Early school leaving and 'non-completion' in Australia

LSAY briefing, produced by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), is a series which aims to provide summaries of findings from ACER research and to identify some of the implications for policy and further research. It is based on data from ACER's Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project and key LSAY reports. This issue on early school leaving and 'non-completion in Australia' highlights that: students who perform well at school are less likely to leave school early; boys have a greater tendency than girls to leave school; students whose parents are less educated than average are more likely to leave school early; more than 20 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students leave school by the start of Year 11; only a small number of schools impact the school leaving rate; and a high proportion of early leavers in recent years have gained employment. Show less