INTRODUCTION

ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

In 2008, the importance of education in the early years of a child's development was formally acknowledged through the Council of Australian Governments' (COAG) endorsement of a new National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education (NP ECE).

This publication contains experimental estimates of children's enrolment and attendance at preschool programs across Australia in 2011, collected through the National Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Collection. For more information on the NP ECE and the collection please see the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 4240.0.55.001).


GENERAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This publication draws extensively on information provided by the Australian Government and state and territory governments. Their continued cooperation enables the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to publish a wide range of education statistics. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.


SOURCE DATA

The National ECEC Collection consists of administrative data provided by the Australian Government and the state and territory departments with responsibility for early childhood education and care. At the core of the collection is the Early Childhood Education and Care National Minimum Data Set (ECEC NMDS). The ECEC NMDS contains standards for which the Australian government and state and territory governments have committed to in regards to collecting statistics on Early Childhood Education (ECE) within their respective jurisdictions. All jurisdictions have worked closely with the ABS in aligning their individual collections to the ECEC NMDS and significant achievements have been made in 2011.


DATA QUALITY

It should be noted that for 2011 this collection has not achieved complete alignment with the standards set out in the ECEC NMDS. Complete coverage of the ECE sector has also not been achieved in 2011, with developments underway to increase the coverage for future collection cycles. As a result, the estimates presented in this publication do not represent a complete national picture of the ECE sector and have been labelled 'experimental'. Care should be taken when interpreting these estimates.

For more information on the ECEC NMDS and the collection methodologies and coverage within each of the jurisdictions, please see the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 4240.0.55.001).


ROUNDING AND CONFIDENTIALITY

The hours and costs relating to children attending or enrolled in early childhood education programs presented in this publication have been rounded so that they could be assigned to distinct ranges. Small values have been perturbed or suppressed to protect confidentiality.