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Two thirds of students in faith-based schools say they are spiritual and/religious
First results from the Student Spiritual Life Survey in Australia
First results from the Student Spiritual Life Survey in Australia
Some schools take a faith-based approach to education. NCLS Research offers the Student Spiritual Life Survey to help schools from a Christian tradition to understand the spiritual lives of their students.
We're pleased to share insights from around 14,5000 students who completed the Student Spiritual Life Survey in Christian schools around Australia.
An initial snapshot of results from the Student Spiritual Life Survey reveals that around half of students (52%) said that spirituality is important or very important in their lives.
The Student Spiritual Life Survey (SSLS) explores 6 key themes, one of which is Religious or Spiritual Identity.
Examples of a student's religious or spiritual identity include:
In the SSLS, students were invited to say how important spirituality is in their life.
Around half (52%) of students affirmed the importance of spirituality. Some 21% said it is very important and 31% said it is important.
Some 32% said that spirituality is of little importance and 16% said that spirituality is not important at all.
This initial snapshot was taken in late 2025 based on some 14,461 students in 28 Christian schools who had completed the Student Spiritual Life Survey. Some schools have used the SSLS more than once, but this article uses results only from their most recent survey wave i.e. each student was only counted once.
Students represented in these results are:
For more national findings on the spiritual profile of these participating students, including the terms they use to describe themselves, read our article: Two thirds of students in faith-based schools say they are spiritual and/or religious.
First results from the Student Spiritual Life Survey in Australia