We supported our State Government goal – Strong Communities: Safe communities and supported families – through our desired outcome ‘School students across Western Australia have access to high quality education’.
Key performance indicators helped us assess and monitor the extent to which we achieved this outcome and enhanced our ability to account to the community for our performance. Our results in 2020–21 against agreed targets are in Table 1.
Table 1: Key performance indicators, summary of performance against the targets in the 2020–21 Budget Papers
| Effectiveness indicators (a) | Target (b) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Rate of participation in education (proportion of persons aged 15 to 17 years in some form of education) | 99% | 99.4% |
| Retention in public schooling (proportion of Year 7 public school cohort studying in Year 12) | 82% | 81.5% |
| Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) achievement rate by Year 12 public school students | 81% | 81.7% |
| Year 3 public school students achieving proficiency in: | ||
| – Reading – Numeracy | n/a n/a | n/a n/a |
| Year 5 public school students achieving proficiency in: | ||
| – Reading – Numeracy | n/a n/a | n/a n/a |
| Year 7 public school students achieving proficiency in: | ||
| – Reading – Numeracy | n/a n/a | n/a n/a |
| Year 9 public school students achieving proficiency in: | ||
| – Reading – Numeracy | n/a n/a | n/a n/a |
| Efficiency indicators | Target (b) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Service 1: Public primary education | ||
| – Cost per student full-time equivalents | $16,278 | $16,816 |
| Service 2: Public secondary education | ||
| – Cost per student full-time equivalents | $19,103 | $19,500 |
| Service 3: Regulation and non-government sector assistance | ||
| – Cost of non-government school regulatory services per non‑government school | $8,041 | $6,330 |
| – Cost of teacher regulatory services per teacher | $121 | $109 |
| Service 4: Support to the School Curriculum and Standards Authority | ||
| – Cost per student of support to the School Curriculum and Standards Authority | $76 | $81 |
(a) 2020–21 targets and results for the NAPLAN-related key effectiveness indicators are not applicable because they are for performance on the 2020 NAPLAN assessments which were cancelled nationally due to COVID-19.
(b) Targets for 2020–21 are as reported in the 2020–21 Budget Papers.
Further information is in Key performance indicators.
Year in dollars
The total cost of providing our services in 2020–21 was $5.6 billion. Figures 1 and 2 summarise sources of revenue and cost of services. Full details of financial performance during 2020–21 are in the Financial statements.
Figure 1: Revenue sources 2020–21
Source: Education Business Services
Figure 2: Costs 2020–21
Source: Education Business Services
Our results in 2020–21 against agreed financial targets (based on Budget Statements and the Resource Agreement) are in Table 2.
Table 2: Budget targets compared to actual results 2020–21(a)
| 2020–21 budget ($’000) | 2020–21 actual ($’000) | Actual vs budget ($’000) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total cost of services | 5,466,867 | 5,603,321 | 136,454 |
| Net cost of services | 4,205,281 | 3,878,325 | (326,956) |
| Total equity | 14,366,072 | 15,040,722 | 674,650 |
| Net increase/(decrease) in cash held | (9,500) | 62,952 | 72,452 |
| 2020–21 budget (FTE)(b) | 2020–21 actual (FTE) | Actual vs budget (FTE) | |
| Staff | 40,917 | 41,588 | 671 |
Source: Education Business Services
(a) Results in brackets indicate a negative value.
(b) Full-time equivalent.
Total cost of services was $136.4 million (2.5%) higher than the original budget due primarily to approved adjustments during 2020–21. This included:
- additional funding allocated for extra cleaning staff and supplies to provide enhanced cleaning regimes across all public schools, community kindergartens and residential colleges in accordance with the State Government’s COVID-19 safety plans and guidelines
- actuarial movement in leave liability
- extension of the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education in 2021
- additional funding allocated for the 2021 election commitments
- additional funding following revisions to student enrolment and cost growth forecasts, including extra funding to support the growth in the number of students with a disability.
Taking into consideration the approved adjustments during the year, the total cost of services was $2.9 million over the Department’s 2020–21 final budget.
The net cost of services of $3.878 billion was lower than budget by $327.0 million (7.8%). This was mainly due to the one-off recognition of realised gains following changes to the Department's valuation methodology on buildings' project and professional fees at 30 June 2020, in line with AASB 13 ‑ Fair Value Measurement (AASB 13) and Treasurer's Instruction 954 ‑ Revaluation of Non‑Current Physical Assets (TI 954).
The $674.6 million variance in total equity was mainly due to the increase in asset value associated with the change in the Department's valuation methodology on buildings' project and professional fees and the increase in leave liability provisions.
The 2020–21 average paid FTE of 41,588 was 671 FTE (1.6%) higher than the estimate of 40,917 FTE. The increase was attributed to:
- additional school-based staff required to meet demand from student enrolment growth and the opening of new schools in 2020 and 2021
- more cleaners employed to maintain enhanced cleaning regimes in public schools throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
- extra special needs education assistants in mainstream schools due to increases in disability funding.