NUMBER OF INDIGENOUS CHILDREN ATTENDING A PRESCHOOL PROGRAM
ABS short name: EPR_INDIGPREATND
ABS Aggregate Templare reference: Column AZ
METeOR Technical name: Service provider organisation - number of Indigenous children attending a preschool program, total number N[NNNN]
METeOR identifier: 441249
METeOR link: <http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/441249>
METeOR definition: The total number of Indigenous children attending a preschool program at the service.
Scope
Inclusions: For all early childhood education and care services that deliver a preschool program:
- The total number of individual Indigenous children who attended the preschool program in the reference period, disaggregated by single year of age.
- Include those Indigenous children who live outside of the jurisdiction's borders but attend a preschool within the jurisdiction. For example, a child living in Tweed Heads who attends a preschool in Coolangatta (QLD) would be recorded by the QLD jurisdictional agency, not by New South Wales.
Exclusions:
- The number of Indigenous children who did not attend the preschool program during the reference period (e.g. Indigenous children who were absent during the reference period due to illness or extended holiday leave).
- The number of children attending that fall within the category 'non-Indigenous'.
- Early childhood education and care services that do not deliver a preschool program.
Underlying Concepts
Concept: Indigenous children attending preschool program.
Nominal definition: An Indigenous child who is enrolled in a preschool program and has attended the preschool program for at least one hour during the reference period.
Indigenous: 'An Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is a person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives'.
There are three components to the Commonwealth definition:
This definition is in accordance with 'The Commonwealth Definition' which was given in a High Court judgement in the case of
Commonwealth v Tasmania (1983) 46 ALR 625.
Operational definition: The number of Indigenous children that are attending a preschool program. Please see data item list earlier in this chapter specific disaggregation and cross classification of this data element as specified in the data request template.
It must be noted that data collected at the aggregate level will be published as episodes of attendance, not number of children attending. This is because it is not possible to identify duplicate records within aggregate collections, once jurisdictional service provider data are merged.
Supporting data elements: Attendance must be cross classified and reported by the following data elements:
Conceptual issues:
- A child is defined as attending a preschool program if they attended for at least one hour during the reference period.
- The Indigenous status of the child must be the status as identified by the child's parent or guardian. See the data element Indigenous status, for further rules and definitions around identifying a child's Indigenous status.
- The nominal and operational definitions of Number of Indigenous children attending a preschool program differ due to the aggregate reporting methodology.
Standard Jurisdictional Output Categories
Representation class: Count
Data type: Number
Format: N[NNNN], for example: 36
Maximum character length: 5
2.4.19 LEGAL VALUE CHECKS
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 | Edit specifications | Edit resolution |
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| 1. | If field is blank. | Provide a valid number of attending Indigenous children, otherwise amend to ‘0’ for nil Indigenous children. |
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| 2. | If character length is greater than 5. | Provide a valid number of attending Indigenous children. |
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| 3. | If total number of Indigenous children attending is greater than total number of Indigenous children enrolled in a preschool program. | Provide a valid number of enrolled and attending Indigenous children. Verify that enrolments are equal to or greater than number of Indigenous children attending. |
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| 4. | If total number of Indigenous children attending is greater than total number of children attending a preschool program. | Provide a valid number of attending Indigenous children and correct number of total attending children. Verify that total number of Indigenous children attending is equal to or less than total number of all children attending. |
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Guide for Use
This data element must be cross classified and reported by the supporting data elements listed above.
Counting rules:
- The total number of Indigenous children attending must be cross classified by their age (as at 1 July 2013).
- The number of Indigenous children attending a preschool program should be collected for each preschool program available at the service. Each Indigenous child should be counted once only and data should then be aggregated to the service provider level for reporting purposes.
- A child should only be counted as having attended a preschool program if they attended for at least one hour during the reference period.
- Jurisdictions that adopt a two week reference period are required to derive their data to a representative week.
Other Information
Related URL data elements: Indigenous status and
Preschool program attendance indicator.
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