QUALITY DECLARATION

INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Preschool Education, Australia (cat. no. 4240.0) is compiled with data from the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection. This collection is derived from administrative data provided by state and territory and Australian education departments and the Catholic Education Office of the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. A comprehensive quality declaration for each jurisdiction can be found in Appendix 3 – Jurisdictional Data Quality Statements (available in the second stage of the release).

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.

RELEVANCE

This publication is, in part, conducted to support performance based reporting for the National Partnership Agreement on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education - 2018 & 2019. It aims to compile child and service provider statistics from all service providers delivering an in-scope preschool program within Australia.

The National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection population includes:

• Service providers 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.
• Children between 3 and 6 years of age (inclusive) at 1 July who 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.

TIMELINESS

The National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection has been conducted annually since 2010. The census date for the collection is the first Friday in August each year. Some jurisdictions may adopt a 2 week reference period that needs to include the census week.

A summary of jurisdictional collection reference periods can be found in Appendix 3 – Jurisdictional Data Quality Statements (available in the second stage of release).

ACCURACY

Data for the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection have been compiled according to national standards outlined in the Early Childhood Education and Care National Minimum Data Set in order to maximise consistency of data across the various jurisdictions. Alignment with these standards has not been completely achieved by all jurisdictions, 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 national standards.

Data quality overall is determined by the jurisdictional data submissions. Data issues are explained in the Explanatory Notes section of this publication, as well as in Appendix 3 – Jurisdictional Data Quality Statements (available in the second stage of release).

Further information on the Early Childhood Education and Care National Minimum Data Set is available on the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) website.

COHERENCE

Due to jurisdictional differences in coverage, collection methodologies and alignment with the Early Childhood Education and Care National Minimum Data Set standards, the data presented in this iteration of Preschool Education, Australia (cat. no. 4240.0) may not be directly comparable across all jurisdictions or with previous years.

Differences in the scope and counting rules for the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection mean that the data presented in the publication are not strictly comparable to data published in other national or state/territory publications.

INTERPRETABILITY

National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 4240.0.55.001) contains detailed information on the data sources, terminology and other technical aspects associated with early childhood education and care statistics.

ACCESSIBILITY

Please refer to the Downloads tab for the products that are available for free from the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection.

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