SOUTH AUSTRALIA

OVERVIEW

In South Australia (SA), ‘preschool’ is the term used for the year before school and ‘reception’ is the term used for the first year of school. The majority of children in SA commence preschool at the beginning of the term following their 4th birthday.


MANAGEMENT TYPES, LEGISLATION AND LICENSING

The Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) licenses, regulates or operates all childcare and preschool centres in SA. The DECS licensing and standards unit collects information on child care services via licensing applications. DECS maintains a register of all services that are operated or funded by DECS and collects service, staff and child level data from these services through an annual census process.

Preschool

In SA there are both government and non-government managed preschools.

Government managed

DECS manages the majority of preschool programs in SA through a range of centres, including kindergartens, child-parent centres (CPCs), and integrated centres (for example Children's Centres for Early Childhood Development and Parenting). All DECS preschools are subject to the department's quality assurance processes.

There are two models of preschool operations in the government managed sector:

• Stand-alone or integrated centre-based programs where the main service activity type is preschool. These preschools are operated under the provisions of the Children's Services Act 1985 (SA).
• School-based programs attached to DECS schools. These preschools are operated under the provisions of the Education Act 1972 (SA).

Non-government managed

Community managed: Community managed preschools include stand alone preschools and integrated centre-based programs where the main service activity type is preschool. Only a small number of these preschools receive funding from DECS. Non-government community managed providers (not attached to a school) are licensed as child care centres under the Children’s Services Act 1985.

Independent (school-managed or other providers): Non-government preschools can be provided through independent private schools or other independent providers. Preschools attached to independent schools (who frequently incorporate “Early Learning Centre” as part of their name) are subject to the Education Act 1972.

Long day care

LDCs in SA consist of the following management types:

Private for-profit managed: Private for-profit managed LDCs are those where the main service activity type is not preschool. LDCs that operate as private for-profit centres must be regulated by the Children’s Services Act 1985 and the Children’s Services (Child Care Centre Regulations) 1998. The majority are registered as a business, company or incorporated under the South Australian Associates Incorporation Act 1985.

Community managed: Community managed LDCs include those that are managed by parents, a church or a co-operative where the main service activity type is not preschool. Preschool programs can be managed and delivered in these community-based LDC settings. Non-government community managed providers (not attached to a school) are licensed as child care centres under the Children’s Services Act 1985.


QUALITY OF DATA SOURCE

Annual Census of Children's Services

In 2010 SA had one main source for the collection of data in relation to preschool services, the Annual Census of Children's Services (ACCS).

Institutional environment

The organisation responsible for the ACCS was SA DECS.

Relevance

The ACCS encompassed all services managed by DECS across the preschool and child care sector, as well as grant funded non-government preschools. Unlicensed non-government school-based preschools did not receive the ACCS form. Information gathered from the census included patterns of service usage and characteristics of children and families. The data were required by the SA government for forward planning and the analysis of needs and gaps in current service provision. The data from this collection enabled reporting across the SA early childhood education and care sector for a variety of reporting requirements.

The scope of this collection included children aged 3 to 5 years old who were attending a government managed or government funded preschool, including government funded non-government preschools, community managed and private for-profit LDCs. In 2010 the ACCS achieved full collection coverage for all DECS managed preschools and grant funded non-government preschools. There were a small number of non-government preschool providers that are funded by DECS, and these providers were mandated to participate in the quarterly preschool data collections as well as the ACCS.

For these services that were mandated to complete the ACCS, data were collected at the following levels:

• Preschool programs: information on service operations and characteristics.
• Children enrolled at a licensed service: at an aggregate level, information on personal characteristics, enrolment and attendance.
• Staff: at the person level, information on personal characteristics, employment arrangements and qualifications, for all staff who have consented to their information being provided.

