Multi-age or composite classes in NSW government schools (2014-2024)

Multi-age classes are made up of students drawn from different year levels. They may be established because of the uneven pattern of enrolment in the school, because of the small size of the school or where it’s considered that mixing students of different ages is academically and socially advantageous.

Data Notes:

• Multi-age or composite class data for individual schools was not published for 2020.

The collection took place in March 2020 when school operations were severely impacted by COVID-19, so the department did not follow up potential errors in class size or class structure with numerous schools.

The 2024 class size factsheet with state level aggregate data has been published and is available here: https://data.nsw.gov.au/data/dataset/nsw-education-average-government-primary-school-class-sizes-by-school-size

• Multi-age classes are often designed to match the organisation of the syllabus, which is based on ‘stages’ running over two years.

• From 2017, school size is based on primary enrolment rather than school classification.

• Historical data displays the data that was correct in that year.

Research suggests that:

• Class organisation "...will not determine either educational advantage or disadvantage..." (NSW DET 1997).

• The most important factors in determining student success are the quality of the teacher and his or her teaching. (Hattie, 2003)

Multi-age classes may benefit students both socially and emotionally. NSW consistently performs above the national average in NAPLAN testing.

Data source: Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation. NSW Department of Education.