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Who you have consulted with
Australian Bureau of Statistics
What is your submission about?
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Topic name
The 2016 Census includes the following question regarding highest qualification completed:
Question 31. Did the person complete this qualification before 1998?
The question in its current form has minimal or no use by the Department of Education and Training (DET) and other researchers who want to undertake analysis of Australians by year of highest educational attainment.
We propose that the question be changed to ask: “What year did this person complete this qualification?” and that this question be tested for the ability of respondents to accurately recall the year.
The revised question would be significantly more useful to DET and a range of researchers across Australia and does not preclude the ABS to use the question for coding purposes. The new data will allow for broader range of longitudinal statistics, research and modelling than is currently possible from this Census question and will significantly increase the utility of other enduring, linked ABS data sets such as the Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset and the Multi-Agency Data Integration Project. This proposal will also enhance any DET datasets linked to the Census and used for research purposes. The new data will allow DET to measure phenomena such as life-long learning and its impact on outcomes for Australians.
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Population
Sex and gender
Households and families
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Income and work
Unpaid work and care
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Education and training
Disability and carers
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Other topic
Assessment Criteria 1
1.
This topic is of current national importance.
National Importance
Understanding educational attainment and the lifelong benefits of education has always been of national importance and requires data to be collected at a population level. Changing this question will allow more informative and useful information to be collected about year of completion and will remain useful for ABS coding proposes. The data will be useful for research and statistics purposes as it allows for analysis of impact of lifelong learning, education benefits, as well as panel or cohort information to be constructed.
Assessment Criteria 2
2.
There is a need for data from a Census of the whole population.
For whole population
As this is a follow-up question to the previous questions on highest educational attainment in the 2016 Census, the question would gather data from the whole population, which would provide more accurate and comprehensive information on the topic of educational attainment. This would enhance our knowledge and understanding of highest educational attainment for the population when combined with the other questions collected in the Census such as Field of Education or household income and employment outcomes.
Assessment Criteria 3
3.
The topic can be accurately collected in a form which the household completes themselves.
Easy to answer
The topic is likely to be easily understood by respondents. The topic can be collected in a simple response. Whether respondents will be able to easily and quickly know the answer may need to be tested. However, even if respondents cannot answer exactly, the approximation will provide more insights than the current question allows.
Assessment Criteria 4
4.
The topic would be acceptable to Census respondents.
Acceptable
Information on education participation and attainment was collected in the 2016 Census and in previous Censuses. As the current question is similar to the proposed question to replace it, it is not likely to be considered intrusive, offensive or controversial.
It may need to be tested whether the question can be answered accurately particularly for respondents who completed their highest education attainment some time ago.
Assessment Criteria 5
5.
The topic can be collected efficiently.
Collected efficiently
The response would be a four-digit year so this should not present any major difficulties for coding the information and will not require extensive processing for the ABS. The question would not require a lengthy explanation and would essentially follow on from previous questions. The collection of the data will not require a large number of response categories or multiple questions as we are suggesting altering the existing question to gather more useful information.
Assessment Criteria 6
6.
There is likely to be a continuing need for data on this topic in the following Census.
Continuing need
The question in its current form is required for ABS coding purposes on an ongoing basis. By altering this question, the ongoing need will remain, i.e. for coding purposes, but it will make it more informative and useful for DET and other researchers.
Assessment Criteria 7
7.
There are no other alternative data sources or solutions that could meet the topic need.
No alternatives
Limited data on this topic can be extracted from DET data sources, which collect administration data, but only for Australians who studied in Australia and only in certain education sectors e.g. university. As skilled migration rates have increased significantly and proportionally in the last twenty years it is increasingly important to reassess educational attainment levels for all Australians. The Census is currently the only way to understand the extent of educational attainment for all Australians and to link this data with other important outcome information such as income, employment and demographics.