Editing Education in Australia (section)

=== Indigenous primary and secondary education ===
[[Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander]] children are at a significant disadvantage when compared to non-Indigenous Australians across a number of key school educational measures.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.education.gov.au/indigenous-schooling|title=Indigenous Education: Closing the gap|work=[[Department of Education (Australia, 2019–2020)|Department of Education]]|publisher=Government of Australia|date=n.d.|access-date=19 August 2019}}</ref>  In 2008, the [[Council of Australian Governments]] announced seven<ref>{{cite book|author=Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision|url=https://www.pc.gov.au/research/supporting/national-agreements/indigenous-reform/indigenous-reform-agreement-2017-18.pdf|title=National Agreement Performance Information 2017–18: National Indigenous Reform Agreement|chapter=National Indigenous Reform Agreement (Closing the Gap) performance reporting|publisher=[[Productivity Commission]]|location=Canberra|isbn=978-1-74037-669-3|date=December 2018|access-date=19 August 2019|page=2}}</ref>{{ref|e|[note e]}} "[[Closing the Gap|closing the gap]]" targets, of which four related to education, namely:<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/overcoming-indigenous-disadvantage/2016/report-documents/oid-2016-chapter2-the-framework.pdf|title=Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2016|chapter=Chapter 2: The framework|publisher=[[Productivity Commission]]|date=17 November 2016|access-date=19 August 2019|page=2.3}}</ref>
# participation in early childhood education: with the goal of 95 per cent of all Indigenous four-year-olds enrolled in early childhood education by 2025;{{ref|f|[note f]}}
# reading, writing and numeracy levels: with the goal to halve the gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy within a decade (by 2018);
# Year 12 attainment: with the goal to halve the gap for Indigenous 20–24 year olds in year 12 or equivalent attainment rates (by 2020); and
# school attendance: with the aim to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous school attendance within five years (by 2018).{{ref|c|[note c]}}
{{As of|2018}}, the target results were:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pc.gov.au/research/supporting/national-agreements/indigenous-reform/indigenous-reform-agreement-2017-18-attachment-tables.xlsx|title=Performance Indicators: 2017–18|format=[[MS Excel]] requires download [954KB]|work=National Indigenous Reform Agreement|publisher=[[Productivity Commission]]|date=December 2018|access-date=19 August 2019}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+National Indigenous Reform Agreement:<br />Performance data (''Closing the gap'')
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | Measure !! colspan=2|2017–18 results
|-
! Indigenous !! Non-<br />Indigenous
|-
|colspan=2| The proportion of children who are enrolled in<br />(and attending, where possible to measure) a pre-school<br />program in state-specific year before formal schooling ||align=center | 95.0% ||align=center| 89.9%
|-
|colspan=2| Percentage of students at or above the minimum standard<br />in reading, writing and numeracy for Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 ||align=center colspan=2 | ''unavailable''{{ref|g|[note g]}}
|-
| rowspan=5| Attainment of Year 12 or equivalent || Major cities ||align=center| 73.8% ||align=center| 90.9%
|-
| Inner regional ||align=center| 65.1% ||align=center| 83.0%
|-
| Outer regional ||align=center| 64.5% ||align=center| 82.1%
|-
| Remote ||align=center| 51.0% ||align=center| 82.2%
|-
| Very remote ||align=center| 42.6% ||align=center| 84.2%
|-
| colspan=2 | Attendance rates: Year 1 to Year 12 ||align=center| 82.3% ||align=center| 92.5%
|}