PROCESSING DATA FOR THE NATIONAL ECEC COLLECTION


CHILD EPISODE COUNTS VS UNIQUE CHILD COUNTS

A key outcome of the National ECEC Collection is to collect data on children enrolled in and attending preschool programs. In order to report accurately on the number of children who have received an early childhood education program, a requirement of the collection is to count each child once. Given the complexity of the service delivery models for ECEC across Australia, it is a statistical challenge to identify children attending multiple preschool programs within the collection reference period and accurately report the number of children enrolled in and attending a preschool program, without counting an individual child more than once.

When one child attends two different preschool programs, this is described as a child attending two episodes of preschool. However, this child should only be counted once when counting total numbers of children enrolled and attending (child counts). Only unique child records are included in the count for the total number of children enrolled in and attending a preschool program. All child episode records are included in the count for the total episodes of enrolment and attendance in a preschool program.

The following flow chart shows the difference between episode counts and counts of children.

For the purpose of reporting on hours enrolled, hours attended, maximum hours available and fees, child episode records are combined to obtain the total hours and total fees for children who are enrolled in multiple preschool programs.
 
Identification of Unique Child Records
Identification of unique child records can be achieved by application of a child/client database which contains detailed name, date of birth and address information for each child in a data set. Alternatively, a statistical linkage key (SLK) can be used to identify matching child records. Without a child/client database, the SLK can only provide estimated unique child records as it is possible for more than one child to have an identical SLK.

For the National ECEC Collection, child records with identical SLKs were flagged and investigated by the jurisdiction in their child/client database. This process confirmed whether the matching SLK related to the same child enrolled in multiple preschool programs, or whether the SLK was a coincidental match (i.e. another child with a similar name).

Alternatively, where a jurisdiction did not have a child/client database, matching SLKs were considered to be dual enrolments and combined accordingly into an estimated unique child record.

The conceptual process which ensures that each child is only counted once for the total number of children enrolled and attending a preschool program is outlined in the diagram below.


Identification of Unique Child Records in the Year before Full-time Schooling
Identification of unique child records in the YBFS can be achieved with 2 years of data collected using a URL data collection methodology and a child/client database. Where a child/client database is not available, the application of a SLK is used as an alternative unique identifier.

For the National ECEC Collection, children who are enrolled for more than one year of a preschool program are identified and if these children are aged 5 or 6 years old, their records are excluded from the number of children in the YBFS. Four year old children who are enrolled in more than one year of a preschool program are not excluded because they would not have been attending a program intended for children in the YBFS in the previous year (i.e. they would have been attending as an eligible early entry child but not included in the count of children enrolled and attending in the YBFS).

The conceptual process which ensures that each child is only counted once for the total number of children enrolled and attending a preschool program in the YBFS is outlined in the diagram below.

For the 2011 National ECEC Collection, identification of unique child records using appropriate methods was achieved for some jurisdictions, however, for other jurisdictions it was not achieved. See Chapter 5, Jurisdictional Data Quality Statements for collection specific assessments.


REASONS A CHILD COULD BE ENROLLED IN AND ATTENDING MULTIPLE PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS

Below is a summary of the different ways that a child could be included more than once in the National ECEC Collection.

Across jurisdictions
When children move interstate during the reference period, they may still be on the enrolment list of their former preschool as well as on the enrolment list of their new preschool. In this situation, the child would be recorded legitimately in both jurisdictional data sets. In the 2011 collection this occurrence is significantly reduced, due to the alignment of collection reference periods for each jurisdiction. In 2011 the collection did not include any further reconciliation processes to further manage this occurrence


Cross border issues
Where a child is enrolled in and attending two or more preschools in two separate jurisdictions (e.g. NSW and ACT), the child would be recorded in two different jurisdictional data sets. This could occur when a family uses a mixed preschool program delivery model that is located within different states/territories.


This is an instance where a child is enrolled in and attending two preschools and subsequently this child would be included in both jurisdictional collections.

Within a sector
Where a child is enrolled in and attending two or more preschool programs within a sector, the child would be recorded for each enrolment within a jurisdictional data set. This could occur because a child’s family has decided to use two or more non-government services, two or more government services, or two or more LDCs, reflecting work life arrangements, or to increase their child’s preschool attendance hours.


When jurisdictions can collect data using a URL methodology and a child/client database and/or SLK is available, these records could be matched to produce a unique child record. Although this is an instance where a child is enrolled in and attending two preschools, this child should only be counted once within ‘Counts of Children’.

Across sectors
Where a child is enrolled in and attending two or more preschool programs across sectors the child would be recorded for each enrolment within a jurisdictional data set. This may occur because a child’s family has chosen to use a combination of government preschool, non-government preschool or preschool in an LDC, reflecting work life arrangements, or to increase their child’s preschool attendance hours.

When jurisdictions can collect data using a URL methodology and a child/client database and/or SLK is available, these records could be matched and combined to produce a unique child record (See ‘Identification of Unique Child Records’). Although this is an instance where a child is enrolled in and attending two preschools, this child should only be counted once when counting numbers of children enrolled in and attending preschool.

Across time
Where a child attends preschool for more than one year (e.g. a child who was enrolled in an 'early entry' preschool program) the child would be recorded in a jurisdictional data set over two years.

When jurisdictions have collected data using a URL methodology for at least two years with a repeater flag and a child/client database and/or SLK is available, these records could be matched to create a unique child record. This child would be counted in both years when counting the number of children enrolled in and attending preschool in 2011 and 2012, however, the child would only be counted once (in the 2011 count) when counting the number of children enrolled in and attending preschool in the YBFS.

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