Interactive list: What’s better for student/teacher ratios — public, Catholic or independent?
Which school sector comes out on top for student-teacher ratios — public, Catholic or independent? See how they compare for primary, secondary and R-12 schools.
Schools Hub
Don't miss out on the headlines from Schools Hub. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Explore more schools data in our new Education section
- Search every SA school’s student/teacher ratio
- How we reward Advertiser digital subscribers every day
Adelaide’s public primary schools pip the Catholic sector for having fewer students for every full-time teacher, but only just.
The Advertiser has used a complete dataset for every school in the state to work out teacher resourcing for primary, secondary and combined schools in each of the public, Catholic and independent sectors.
Averages are close across sectors for all school types, meaning private school fees don’t always translate to better staffing levels.
Across more than 50 Catholic primary schools across Adelaide, the average student:full-time teacher ratio last year was about 17.
For the more than 180 metro public primary schools, which excludes some not too far from the city including in the Adelaide Hills, the ratio averaged a little lower at 16.
The lowest average ratio of 14 was for the independent sector, but that is for a much smaller sample of just 18 schools.
Special schools, which have very low ratios so children with disabilities and learning difficulties receive as much individual attention as possible, were excluded.
Both the Education Department and Catholic Education SA say they have agreed class size benchmarks for different year levels.
The ratios do not equate directly to class size for a range of reasons including specialist subject teachers and variable teaching loads, though CESA says they are a reasonable indicator.
In its industrial standoff with the State Government, the Australian Education Union has argued for smaller classes. But the Government maintains research shows some classes would have to be halved to make any difference to academic outcomes, and that is unaffordable.
Among Adelaide public primary schools, ratios range from a low of 9 at some northern and southern suburbs schools up to 20 at ones including Craigburn, Parkside, Grange and Flagstaff Hill.
Differences are partly explained by schools being funded to overcome disadvantage.
The range of student:teacher ratios is a bit narrower for Catholic schools, with a low of 13 for St Brigid’s at Kilburn, St Anthony’s at Edwardstown and Tenison Woods at Richmond, and a high of 20 at St Mary’s Memorial at Glenelg, St Teresa’s at Brighton and St Thomas’ at Goodwood.
For independents it runs from 8 at Dara School at Park Holme, up to 18 for Good Shepherd Lutheran at Para Vista and Calvary Lutheran Primary at Morphett Vale.
Across the dozens of Adelaide’s public high schools, the average is 13 students per teacher.
Aside from the Adelaide Secondary School of English, Springbank Secondary College has the lowest ratio at 7, but that would be affected by its disability unit. Australian Science and Mathematics School and Thebarton Senior College are also non-typical schools with low ratios.
The average ratio for independent high schools is also 13, and slightly lower at 12 in the Catholic sector, but the overall number of stand-alone private high schools is small.
When it comes to R-12 schools, there are far more independents than either public or Catholic schools. But all sectors have the same average ratio of 13 students per teacher.
Among high-profile private R-12 schools, those with the lowest ratios include Seymour, Walford, Westminster, Prince Alfred College, and Loreto.
READ MORE
See the data insights for schools in Adelaide’s north, south, east and west
SA public schools’ most famous alumni (Part 1)
SA private schools’ most famous alumni (Part 1)
A SMALL SCHOOL WITH A DIFFERENCE
At an Adelaide school for gifted children, the whole school does the same subject at the same time so students can work at the level that’s right for them.
Dara School at Park Holme has four teachers for just 35 students in an open-plan setting; its small size and low student-teacher ratio give it the flexibility to run differently to most.
The students are generally split into a Year 1 and 2 group, one for Year 3s and 4s, and one for Year 5 upwards, with a teacher each and “an extra pair of hands at any given time”, principal Lynda McInnes says.
But as kids are not all genii at every subject, they might for example do maths with the oldest group and English with the middle one.
“We don’t group our children in the typical way of a normal school,” Ms McInnes says.
“We group them according to ability. We like the way we’re doing it because not every student learns at the same rate.
Ms McInnes says the model also helps provide the right support for each student, as gifted kids are often academically way ahead of their social and emotional development.
The school will next year move to Morphettville where it will be able to grow to a capacity of 100.
COUNTRY VS CITY
The big advantage of small country schools is the level of individual attention students receive, their leaders say.
Country schools, along with special schools, dominate the statewide list of those with the lowest student:teacher ratios.
“One of the big advantages is kids get lots of one-on-one attention because you’ve obviously got smaller classes,” Small Schools Association of SA president Sue Billett says.
Indigenous schools are highly staffed in an attempt to overcome severe disadvantage.
Marree Aboriginal School, for example, had six full-time equivalent teachers last year for 19 students.
Murputja Anangu School had five teachers for 26 students.
Many country primary and area schools also have very low ratios.
But the Education Department cautions against reading too much into them, as there are many factors at play.
Country staff don’t have it easy, because even if they have small classes, they can often contain students across multiple year levels, adding to the complexity of the teaching task.
In Adelaide, special schools and small alternative schools are among the most likely to have the lowest student:teacher ratios.
But there are also mainstream ones, ranging from public primary schools to high-fee independent schools, that have ratios of under 10.
Complex web of teachers, students
Analysis — Tim Williams
You’d probably guess that Adelaide’s private schools would have fewer students for every teacher than public ones.
After all, what are those fees for? (Apart from all the multimillion-dollar new buildings). In reality, there’s very little difference between the average student-teacher ratios for each school sector.
That stays true for primary, secondary and R-12 schools.
However within each category, there are large differences between individual schools. While a school’s ratio may give some indication of class size, there are many variables at play. Two R-12 schools that have similar ratios might use their staff very differently.
One might prioritise smaller primary year level classes, while the other has a broader offering of secondary subjects.
One may have a greater proportion of teachers who also have other roles, such as subject co-ordinators, which means fewer hours in front of the whiteboard with students.
The other may have special classes for students with disabilities. One might keep all classes in discreet year levels, while the other combines year levels. And one might have more classroom support staff than the other.
Does that make the ratios useless? No. But it means rather than seeing them as a means of judging a school, parents should use them as a basis for asking questions of schools in which they are interested.