Decile Calculations

Education Counts

Census information is used to calculate the decile. A school provides its student addresses and these are used to determine which areas its students come from. It is not the general area around the school that is used to calculate the decile, but the specific meshblocks where students live.

The student addresses are assigned to the smallest Census areas, called meshblocks. A meshblock contains around 50 households.

The number and percentage of students from each meshblock is determined and the meshblock is examined against five socio-economic factors.

Household income - the percentage of households with equivalent income (ie adjusted for the number of adults and children in the household and the age of the children) in the lowest 20 percent nationally. Households with a member who is unemployed are usually not included in this group nor are all households supported by a benefit (since more than 20 percent of families are dependent on a benefit).

Occupation - the percentage of employed parents in occupations that are at skill levels 4 or 5 (of the 1 to 5 levels of the Australia and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations ANZSCO). These include all labourers, all machine operators and assemblers, and others who work in occupations at these lower skill levels irrespective of the sector/ type/ profession involved.

Household crowding – the percentage of households with an equivalised crowding index greater than one. This index is the proportion of household members per bedroom adjusted for the presence of children under 10 years of age, every two of whom are assigned to share a bedroom; couples, and others are each assigned their own bedroom.

Educational qualifications - the percentage of parents with no tertiary or school qualifications.

Income support - the percentage of parents who directly (ie not as a partner) received a Domestic Purposes Benefit, Unemployment Benefit or Sickness and Invalid's Benefit in the previous year.