In the Student Spiritual Life Survey, students were invited to select terms that best describes how they understand their faith identity. They could select more than one option.
An initial snapshot of around 14,500 students found two-thirds described themselves using religious or spiritual terms (including Christian).
Religious or spiritual identity
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:
- Terms that best describe them,
- Importance of spirituality in their life, and
- Their religious affiliation.
Who took part?
An initial snapshot was taken 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 this initial snapshot were:
- More male than female (59% vs 39%)
- Mostly born in Australia (88%)
- Mostly younger high school students (Years 7-10)
Source: 2025 Snapshot of Student Spiritual Life Survey by NCLS Research (n = 14,461).
Spiritual profile of students:
Given four options, students selected the term which best describes them.
Results show that two thirds - or 66% - describe themselves with religious or spiritual terms (including Christian).
Exploring these results further, we see that eight in 10 students described themselves as 'Spiritual' (82%), seven in 10 as 'Religious' (73%) and just under five in 10 (48%) nominated themselves as 'Christian'.
The importance of spirituality
For more national findings on the importance of spirituality in the lives of these participating students, read our article: Half of students affirm the importance of spirituality in their life.
