SOUTH AUSTRALIA


DATA QUALITY STATEMENT

In 2011, South Australia (SA) was responsible for one data collection in relation to preschool programs, the Annual Census of Children's Services (ACCS). While data were collected through the ACCS using a Unit Record Level (URL data collection methodology, data collected from some service providers were not compliant with the URL ECEC National Minimum Data Set (ECEC NMDS). Therefore, all data has been reported for the National ECEC Collection at the Aggregate level.


Annual Census of Children's Services

Institutional Environment
The organisation responsible for the ACCS is SA Department for Education and Child Development (DECD). Data for the ACCS were collected under the Education Act 1972 (SA) and the Education Regulations 1997 (SA).

Relevance
Information gathered by the census included patterns of service usage and characteristics of children and families. The data were required by the SA government for forward planning and the analysis of needs and gaps in current service provision. The data from this collection enabled reporting across the SA early childhood education and care sector for a variety of reporting requirements.

Scope: The scope of the 2011 ACCS included children aged 3 to 5 years (extending to 6 years old for a small number of children who were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin or were under the guardianship of the Minister for Families and Communities) attending government managed or government funded preschools, including integrated centres, and funded non-government community managed child care centres with a preschool program.

The scope for data provided on workers included all paid workers employed in government managed or government funded preschools, including integrated centres, and funded non-government community managed child care centres with a preschool program. Workers were included irrespective of whether they delivered a preschool program during the reference period.

Coverage: In 2011 the ACCS achieved full coverage of all government managed and government funded preschools, including integrated centres, and funded non-government community managed child care centres with a preschool program. Only a small number of non-government community managed LDCs with a preschool program receive funding from SA DECD.

Participation in the ACCS was voluntary for Independent and Catholic school managed preschool providers, unfunded community managed providers and for Long Day Care (LDC) centres, and therefore the ACCS did not achieve full coverage of these sectors due to non-response.

 
Data collection methods: The 2011 ACCS collected data for the following statistical entities:

1. Services that completed the ACCS using the Early Years System (using a URL data collection methodology):

• Child: Data at the child record level

• Service provider organisation: Data at the service provider record level

• Worker: Data at the worker record level.

2. Services that completed the paper-based ACCS (using a non URL ECEC NMDS compliant data collection methodology):

• Child: Data at the child record level, without name, date of birth or address information

• Service provider organisation: Data at the service provider record level

• Worker: Data at the worker record level.

As some service providers did not provide data which complied with the URL ECEC NMDS, all child level data were presented in terms of episodes of enrolment and attendance for SA in the publication Experimental Estimates of Preschool Education, Australia, 2011 (cat. no. 4240.0).

Timeliness
The ACCS is an annual collection and in 2011 was undertaken on the 5 August 2011, with a reference period of 25 July to 5 August 2011. This reference fortnight was adopted by SA DECD to reflect the preschool delivery model in SA. This reference fortnight was then derived by SA DECD to a one week reference period to enable comparison with other jurisdictions for the National ECEC Collection.

The data processing and validation stages took approximately 2 to 3 months after the collection date, at which time the data were delivered to the ABS.

Data sourced from the ACCS for the purpose of the National ECEC Collection are published by the ABS in Experimental Estimates of Preschool Education, Australia, 2011.

Accuracy
In 2011, the ACCS collected data from service providers through either a paper-based format or submissions from a web-based preschool administration system. The web-based format collected data using a URL data collection methodology. For those service providers that submitted data using the paper-based format, data were also collected using a URL data collection methodology, however the data collected were not compliant with the URL ECEC NMDS. The new 'Early Years System' (EYS) was the web-based system implemented in SA preschools for the management of preschool enrolments, attendances and fees. Training of service providers commenced in Term 1 and continued throughout 2011. The EYS staffing module was pre-populated with teaching qualifications recorded in the SA DECD Human Resources administrative system prior to the ACCS being conducted. Staff completing the ACCS checked the qualifications listed in the EYS and updated them if required.

For those service providers that had not yet adopted or implemented the EYS system as at the ACCS reference period, and for non-government preschools, paper-based forms specific to each sector, (i.e preschools, child care, Montessori, integrated services and TAFE child care centres) were used.

SA DECD collated both on-line and paper-based census information into their Children Services Information System data repository, or updated service provider details in the Location Sites and Services database. Data for the 2011 National ECEC Collection were sourced from these databases. A data validation database was utilised by SA DECD to ensure the quality of the data collected. Data validations were performed at the service provider, child and staff levels.

Coherence
For the purposes of the National ECEC Collection, data collected through the 2011 ACCS were not directly comparable with 2010 data as all base-year data were sourced using an Aggregate level data collection methodology.

Specific data elements which were collected using methods which did not align with the URL ECEC NMDS specifications are outlined below and should be taken into account when analysing the data collected. An analysis of the coherence of this collection with other jurisdictional collections should be undertaken on an individual basis, taking into account any data elements that are not consistent with the ECEC NMDS specifications, outlined below.

Data Element	Details of Deviation
Letters of family name / given name	For service providers that reported data using the paper-based census booklet, only the child’s initials were available.
Date of birth	For service providers that reported data using the paper-based census booklet, only age information was available.
Address line / Suburb	For service providers that reported data using the paper-based census booklet, only postcode information was available.
Hours worked in preschool program delivery (Worker)	Data were reported for each worker's total paid hours. There were no separation of 'face-to-face contact hours', so data may be over-reported.
Number of preschool program service operation weeks (Service provider)	For some integrated services, data included weeks when the service was operational but not necessarily delivering the preschool component of the service, so data may be over-reported in these services.

Counts of Children:
In the collection reference period, it is possible for a child to be concurrently enrolled in and attending two or more preschool programs. In order to address collection requirements, it is important to be able to collate all matching child records.

Children in a Preschool Program in 2011 and in the Year before Full-time Schooling:
For SA, counts of children enrolled in and attending preschool programs in 2011 and in the year before full-time schooling, were not able to be derived as data were reported using a combination of URL and Aggregate methodologies. As a result, data for SA could only be presented in terms of episodes of enrolment and attendance in preschool programs.

Interpretability
SA provided a range of information to assist in the reporting of data, such as the 2011 ACCS Booklet and Coding Instructions. Key material was provided in the form of manuals and fact sheets to support the correct interpretation and explanation of concepts.

Accessibility
Data sourced from the ACCS for the 2011 National ECEC Collection are published at the state and territory level in Experimental Estimates of Preschool Education, Australia, 2011 on the ABS website.

Information Source
The information contained within this report has been sourced from SA DECD in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available on the SA DECD website http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/.

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