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ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
In 2008, the importance of education in the early years of a child's development was formally acknowledged through the Council of Australian Governments' (COAG) endorsement of a new National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education (NP ECE).
This publication contains experimental estimates for 2010 of children's enrolment and attendance at early childhood education (ECE) across Australia, collected through the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection (ECEC). For more information on the NP ECE and the collection please see the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection Manual (cat. no. 4240.0.55.001).
GENERAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This publication draws extensively on information provided by state and territory governments. Their continued cooperation enables the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to publish a wide range of education statistics. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act, 1905.
SOURCE DATA
The National ECEC Collection consists of administrative data provided by the state and territory departments with responsibility for early childhood education and care. At the core of the collection is the Early Childhood Education and Care National Minimum Data Set (ECEC NMDS). The ECEC NMDS contains standards for which the Commonwealth and state and territory governments have committed to in regards to collecting statistics on ECE within their respective jurisdictions. All jurisdictions have worked closely with the ABS in aligning their individual collections to the ECEC NMDS and significant achievements have been made in 2010.
DATA QUALITY
It should be noted that for 2010, this collection has not achieved complete alignment with the standards set out in the ECEC NMDS. Complete coverage of the ECE sector has also not been achieved in 2010, with developments underway in all jurisdictions to increase the coverage for future collection cycles. As a result, the estimates presented in this publication do not represent a complete national picture of the ECE sector and have been labelled 'experimental'. Care should be taken when interpreting these estimates.
For more information on the ECEC National Minimum Data Set and the collection methodologies used in each state and territory please see the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection Manual (cat.no.4240.0.55.001).
ROUNDING AND CONFIDENTIALITY
The hours and costs data relating to children attending or enrolled in preschool programs have been rounded so that they could be assigned to discrete ranges. Small values have been perturbed or suppressed to protect confidentiality.
INQUIRIES
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.
Quality Declaration 
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