Personal characteristics and education

These questions ask whether a person needs someone to help them take care of themselves because of a disability, long-term illness, or young or old age. This includes help with eating, washing themselves or getting dressed. We also ask whether they need help moving around the house, or to talk or listen to people. 

These questions are not about help they give to other people or help they want to get.

The information from these questions helps government and other service providers:

• understand the help or assistance people need in particular areas
• plan for local facilities, services and support
• deliver in-home support and respite care.

(Q25 in the Census Household Form)

• This question is about the extra help or supervision needed by someone because of a disability, long-term illness or old age. For example, eating, showering, dressing or toileting.
• If the person cannot do the task at all by themselves, for example, they are confined to bed, select ‘Yes, always’.
• If the person needs some help, select ‘Yes, sometimes’. This could mean that a person needs some help with certain activities, or that that their support needs are different from day to day.
• For young children who have similar needs to most other children their age, select the most appropriate response for their situation.

Do not include:

• People who only need assistance being driven from one place to another.
• People who can take care of themselves at home but need help with grocery shopping or other jobs.

(Q26 in the Census Household Form)

• This question is about the extra help or supervision needed by someone because of a disability, long-term illness or old age to move their body. For example, getting out of bed, moving around at home or places away from home.
• If the person can't do the task at all by themselves, for example, they are confined to bed, select ‘Yes, always’.
• If the person needs some help select ‘Yes, sometimes’. This could mean that a person needs some help with certain activities, or that their support needs are different from day to day.
• For young children who have similar needs to most other children their age, select the most appropriate response for their situation.

Do not include:

• People who only need assistance being driven from one place to another.
• For this question, mobility aids and modifications around the home aren't considered assistance. This question is asking about the assistance a person gets from another person.

(Q27 in the Census Household Form)

• This question is about the extra help or supervision needed by someone because of disability, long-term illness or old age to communicate. For example, understanding or being understood by others.
• If the person can't communicate at all by themselves, select ‘Yes, always’.
• If the person needs some help, select ‘Yes, sometimes’. This could mean that a person needs some help with certain activities, or that their support needs are different from day to day.  
• For young children who have similar needs to most other children their age, select the most appropriate response for their situation.
• If the person needs help with communication due to difficulties with English, select the most appropriate response for their situation.

Do not include:

• For this question, hearing aids and other communication devices are not considered assistance. This question is asking about the assistance a person gets from another person.

(Q28 in the Census Household Form)

This question asks why someone who answered yes to any of the previous questions might need help.

• Paper form only: If you selected ‘No’ for all of the previous three questions, select ‘No need for assistance’. Otherwise, select all of the reasons that help is needed.
• For young children, select ‘Old or young age’ only if the child's need for help is similar to most other children of their age.
• If a person needs help with communication due to difficulties with English, and they would not need the same help if they were communicating in another language, select ‘Difficulty with English language’.

(Q29 in the Census Household Form)

This question collects information about health conditions that the person currently has. A long-term health condition is a condition that has lasted, or is expected to last, for six months or more.

This information will be used to:

• inform health policy
• assist with health service planning
• target programs and resources to assist in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease
• monitor change and report against key health indicator frameworks.  

The Census Test long-term health conditions question will allow for the analysis of long-term health conditions data at more detailed geographic and sub-population levels than ABS health surveys can support, and across a range of socio-economic and demographic dimensions.

The selected long-term health conditions were chosen based on outcomes of stakeholder consultation, how common they are, and how the data collected can inform services, policy, and research.

• Include health conditions that have lasted or are expected to last for six months or more.
• Include health conditions that:
  • may recur from time-to-time, or
  • are controlled by medication, therapy or treatment, or
  • are in remission.
• ‘Mental health condition’ refers to a wide range of conditions that can affect a person’s mood, thinking and behaviour.
• Persons with long-term health conditions (for example, skin conditions or auto-immune conditions) other than those listed on the form, should select ‘Any other long-term health condition(s)’.
• Persons with no long-term health conditions, select ‘No long-term health condition’.
• Select all the conditions that apply.

