Welcome

Welcome to the latest edition of the National Centre for Education and Training Statistics (NCETS) newsletter. Since the previous newsletter, the National Centre for Education and Training Statistics (NCETS) has been focussed on developing data that is comparable across a greater range of education and training sectors. Issues such as data standards, enhanced collaboration, timeliness and relevance of published data, and improved efficiency and resource use across the sectors, are also being addressed.

The NCETS work program has comprised:

• developing a national Early Childhood Education and Care Data Collection (ECEC);
• converting the annual National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) into a unit record collection;
• planning for the development of the Australian Longitudinal Learning Database (ALLD); and
• servicing regular surveys related to child care, education, training and work.

The ABS has been supporting the needs of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Productivity Agenda with data that will provide a “life cycle view” of education in Australia. This information will provide a firm data foundation that supports the COAG performance targets. NCETS is proud to play an important role in conceptual and standards development within the education and training sector. We continue to analyse, provide feedback and advice to stakeholders through our membership in a wide range of committees throughout the education sector and our research papers.