Childhood Education and Care, Australia

The proportion of children aged 0 to 12 years who usually attended formal and/or informal care decreased from 2011 (52.2%) to 2014 (48.1%) and was about the same in 2017 (49.3%). Breaking this down into the various care arrangements:

• Use of Formal care only (e.g. Long day care) increased slowly from 13.6% in 2011 to 15.3% in 2014, then to 17.4% in 2017.
• Use of Informal care only (e.g. grandparents) decreased slightly from 28.5% in 2011 to 24.5% in 2014, to 22.2% in 2017.
• The proportion of children using a combination of both formal and informal care changed little from 10.1% in 2011, dipping to 8.5% in 2014, then rebounding to 9.7% in 2017.
   

ABS data on the use of care back to 1996 shows little change in the use of care in the week before the survey (Endnote A) by children aged 0 to 11 years (Endnote B). The proportion of children in care in 1996 was 45% while it was 47% in 2017.

Over this longer time period, some interesting trends include:

• The proportion of children in formal care increased gradually from 9% in 1996 to 19% in 2017.
• The proportion of children in informal care decreased gradually from 31% in 1996 to 19% in 2017.
• The proportion of children using a package of both formal and informal care increased slightly from 6% in 1996 to 9% in 2017.
   

After adjusting for inflation, the average usual weekly cost of formal care (after subsidies) (Endnote C) increased from $74.30 in 2011 to $110.50 in 2017, however the average usual weekly hours were about the same over the period. (Tables 6 & 8)

Children aged 2 or 3 years are the most likely to attend formal and/or informal care (71.8% and 71.1% respectively); while children aged under 1 year are the least likely to attend care (30%). (Table 1)

Children aged 2 or 3 years are the most likely to attend formal care only (37.2% and 37.6% respectively). Use of informal care is more common for older children. (Table 1)

The most common types of care usually attended for children aged 0 to 12 years who who attend school are Grandparents (18.6%) and Before and/or after school care (14.8%). The most common types of care for children who don't attend school are Long day care (36.9%) and Grandparents (25.8%).

For children aged 0 to 12 years in couple families, children usually attend formal care more when both parents are employed (35%), than when one parent is employed (16%) or neither parent is employed (13%). (Table 3)

For children aged 0 to 12 years in one parent families, children usually attend formal care more when the parent is employed (34%) than when the parent is not employed (16%). (Table 3)

The use of flexible work arrangements to care for children aged 0 to 12 years decreased for female parents between 2011 (74.3%) and 2017 (69.5%) (Endnote B).

The use of flexible work arrangements to care for children aged 0 to 11 years (Endnote B):

• Increased for male parents between 1996 and 2008, then was steady from 2008 to 2017.
• Increased for female parents between 1996 and 2005, but then decreased from 2011 to 2017.
   

After adjusting for inflation, the mean cost per week (after subsidies) (Endnote D) of usually attending formal care increased from $74.30 in 2011, to $100.50 in 2014, then to $110.50 in 2017. The average hours attended per week stayed about the same between 2011 and 2017. (Tables 6, 8 & 11)

Additional preschool or formal care is currently required by 9.3% of children aged 0 to 12 years. The main types of additional care currently required by children aged 0 to 12 years are:

• Formal care (6.2%).
• Preschool (4.0%).

Children aged 0 to 12 years are more likely to require additional preschool or formal care if they already usually attend formal care or preschool (17.3%) than if they only usually attend informal care (6.8%), or if they did not usually attend care or preschool (4.9%). (Table 17)

Children aged 0 to 12 years are more likely to require additional formal care or preschool when their female parent is unemployed (22.2%), than when they are employed (8.3%) or not in the labour force (10.1%). Children require about the same amount of additional formal care or preschool regardless of the labour force status of their male parent.

The main type of additional formal care that is required by children aged 0 to 12 years who attend school is Before and/or after school care (84.9%), while children who don't attend school are most likely to require additional Long day care (76.2%).

The most common reason that children require additional before and/or after school care is work-related (84.5%); whereas the most common reasons children require additional long day care are work-related (61.8%) and for the benefit of the child (55.6%). (Table 18)

Children aged 0 to 2 years are more likely than children aged 3 to 8 years not to have participated in any informal learning activities with their parents in the last week (8.2% and 0.9% respectively). (Table 19 & 20)

The most common informal learning activity children aged 0 to 2 years did with their parents was Read from a book or told a story at 83.6%. For children aged 3 to 8 years, the most common informal learning activity was Told stories, read or listened to the child read at 95.4%. The proportion for children aged 0 to 2 years was lower than for children aged 3 to 8 years (noting the activities are slightly different). However, children aged 0 to 2 years were more likely than children aged 3 to 8 years to have had their parents read from a book or tell a story every day in the last week (57.2% compared with 47.8%). (Table 19 & 20)

Children aged 0 to 2 years who were born in Australia were more likely to have had parents read from a book and tell a story (83.8%) than children who were not born in Australia (62.8%). However, children aged 3 to 8 years were similarly likely to have had parents who Told stories, read or listened to the child read, regardless of whether they were born in Australia or not.

This release previously used catalogue number 4402.0