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About the collection

Â鶹ÊÓƵ collects student background data (SBD) for all Australian schools to calculate Socio-Educational Advantage (SEA) and Disadvantaged Language Background other than English (DLBOTE).  The  provides guidance on the collection of student background data.

Data utilisation

The  is used to report school NAPLAN performance against students with similar backgrounds.

The proportions of students in the lower two quarters of Socio-Educational Advantage are used by the Australian Government Department of Education (AGDE) to calculate the socio‑educational disadvantage loadings. The proportion of DLBOTE students is used to calculate the low English proficiency loading. For further information, please see Section 18 of the . 

ICSEA values for schools are increasingly being used by government and non-government organisations for determining which schools qualify for special assistance.

What information is collected

Each students’ date of birth, gender, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status and Language other than English spoken at home.
Each parent/guardian/carers’ school education, non-school education, occupation group and Language other than English spoken at home.

How to submit your student background data

To submit your data, please follow the 5 steps below. More detailed instructions can be found in the .

1. Download the  

2. Extract data for all students in all schools/campuses into the template

3. Request a Kiteworks FTP account/ login in if you already have an account

4. Upload your file to the  in Kiteworks (Please do not email this information from your email or within Kiteworks)

5. Check the confirmation email from Â鶹ÊÓƵ detailing if your data has been accepted. This automated email can take up to 20 minutes to be received.

Submission due date

This years SBD collection for Independent schools will be open from 29 February to 2 May 2024.

Contact us

For assistance in preparing the template or submitting the data, please review the frequently asked questions below or contact Â鶹ÊÓƵ via: [email protected] or 1300 895 563   (extension 2 for My School including Principals Portal).

Frequently asked questions

General

What students to include

Privacy

Data related questions

Completeness rates

More than 50% completeness rate requirement

From 2022, AGDESE expects all schools to provide SBD on every enrolled student, to ensure compliance with the , and has agreed with Â鶹ÊÓƵ to a requirement for completeness rates of 50% or more to ensure estimates are reliable. Completeness rates refer to the percentage of fields completed (without not-stated/unknown codes entered) for parent 1, parent 2 and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status.

More than 5 complete student records

A minimum of 5 complete student records are required to calculate a schools ICSEA and SEA quarters. A complete student record has at least one parent with all information provided (level of school education, level of non-school education and occupation). The examples below show;
Row 2 - Complete data on both parents (resulting in a complete student record)
Row 3 - Complete data on one parent (resulting in a complete student record)
Row 4 & 5 - Incomplete student data on both parents (resulting in an incomplete student record)

Â鶹ÊÓƵ SML ID

Your schools Â鶹ÊÓƵ SML ID can be found on the under the ID heading.

School Name

If you are getting a data error relating to your school’s name, please ensure it matches the school name listed on the exactly.

Jurisdiction Student IDs

“Jurisdiction Student ID” is the school or system student ID that uniquely identifies a student. It can be the student ID issued by the school or a system-level identifier. It must uniquely identify a student at each school or campus (i.e. only one instance of a Student ID per Â鶹ÊÓƵ_SML_ID). If your school doesn’t have such identifiers, a row number from 1 to the total count of students can be used. However, if you need to correct any data after your submission has been made, it will be necessary to link this number to your database of students.

Grade

Does this collection include all students in all grades?

Yes. All students in all grades must be included in the template to ensure that the data reflects the entire school community.

Should students in year one minus one, year one minus two and year one minus three be included in the student background data?

The year prior to Year One (year one minus one) has different names in different jurisdictions. It is nationally referred to as Foundation and is also known as Kindergarten (ACT and NSW), Preparatory or Prep (Qld, Tas and Vic), Reception (SA), Pre-Primary (WA) or Transition (NT).
All students in year one minus one should be included in the student background data.
Some schools will also offer a year prior to Foundation (year one minus two). In most jurisdictions, year one minus two students form a separate stream that is funded by both State and Commonwealth departments as “childcare” and the students are not eligible to receive funding as school students. In these jurisdictions, year one minus two students should not be included in the student background data. However, in some schools - particularly in WA, these students receive state funding as school students, as they are regarded as part of the school community. In this situation, year one minus two students should be included in the student background data.
Year one minus three (3 year olds) are out of scope for this collection.

Gender

The terms “Sex” and “Gender” are often used synonymously. From 2023, the word “Gender” should be used in the question wording for enrolment questionnaires.

Language other than English spoken at home

This field refers to the ‘Language other than English spoken at home’. If there are several languages other than English spoken, list the one spoken most often. More information on languages can be found in  The Data standards manual: Student background characteristics – 2022 edition (PDF 301 kb) and in the DataDictionary Tab of the Student Background Template.

Parental Data

Are we penalised in any way when the information for only 1 parent/guardian is supplied as opposed to 2?

If data is not available or difficult to obtain for one parent, the socio-educational model uses whatever data is available to produce estimates of students in each SEA quarter. However, having the most complete set of data will more accurately reflect the socio-educational background of students at the school, which is why Â鶹ÊÓƵ request that every effort is made to provide complete data. If data cannot be obtained, please enter the ‘unknown/not stated’ codes detailed in the DataDictionary tab of the Student Background Template.

Parental data for students not living with biological parents

Parental background data is collected to assess the impact of each student’s natural parents on their learning outcomes, therefore Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s preference is to receive the background data of the parents if it is known (including if the student does not live with the parents or if the parents are deceased). If information is not available for the natural parents’, the background data of the custodial guardian(s) should be provided. In instances where this is also unavailable, please enter the ‘unknown/not stated’ codes detailed in the DataDictionary tab of the Student Background Template.

Late submissions

To ensure the SEA loading continues to be included in payments to schools from AGDESE, a completed student background data (SBD) template must be submitted to Â鶹ÊÓƵ by the deadline. Data submitted after the deadline may be used later to inform potential adjustments to school payments. If a school does not provide their SBD data for the current year to Â鶹ÊÓƵ, AGDESE are unable to calculate their loading and may apply a ‘zero’ value in the funding model until the SBD information is provided.