How every country Victoria school compares for student-teacher ratios

The schools in regional Victoria with the best and worst student-to-teacher ratios have been revealed. How does your school measure up?

GEOFF EGAN and CAMILLE SMITH

2 min read

September 16, 2019 - 9:42AM

The Weekly Times

Regional Victoria’s best and worst resourced classrooms have been revealed.

A SMALL Mallee school has been revealed as having the lowest student-teacher ratio in the state, while a Gippsland school has one of the highest.

An analysis of national data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority has revealed the schools where teachers have the most students to teach.

The ACARA figures show there were more students per teacher at Gormandale and District Primary School than any other rural Victorian school in 2018.

According to the data, Gormandale and District Primary School had 21.2 students for every teacher last year, the highest in rural Victoria.

A Department of Education spokesperson said school-based data disputed last year’s ACARA figure and also showed that Gormandale and District PS had decreased the ratio to 14.2 students per teacher this year.

The second highest student-teacher ratios were Winters Flat Primary School, where there was an average of 20.4 students for every teacher at the school.

At Puckapunyal Primary School there were 20 students for every teacher, regional Victoria region’s third highest.

In contrast, there was one teacher for every 1.5 students at Ultima Primary School.

Ultima Primary School principal Sandi Spittal said the school’s student-teacher ratio did not tell the whole story of the learning environment at the small school.

The school has three students and two full-time teachers, including Ms Spittal. Two students are in Grade 1 and one in Grade 5.

Ms Spittla said she and the full-time teacher were on duty all day, every day, and worked hard to offer the small group the same social stimulation and life skills that would be on offer at larger schools.

Once a week they take an excursion to another school with an enrolment of 18 students, where the children are exposed to a larger class size.

“We leave at 8am, don’t get back til after 4pm. So it is a long day, but we do it for the kids,” Ms Spittal said.

The figures show at Goongerah Tubbut P-8 College there were 1.6 students per teacher, the second lowest ratio in regional Victoria. The school had five enrolled students in 2018.

According to ACARA, the national student-teacher ratio average was 13.5 students for every teacher.

MORE EDUCATION

BOARDING SCHOOL FEES HIT A HIGH

YOUR GUIDE TO SCHOOL TUITION AND BOARDING FEES

REGIONAL VICTORIA’S FASTEST GROWING SCHOOLS

Across the country independent private schools had the lowest student to teacher ratios with 11.7 students to every teacher.

Government schools had an average of 13.8 students for every teacher while Catholic schools had an average of 14 students for every teacher.

Student-teacher ratios do not take into account teacher aides or non-teaching staff at schools, only the full-time equivalent teachers.

REGIONAL VICTORIA’S HIGHEST STUDENT-TEACHER RATIOS

Gormandale And District Primary School: 21.2 students per teacher

Winters Flat Primary School: 20.4 students per teacher

Puckapunyal Primary School: 20.0 students per teacher