Participation in the ACCS was not compulsory for non-government independent preschool providers or un-funded community managed preschools or LDCs, which resulted in a low response rate. Therefore, coverage for these programs was low. For those non-mandated preschools that did participate, the data gathered was not necessarily provided at all levels, as was provided for mandated preschools. The Early Childhood Education and Care National Minimum Data Set (ECEC NMDS) defines that a preschool program can operate in an LDC if the program comprises a structured education program usually provided by a qualified teacher. Jurisdictional collections currently do not have full coverage of preschool programs being delivered in LDC as defined by the ECEC NMDS for the National ECEC Collection. Data sourced from the Child Care Management System (CCMS) is required to achieve full coverage of preschool activity in LDC nationally. CCMS preschool data was not included in the 2010 collection due to the required information not being collected. In the future, the National ECEC Collection aims to include information on preschool programs provided within LDC through the CCMS.

Timeliness

The collection was undertaken on the ACCS census date at 6 August 2010 for a representative week of Monday 2 August to Friday 6 August 2010. All service providers were required to return collection forms to DECS by 3 September 2010. The data processing and validation stages took approximately 2 to 3 months after the collection date, at which time data were delivered to the ABS. Total number of enrolments was not disseminated as enrolment data provided was collected in a different collection period.

Accuracy

The ACCS is conducted annually during the third preschool term. In 2010 a paper based form was used to gather information on the services and participation of children in the early childhood education sector. There were specific forms used for each sector, being preschools, child care, Montessori, integrated services and TAFE child care centres. Each sector also received a coding booklet which detailed the codes and definitions in relation to child, staff and service provider details to be used when completing the forms.

Service providers entered information from each child enrolment form into the census booklets. DECS then inputted this information into the DECS data repository, known as the Children Services Information System, or updated service provider details in the Location Sites and Services database, if required. Data for the 2010 National ECEC Collection were sourced from these databases.

A data validation database was utilised by DECS to ensure the quality of the data collected. Data validations were performed at the service provider, child and staff levels.

Coherence

In 2010 DECS used an aggregate data collection methodology. Aggregate data collection methodologies using the 2010 ECEC Aggregate National Minimum Data Set (NMDS) did not allow for the identification of multiple enrolments for a single child. In the collection reference period, a child may be enrolled and attend two or more different preschool programs. Aggregate data from the 2010 ACCS does not allow identification of unique record. This methodology can only produce episodes of attendance, and not the attendance of individual children. 2010 ECEC statistics from SA should be interpreted with care as they are not directly comparable with other jurisdictional data included in the 2010 National ECEC Collection.

Due to expected developments to the 2011 ACCS, a time series will not be achievable with 2010 data. It is anticipated that time series will be achievable in the future as the SA DECS collection develops in its capacity to capture unit record level data.

Further information on data elements:

• Child age was recorded as at last birthday, rather than at 1 July 2010.
• Total number of enrolments was not disseminated as enrolment data provided was collected in a different collection period.
• For attendance data, Indigenous status was not disaggregated by ECEC NMDS requirements.
• Total preschool attendance hours was not collected.
• Maximum preschool program hours available was not disseminated.

For LDC data, SA did not supply disaggregated data by the 'preschool program delivered by teacher indicator'. As a result, SA LDC providers represented in table disaggregations of service activity type within the publication Experimental Estimates of Preschool Education, Australia, 2010 (cat. no. 4240.0) may not be delivering a preschool program as defined by the collection.

Interpretability

SA provided a range of information to assist in the reporting of data, such as the 2010 ACCS Booklet and Coding Instructions. Key material was provided in the form of manuals and fact sheets to support the correct interpretation and explanation of concepts.

Accessibility

A subset of the ACCS, is used for the National ECEC Collection and is available at the national and jurisdictional level in Experimental Estimates of Preschool Education, Australia, 2010 (cat. no. 4240.0) on the ABS website.

The information contained within this report has been sourced from the DECS website and consultations held between DECS and the ABS. Further information is available at: <http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/>.

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