Australian study finds ‘lifelong benefits’ to Catholic education

CNA Staff, Mar 27, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A recent Australian study based on government data found that people who attended Catholic schools saw “lifelong benefits” across employment, health, and general life satisfaction.

The study, released at the beginning of this month, found that Catholic school attendees were more likely on average to be employed and to earn higher wages than attendees of Australian “government schools,” with average wage differences ranging from 4% to 11%.

Commissioned by the Victorian Catholic Education Authority (VCEA), the study also found other lifelong benefits, including that attendees were more likely to have “higher life satisfaction” and to have better general health than public school attendees.

Catholic school attendees were also more likely to donate to charity and to be working in an industry that directly benefits the public than public and independent school attendees.

Andrew Wade, lead researcher on the study and longtime public policy analyst, said the team “looked at the three different domains: labor market outcomes, health and well-being outcomes, and also community participation outcomes.”

The Centre for International Research on Education Systems (CIRES) at Victoria University conducted the study using the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey data, a national study that has followed the lives of more than 17,000 Australians every year since 2001.

“The unique aspect of HILDA is that it collects data from the same individuals over time, so you can get a longitudinal picture of how their lives have changed over that period,” Wade explained in a video statement.

Run by the University of Melbourne, the HILDA survey has more than 23 years of data.

“It’s designed to collect a representative picture of the Australian population for all the states and territories and includes a whole range of different questions on whole aspects of life, education, work, and community engagement to get a very detailed picture about Australian society and how that changes,” Wade said.

Professor Elizabeth Labone, chief executive officer of the VCEA, noted that the results of the study reflect the reality of the great work that Catholic schools do.

“This innovative research quantifies what people in our sector know intuitively, that Catholic schools do a great job preparing students for life,” Labone said in a statement.

Labone connected this success with the well-rounded, formational education provided by Catholic schools.

“By educating the whole person, Catholic schools support the development of well-rounded individuals who will succeed and be happy and confident in the world during and after their schooling, whatever path they choose through life,” Labone said.

“Parents are increasingly looking for this kind of holistic approach, which is why a growing number of families are choosing one of the affordable Catholic schooling options available across the state,” she concluded.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262969/australian-study-finds-lifelong-benefits-to-catholic-education