Educational Qualifications

Indicator Rationale 

Education is an essential component of community well-being, enabling humans to develop their intellectual potential and maximising their capacity to deal with all aspects of life. The education and skills base of the residents influences capacity to gain employment and contributes to equity and the opportunity to make lifestyle choices. The educational qualifications of residents also contribute to the capacity of communities to engage in the emerging knowledge economy. Qualifications data are used to assess the skill level of the labour force, and potential labour force, and are valuable for the planning and implementation of labour force training programs.

Data Source 

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 Census, Basic Community Profile Tables B04 & B39

Measures

Three measures have been derived giving information on the attainment of non-school educational qualifications by people aged 25 years and over. The data are based on place of usual residence. While some 15-24 year-olds may have already attained a non-school qualification, the majority of people in this age group will still be in the process of obtaining their first qualification. Therefore, the headline measures exclude people aged 15-24 years, but data for this age group separately are available in the supplementary information provided under the headline measures.

All measures are expressed as a percentage of people aged 25 years and over. In the 2006 Census, information sufficient to determine attainment of non-school educational qualifications was not obtained from 11.6% of Victorians aged 25 years and over ('not stated' category). These people were excluded from the population prior to the calculation of proportions. Rates of non-response across LGAs ranged from 7.8% to 17.1%. In addition, 1.5% of Victorians indicated that they had a qualification and provided some information, but this information was inadequate to allow more detailed coding ('inadequately described' category), and 1.5% of Victorians indicated that they had a Certificate level qualification but did not provide information adequate to allow more detailed coding ('Certificate Level nfd' category) - these people have been excluded as indicated below.

People Aged 25 Years and Over Who Have a Non-School Qualification

People Aged 25 Years and Over Who Have a Bachelor Degree or Higher Qualification: People in the 'inadequately described' category also excluded prior to the calculation of proportions.

People Aged 25 Years and Over With Highest Qualification Level Between Certificate III and Advanced Diploma: People in the 'inadequately described' and 'Certificate Level nfd' categories also excluded prior to the calculation of proportions.

Census Questions

The data have been derived from the Non-School Qualification - Level of Education census variable.

Non-School Qualification - Level of Education was derived from responses to a number of questions on the 2006 Census form:

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006 Census of Population and Housing - Reference and Information.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Standard Classification of Education, 2001.