(Q58 in the Census Household Form)

This is a new question for the Census Test and will be included in the 2026 Census. 

This information will help plan health and social programs and services at both the national and local level for people of all different sexualities.

This question is only asked of people aged 16 years and over. 

• This question is about sexual identity and attraction. This is how a person thinks of their own sexuality, the term they identify with and their romantic or sexual attraction to others.
• If a person’s sexual orientation is not listed in the response options, select the ‘Uses another term (specify)’ option and enter their sexual orientation in the box. Where there are multiple terms used to describe their sexual orientation, the term they most strongly align with should be entered.
• ‘Straight’ is also known as ‘Heterosexual’.
• A person can select one response only.
• A person can select the ‘Don’t know’ or ‘Prefer not to answer’ options.

All personal information provided in your Census Test form remains strictly confidential to the ABS.

A person can complete a separate form to keep their answers separate from other people in the household, for example, for privacy reasons. Find more information about completing the Census Test in your preferred way.

These questions ask whether people are currently studying, the types of education institutions they attend and their highest qualification. This information helps us build a picture of education levels across areas of Australia. It helps to understand how different groups of people participate in education and helps plan education services to meet the needs of each community.

(Q30 in the Census Household Form)

This question asks whether a person is going to school or currently studying for a certificate or degree. We also want to know whether they are studying full-time or part-time. We use this to understand the education levels of the future workforce of Australia and whether people are taking part in employment, education or training.

• Select full-time or part-time based on whether the education institution considers the person to be a full-time or part-time student.
• All apprentices and trainees are considered to be part-time students.
• Include tertiary education and vocational education and training providers (for example, TAFE and private training providers).
• Include preschool, online, external or correspondence study.
• For a person who attends only hobby or recreational courses, select ‘No’.

Preschool

• Preschool is a structured, play-based learning program, primarily aimed at children in the year or two before they start full-time schooling. Some preschool programs are run alongside childcare services, also referred to as centre-based day care providers. Preschool is often referred to as an early childhood education program or kindergarten.
• For a child who attends a preschool or preschool program:
  • select 'Yes, full-time student' if they attend at least 15 hours a week
  • select 'Yes, part-time student' if they attend less than 15 hours a week.

Home schooling

• For children being home schooled by their parent or caregiver at the primary or secondary school level, select ‘Yes, full-time student’.

(Q31 in the Census Household Form)

We ask about types of education institutions to get an idea of how people are currently studying, as well as what extra education facilities or services may be needed in an area.

Preschool

• Preschool is a structured, play based learning program, aimed at children in the year or two before they start full-time schooling. Some preschool programs run alongside childcare services, also referred to as early childhood education and centre-based day care providers.
• Select 'Preschool' for a child who goes to an early childhood education program, referred to as kindergarten in some States and Territories.
• For NSW and the ACT, kindergarten should be counted as primary school.

K-12 school

• For students attending a combined primary and secondary school (for example, K-12 school), report the level of schooling based on the year level they are currently in.

Primary and Secondary school

‘Other non-government’ schools include all other independent schools, excluding Catholic schools. They may have associations with religious groups or be entirely independent. Examples of other non-government schools include:

• Christian schools (excluding Catholic schools)
• Jewish schools
• Montessori schools
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community schools.

Include secondary colleges and senior high schools under the ‘Secondary school’ category.

For external, online or correspondence students, select the type of institution in which they are enrolled.

Home schooling

Home education or home schooling is education a child's parent or caregiver provides. A child can't be registered for home education and enrolled in a school at the same time. Home schooling is different to distance education, which a school supervises, and a qualified teacher is responsible for the students’ learning.

• For children being home schooled by their parent or caregiver, select ‘Other non-government’ at the child's level of schooling (i.e. primary school or secondary school).

(Q33 in the Census Household Form)

This question gives a picture of education levels across Australia, in order to plan for future educational facilities.

This question is only asked of people aged 15 years and over.

For people currently at school, select the highest year of schooling they have completed, not the year they are currently in. For example, if the person is in Year 10, you should select Year 9 as that is the highest year they have completed.

