43.3% ▲ +14.2%
Lower than 54% of suburb / locality areas.
- 2011: 37.9%
- 2016: 41.0%
- 2021: 43.3%
Share of people whose highest year of school is Year 12 or equivalent.
Atherton · Suburb / Locality
Education & Qualifications in Atherton
How far people went at school, the qualifications they hold and what they studied.
Far fewer people in Atherton have finished high school or university compared to the state or national figures. Only 43.3% of residents completed Year 12, which is far below the Australian average of 58.8%. This gap in schooling continues into higher education, where bachelor degrees are much less common than in other parts of the country.
Schooling
Highest year of school completed.
School completion is far below the national figure, with only 43.3% of residents finishing Year 12. In contrast, 26.6% of the population had Year 10 as their highest level of schooling.
Highest year of school
View on map →In Atherton, the largest group is Year 12 at 49%, followed by Year 10 (30%) and Year 9 or below (14%).
Qualifications
Post-school qualifications and degrees.
Adults with a bachelor degree or higher make up 13.4% of the population, which is well below the Queensland figure. The most common qualification is a Certificate III or IV, held by 34.6% of residents.
13.4% ▲ +21.4%
Lower than 55% of suburb / locality areas.
- 2011: 11.0%
- 2016: 11.7%
- 2021: 13.4%
Share of people aged 15+ whose highest qualification is a bachelor degree or above (incl. graduate and postgraduate).
Highest qualification level
View on map →In Atherton, the largest group is Certificate III / IV at 47%, followed by Bachelor degree (22%) and Advanced diploma / diploma (19%).
Field of study
What people studied.
The most common fields of qualification are engineering and related subjects at 14.1%, followed by management and commerce at 11.8% and health at 11.5%.
Schools
Schools in the area and how many children they serve (ACARA).
Atherton has six schools within 3km, which is more than 77% of similar areas. These schools are larger than most, with an average size of 436 students.
3.05
Lower than 57% of suburb / locality areas.
Schools per 1,000 children aged under 15.
6
Higher than 74% of suburb / locality areas.
Schools serving the area — within 3 km of small areas, or inside larger ones. A measure of access (catchments overlap, so don't add it across areas).
436
Higher than 64% of suburb / locality areas.
Average enrolment per school in the area.
980
Lower than 56% of suburb / locality areas.
Enrolment-weighted average ICSEA — an index of socio-educational advantage, centred near 1000 (context, not a quality ranking).
Schools serving Atherton
6 schools — 2,617 students, average ICSEA 980.
By sector: Government 4 · Independent 1 · Catholic 1
By type: Primary 4 · Combined 1 · Secondary 1
| Jubilee Christian College, Atherton | Independent | Combined | 0.5 km | 850 | 1,017 |
| St Joseph's School, Atherton | Catholic | Primary | 0.6 km | 287 | 1,022 |
| Atherton State School, Atherton | Government | Primary | 1.0 km | 331 | 903 |
| Atherton State High School, Atherton | Government | Secondary | 1.3 km | 781 | 963 |
| Tolga State School, Tolga | Government | Primary | 5.2 km | 269 | 981 |
| Kairi State School, Kairi | Government | Primary | 9.2 km | 99 | 940 |
Sources
More for Atherton
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Education & Qualifications in Atherton [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/sal/SAL30096/atherton/topic/education