This webpage explores the Victorian School distribution between Government and Non-Government schools and attempts to see if there is some discrepancy that exists that sources online suggest. The data is all collected from government resources so it reliable and can provide accurate insights.
Proportion of schools by sector.
The map above and the donut chart to the left show the distribution of schools across Victoria. Government schools make up around 70% of all schools, followed by Catholic and Independent schools. Most schools are concentrated in Melbourne and nearby inner regions, while rural and remote areas have far fewer. This highlights ongoing challenges in accessibility and resource distribution for students living outside major population centres. The spatial pattern also suggests that regional communities may have limited educational options and longer travel distances, which can impact student engagement and attendance. These differences underscore the importance of targeted investment in rural education to ensure all students have equal access to quality schooling
Number of schools per Local Government Area (LGA). Hover to see details.
The map above showcases the distribution of schools by LGA, as we can see the schools are all centered near the CBD region. Areas such as Greater Dandenong and Casey City have the largest amount of schools. Areas outside of the Inner Region are lacking in comparison. This showcases the difficulty of schooling for rural students and the need to build more accessible schools, especially with the increasing population.
Resources online suggest that Government Schools are much less funded when in comparison to Non-Government Schools. However, from the graph shown below we can see that government school far more funding than non-government schools. There does however exist a discrepancy between the funding recieved from the Australian government vs State Governments. Non-Government schoools tend to recieve more funding from the Australian government while Government schools recieve more from the State government.
Trends in per-student funding across years.
Comparing funding trends over time for both government and non-government schools reveals a substantial increase in education expenditure across Australia. Combined contributions from the Australian Government and state governments have risen from approximately $20 billion to over $41 billion, reflecting a strong policy emphasis on strengthening the school system. Over the past 12 years, funding for both sectors has nearly doubled, aligning with population growth of around five million people during the same period. This rise in investment supports the expanding student population and highlights the ongoing commitment to ensuring adequate resources and infrastructure for Australia’s growing education needs.
Each bubble represents a sector-year combination.
We can see that the overall expenditure and expenditure per student has been rising steadily throughout the years. This is especially beneficial for the government school system currently has 2.6 million students enrolled, so a rise of funding per student is necessary to accomodate and provide the best education. Overall non-government schools have around 1.5 million students This is a 26% increase since 2019, so the government funding while lacking is covered by other independent sources.
>This graph showcases the attendance rates for students going to non-government schools in the major cities vs the out regions. We can see that students in the Major Cities have a slighlty higher attendance rate than those in the outer region. This can be due to several factors such as travel distance. Students going to non-government schools in the major cities tend to live close and therefore transportation is much more accessible. While for schools outside of the City are more difficult to get to and therefore students may miss school more often.
This graph compares the attendance rate of students who go to government schools in inne melbourne vs remote areas. Similar trend as above follows. Students have higher attendance rate for schools in the inner city, while remote areas have lower attendance appearing to dropping lower as the continue their studies to Year 10/
The Key insights we can obtain from the research is that there is a lack of schools outside of the central regions of Melbourne, with an abundance of schools in areas such as Casey and Greater Dandenong. This shows that we require more schools for accessibility of students outside of these regions to avoid their long commutes to the current schools which may rank well.
While many resources online suggest a large discrepancy in the funding for private schools vs government schools, the data however suggests that government schools get funded quite well per student. They recieve much more funds from their state governments, however the Australian Government it self tends to fund non-government school about 66% more.