If the person left school for a while and now has gone back, select the highest level they completed no matter how long the break was.

• Select 'Year 12 or equivalent' if the person has completed:
  • Year 13
  • 6th form
  • Matriculation
  • Highest year of school available.
• If the highest year of schooling the person has completed was in primary school, select 'Year 8 or below'.
• Include school level education completed at other institutions (for example, at a vocational education provider, such as a TAFE or private training provider).

Refer to the Years 12, 11 and 10 equivalents guide for further information.

(Q34 in the Census Household Form)

This question collects the recognised or accredited training people have completed. This includes TAFE certificates and university degrees. This information about education will help to:

• build a picture of educational levels in each area of Australia
• show how different groups of people take part in education
• plan education services in different areas.

This question is only asked of people aged 15 years and over. 

• If the person hasn’t completed any study after they left school, select ‘No’.
• If the person is currently studying an apprenticeship, certificate, diploma or degree and doesn’t already have one, select ‘No, still studying for first qualification’.
• If the person has completed a trade certificate, such as the examples below, select ‘Yes, trade certificate/apprenticeship’:
  • trade fitter and turner
  • trade hairdressing
  • trade of plumber
  • trade in cabinet making.
• If the person has completed an apprenticeship, select ‘Yes, trade certificate/apprenticeship’.
• If the person completed any vocational qualifications as part of their secondary schooling, select ‘Yes, other qualification.
• Select 'Yes, other qualification' if the person has finished studying a:
  • Certificate I, Certificate II, Certificate III or Certificate IV
  • Diploma
  • Associate Degree
  • Advanced Diploma
  • Bachelor Degree
  • Graduate Certificate
  • Graduate Diploma
  • Masters
  • Doctorate
  • PhD.

(Q35 in the Census Household Form)

This information helps to build a picture of the non-school education levels in each area across Australia, and the qualifications of different people. This can be compared with data collected in previous Censuses to help understand changes in educational achievement in Australia over time. We use this to understand the relationship between education levels, income, and employment.

This question is only asked of people aged 15 years and over. 

• If the person has two or more qualifications, only include the highest qualification they have completed. For example, if the person has a Graduate Diploma of Education and a Bachelor Degree in Economics, the Graduate Diploma should be reported as the higher qualification.
• If the person has two or more qualifications and they are at the same level, provide the level of the one they completed most recently.
• If the person has two qualifications of the same level, completed at the same time (for example, double degrees), select the qualification that is the most important to them.
• Enter as much detail as possible about any certificates a person has completed. For example, enter ‘Certificate II’ instead of just ‘Cert’.
• Qualification levels listed from highest to lowest:
  • Doctorate/PhD
  • Master Degree
  • Graduate Diploma
  • Graduate Certificate
  • Bachelor Degree with Honours
  • Bachelor Degree
  • Associate Degree
  • Advanced Diploma
  • Diploma.
• Undergraduate Certificate
  • Associate Diploma
  • Advanced Certificate
  • Certificate IV (or Post-trade)
  • Certificate III (or Trade)
  • Certificate II
  • Certificate I.

(Q36 in the Census Household Form)

This information helps build a picture of the different fields that people across Australia have studied. It can be used alongside topics like occupation and industry of employment to help understand the characteristics of Australia’s workforce.

This question is only asked of people aged 15 years and over.

• The main field of study is for the highest qualification selected in the last question.
• If the person has two or more qualifications and they are at the same level, provide the field of the one they completed most recently.
• If the person has two qualifications of the same level, completed at the same time (for example, double degrees), select the qualification considered the most important to them.
• For example: Plumbing, Primary school teaching, Accounting, Hairdressing, Psychology, Hospitality.

(Included in online form only)

This question asks about the highest non-school qualification that someone has finished, and if they completed it before 1998. It's for people who answer ‘Yes’ to ‘Has the person completed any educational qualification?’ We ask this to help work out the level of qualifications that were completed before the Australian Qualifications Framework was introduced in 1998.

This question is only asked of people who were aged 15 years and over in 1998. 

Please select the most applicable response.

This question is not asked on the paper form.