AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY


DATA QUALITY STATEMENT

In 2011, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was responsible for one data collection in relation to preschool programs, the Public School Census, which collected data using a Unit Record Level (URL) data collection methodology.


ACT Public School Census

Institutional Environment
The organisation responsible for the Public School Census was the ACT Education and Training Directorate (ETD). Data for the 2011 census were collected under the Education Act 2004 (ACT).

Relevance
The data collected from the ACT Public School Census contributed to a variety of reporting requirements and were used to ensure effective delivery of children's education services within the ACT public sector.

Scope: The scope for the early childhood component of the ACT Public School Census, included all children in the year before full-time schooling, who were officially enrolled in a public school on the school census day and who were actively attending a preschool program at that school. Children enrolled in a preschool program at Jervis Bay School were included in the census, as that school is administered by ACT ETD on behalf of the Australian Government. Children who were absent for more than 4 continuous school weeks prior to the census date were included if the principal received written documentation signed by the child's guardian indicating that the child would return to school.

The scope for data provided on workers included all paid primary contact teachers that delivered a preschool program during the reference period at public schools in ACT.

Coverage: The 2011 ACT Public School Census included all government managed schools. Data from Catholic schools, independent schools, and community (not for-profit) and private for-profit managed preschools and Long Day Care centres were not included in this collection.

Data collection methods:
The 2011 ACT Public School Census collected data using a URL data collection methodology for the following statistical entities:

• Child: Data at the child record level

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

• Worker: Data at the worker record level.

Timeliness
The ACT Public School Census is an annual collection and in 2011 was undertaken on 5 August 2011, with a reference period of 1 August to 12 August 2011. The reference fortnight was adopted by ACT ETD to reflect the preschool delivery model in ACT. The reference fortnight was then derived by ACT ETD to a one week reference period to enable comparison with other jurisdictions for the National ECEC Collection. Completion of data processing and validation stages took approximately 2 months after the collection date, at which time the data were delivered to the ABS.

Data sourced from the ACT Public School Census for the purposes of the National ECEC Collection are published by the ABS in Experimental Estimates of Preschool Education, Australia, 2011 (cat. no. 4240.0).

Accuracy
Child level data: In 2011 data were obtained from a point in time sweep of enrolment and attendance data stored in the school data management system (MAZE). Individual child information was captured from data supplied via an enrolment form which was entered into MAZE by school staff. Each ACT public school had access to their own MAZE database, where teachers or administrators uploaded information on each child enrolment. The principal of each school was required to sign off on their school's total enrolment count by sex and year level. Any inconsistencies were followed up. Every school's MAZE system was linked to a central database, which could only be accessed by central office staff. At census time, child enrolment information was extracted from the central database and cross checked with schools.

The following list includes key approaches undertaken by the ACT in managing the quality of its data processing for 2011:

• ACT's system included automatic edits and mandatory fields, such as date of birth, sex, family details, attendance status and Indigenous status

• ACT cross-checked addresses for the preschools ensuring one existed for each service provider

• Child addresses were geo-coded against ACT block data to ensure the address was valid

• A MAZE manual was available to users to assist in data entry and extraction. Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs guidelines were also used for instances where key data items were unknown. In addition to this, face-to-face training was provided to users of the MAZE system in both entering data and also extracting data, including training on extracting non-routine data.

The ACT carried out validation of the data in a number of ways, including but not limited to:

• Manual data entry was avoided where possible through an automatic transfer of child information when the child had previously attended another ACT government school

• Addresses could be updated through a geo-coding cross check

• Date of birth was checked against year level and outliers were followed up

• Duplicate records of one child attending two schools were followed up

• Data checks included matching back to the original census data and running aggregate counts for each field.

Service provider level data: The process of obtaining service provider information from public preschools in the ACT was managed through the MAZE administrative system.

Worker level data: Teacher data were also sourced from MAZE and was extracted at the same time as child data. Data were provided on the teacher who was normally assigned to the class and recorded by the school in MAZE. Once extracted from MAZE, teacher data were then provided to Human Resources who linked the teacher with the highest level and field of relevant qualification from information within their database.

Human Resources cross checked teacher data against salary data to ensure accuracy. Human Resources also perform manual qualification assessments of all teachers prior to their employment. Teachers are required to provide certified copies of all qualification documents so that a qualification assessment can be undertaken. From this assessment, each teacher is assigned a rating from the following:

• Category A (4 year trained), or

• Category B (3 year trained), or

• Category C (2 year trained).

In 2011, ACT teacher qualifications were manually assessed and aligned with the classifications outlined in the ECEC National Minimum Data Set (ECEC NMDS) specifications. In the event a teacher had more than one qualification, the qualification that specifically related to Early Childhood was recorded. Any teachers with a 3 year undergraduate degree combined with a 1 year post graduate education qualification were assessed as having a 4 year qualification.

Coherence
For the purposes of the National ECEC Collection, data collected through the 2011 ACT Public School Census were able to be compared to data collected in 2010, as both collections were undertaken using a URL data collection methodology.

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.

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:
For the ACT government sector, counts of children enrolled in and attending preschool programs in 2011 were able to be derived as data were collected using a URL data collection methodology.

Children in a Preschool Program in the Year before Full-time Schooling:
As ACT had two years of comparable data collected using URL methodology and had a child/client database, counts of children enrolled in and attending preschool programs in the year before full-time schooling were also able to be derived for the government sector.

Interpretability
In 2011 the ACT ETD provided face-to-face staff training in the MAZE system, as well as providing a handbook, which outlined how to enter data, extract data, find data and validate data.
 
Accessibility
Data sourced from the ACT School Census 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. Data are also made available on the ACT ETD website:
http://www.det.act.gov.au/publications_and_policies/publications_a-z/census.

Information Source
The information contained within this report has been sourced from the ACT ETD in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available from the ACT ETD website: http://www.det.act.gov.au/.

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