QUALITY DECLARATION
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Preschool Education, Australia, 2014 (cat. no. 4240.0) is compiled from data from the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection (the Collection). The Collection is derived from administrative data provided by state and territory and Australian government departments with responsibility for early childhood education and care. For more detail of the jurisdictional arrangements underlying the data from these different sources see National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2013 (cat. no. 4240.0.55.001).
For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.
TableBuilder files are released in accordance with the conditions specified in the Statistics Determination 1983 made under section 13 of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (CSA). This ensures that confidentiality is maintained whilst enabling micro level data to be released. More information on the confidentiality practices associated with TableBuilder can be found at the Survey Confidentiality Page.
RELEVANCE
The Collection was established in 2010 as part of the data development activities to improve the quality of Early Childhood Education data required for reporting under the former National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education and continues under the current National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education.
The Collection aims to compile child, teacher and service provider statistics from all service providers delivering an in-scope preschool program within Australia. The following statistical entities are in-scope for the Collection population:
Service provider
A service provider is considered to be in-scope if it was providing a structured, play based learning program, delivered by a degree qualified teacher, aimed at children in the year or two before full-time schooling (a preschool program) during the reference period. In TableBuilder, information about Service providers is available through the Worker file as a set of attributes of the worker.
Child
All children between 3 and 6 years of age (inclusive) at 1 July were in scope of the Collection if they were enrolled in a preschool program during the reference period. To be considered as enrolled, the child must have attended the preschool program for at least one hour during the reference period, or be absent due to illness or extended holiday leave and expected to return.
Worker
All paid employees who had direct contact with children at an in-scope service provider during the reference period were in-scope of the Collection. Paid contact workers must have delivered or assisted in delivering a preschool program during the reference week.
TIMELINESS
The Collection was conducted for the fifth time in 2014 and will continue to be conducted annually. The collection date for the Collection is the first Friday in August each year. In 2014, the collection date for all jurisdictions was Friday, 1 August with a reference period of 28 July to 1 August inclusive. Some states and territories preferred to incorporate a two week reference period which included the collection date, to reflect more accurately the preschool delivery arrangements in their jurisdiction.
A summary of jurisdictional collection reference periods adopted in 2014 can be found in Appendix 3 – Jurisdictional Data Quality Statements of Preschool Education, Australia, 2014 (cat. no. 4240.0).
ACCURACY
The microdata contains finer levels of detail for data items than published in in Preschool Education, Australia, 2014 (cat. no. 4240.0). For information on the level of detail provided, please refer to the data item list in the Downloads tab.
Steps to confidentialise the data made available in TableBuilder are taken in such a way as to maximise the usefulness of the content while maintaining the confidentiality of respondents selected in the survey. As a result, it may not be possible to exactly reconcile all the statistics produced from TableBuilder with other published statistics. Further information about the steps taken to confidentialise the microdata is available through the Survey Confidentiality Page.
Data for the Collection have been compiled according to the National standards outlined in the Early Childhood Education and Care National Minimum Data Set (ECEC NMDS) in order to maximise consistency of data across the various jurisdictions. Alignment with these standards has not been completely achieved by all jurisdictions for 2014, and care should be taken when comparisons across jurisdictions are made. In addition, some jurisdictions were not able to provide the ABS with certain data elements as specified in the ECEC NMDS.
Data quality overall is determined by the jurisdictional data submissions. Data issues are explained in of Preschool Education, Australia, 2014 (cat. no. 4240.0) in the Explanatory Notes and Appendix 3 – Jurisdictional Data Quality Statements.
Further information on the ECEC NMDS is available on the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) website: < http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/555371>
COHERENCE
Due to the differing levels of coverage, collection methodologies and alignment with the ECEC NMDS across jurisdictions, the data presented in Preschool Education, Australia, 2014 (cat. no. 4240.0) may not be directly comparable across all jurisdictions. In particular, the definition and means for subsequent capture of the complete population of three year olds attending preschool is still being developed and therefore the characteristics of this population cannot be compared between states and territories.
Differences in the scope and counting rules for the Collection mean that the data presented in the TableBuilder are not strictly comparable to data published in other national or state/territory publications.
INTERPRETABILITY
The information within this product is the key source for reference when using TableBuilder. Included is information about collection objectives, methodology and design, survey content, data quality and interpretation and information about the file structure of the microdata.
Further information about the data sources, terminology and other technical aspects are available in the Explanatory Notes section of Preschool Education, Australia, 2014 (cat. No. 4240.0) and National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2013 (cat. no. 4240.0.55.001).
ACCESSIBILITY
Microdata products are available to approved users. To apply for access to TableBuilder, register and apply in the Registration Centre. Users should also familiarise themselves with information available via the Microdata Entry Page.
A full list of all available microdata can be viewed via the List of expected and available Microdata.
Any queries regarding access to microdata can be forwarded to microdata.access@abs.gov.au or phone (02) 6252 7714.
The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS handles any personal information that you provide to us.
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