19 February 2021

Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education and Training

Improved retention rate confirms our plan for education is working

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Schools 2020 data has confirmed the Tasmanian Liberal Government’s plan to extend high schools to year 12 is working.

The data shows that Student Apparent Retention Rates (ARR) in years 10 to 12 in Tasmanian government schools has risen by nearly 10 per cent to 79.5 per cent since we came into Government, and is higher than the national rate.

Other positive achievements since 2019 include:

• The Year 7-12 Apparent Retention Rate for government schools has increased and is nearly one percentage point higher than the national rate;
• The School Participation Rate for students aged 15-19 years is now the second highest in the country;
• There has been a significant increase in Tasmanian Government in-school staff by 150.7 FTE; and
• The teacher/student ratio has improved, with 13.3 students per FTE teaching staff across all school year levels.

It’s promising to see such positive improvements occurring in our government schools. I look forward to continuing our plan to improve educational outcomes and create a job ready generation of young Tasmanians.

More Media Releases from Jeremy Rockliff

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