4240.0.55.001 - National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection Manual, 2010
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 05/04/2011 First Issue
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OVERVIEW
Year before full-time schooling The year before full-time schooling (YBFS - also referred to as the 'year before formal schooling') is a term used to describe the 'preschool' cohort, due to the varying models of early childhood education in the different jurisdictions (McEwin and Ryan, 2009). The year before a child begins full-time schooling is further defined as Year 1 (or Grade 1) minus 2 years. This cohort may be a combination of 4, 5 and sometimes 6 year old children. The 6 year old children are usually children who are repeating preschool, or they may have been held back from starting preschool at the usual age. Service management type The preschool management type refers to the legal or social entity responsible for managing the service. National ECEC preschool data is presented based on ECEC National Minimum Data Set (ECEC NMDS) categories, which include government managed, community managed, independent, private-for-profit or other. Data in Experimental Estimates of Preschool Education, Australia, 2010 (cat. no. 4240.0) is presented hierarchically, by government or non-government managed in accordance with the definition in the 2010 ECEC NMDS, which is as follows:
For the 2010 National ECEC Collection, the ECEC NMDS categories for management type are based on a children's services background, which is distinct from an educational framework. Due to the diverse delivery models for preschool throughout Australia and the often difficult application of management type to a service, the ABS consulted with jurisdictions as to the most appropriate way to categorise services to align with the ECEC NMDS. The National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) adopts a different distinction between government and non-government services which is based on licensing and legislation, rather than management type. The definitions for government and non-government services within the NSSC are as follows:
In future collections the ABS, in consultation with the AIHW and all jurisdictions, plans to review the current ECEC NMDS management type disaggregation and explore the relationship between the government and non-government definitions adopted for the NSSC, which may provide a more meaningful standard. This further work is aimed to assist jurisdictions to more accurately represent their services within appropriate categories, providing a representative and statistically accurate depiction of the provision of preschool within Australia. For information on the jurisdictional inclusions adopted for the 2010 National ECEC Collection by management type within each jurisdiction, see Chapter 4, Jurisdictional Data Quality Statements. Service activity type The service activity type is the type of service provided by the children's service agency. Within a service provider setting, there may be one preschool program, multiple preschool programs or no preschool program. For example, a long day care (LDC) service may provide a preschool program as a sub-component of their service, therefore some children within that LDC would be receiving a preschool program, whereas others may not. This distinction is made by whether the program provided is a structured, play-based educational program, usually delivered by a qualified teacher. The following categories are used in the National ECEC Collection, based on the ECEC NMDS. For the purposes of the National ECEC Collection, only services which provide a preschool program are in-scope. These categories can be used to determine whether or not a service is in-scope, as well as providing information on the service activity type. For example, only preschools, centre-based long day care, occasional care and family day care can provide a preschool program. Therefore, if a service is identified as outside school hours care, vacation care or in-home care, it would be out of scope of the collection. Centre-based long day care Centre-based long day care comprises services aimed primarily at 0-5 year olds that are provided in a centre usually by a mix of qualified and other staff. Educational, care and recreational programs are provided based on the developmental needs, interests and experience of each child. In some jurisdictions, primary school children may also receive care before and after school, and during school vacations. Occasional care Occasional care comprises services usually provided at a centre on an hourly or sessional basis for short periods or at irregular intervals for parents who need time to attend appointments, take care of personal matters, undertake casual and part time employment, study or have temporary respite from full time parenting. These services provide developmental activities for children and are aimed primarily at 0-5 year olds. Centres providing these services usually employ a mix of qualified and other staff. Outside school hours care Outside school hours care comprises services provided for school aged children (5-12 year olds) outside school hours during term. Care may be provided on student free days and when school finishes early. For the purposes of this collection vacation care is recorded separately. Vacation care Vacation care comprises services provided for school aged children (5-12 year olds) during vacation periods. Family day care Family day care comprises services provided in the carer’s own home. The care is largely aimed at 0-5 year olds, but primary school children may also receive care before and after school, and during school vacations. Central co-ordination units in all states and territories organise and support a network of carers, often with the help of local governments. In-home care In-home care comprises services where an approved carer provides care in the child’s home. Families eligible for in-home care include families where the parent/s or child has an illness or disability; families in rural or remote areas; parents working shift work or non-standard hours; families with more than two children from a multiple birth and/or more than two children under school age; and families where a breastfeeding mother is working from home. Preschool Preschool comprises a structured educational program usually provided by a qualified teacher on a sessional basis in dedicated preschools. Similar educational programs or curricula may be provided in long day care and other settings. These are primarily aimed at children in the year or two before they commence full-time schooling. Service delivery setting Service delivery setting refers to the type of setting in which the children's service activity can be provided. Children's services can be delivered in the following settings: Centre-based - school Centre-based (school) refers to child care or preschool services delivered on school grounds, using school facilities (e.g. a building owned by the school). Centre-based - other Centre-based (other) refers to a purpose built building or buildings where a child care or preschool service is delivered and the primary function of the building is non-residential (e.g. a child care centre, dedicated preschool etc.). Home-based - child’s home Home-based (child’s home) refers to a private residential dwelling where the child lives. Home-based - other Home-based (other) refers to a private residential dwelling where a child care or preschool service is delivered by someone other than the child’s parents, carers or guardians (e.g. a family day care caregiver’s house). General community setting General community setting refers to child care or preschool services delivered at a general community infrastructure facility (e.g. a park, neighbourhood house, community hall, libraries, etc.). Counts of children A key outcome of the National ECEC Collection is to collect data on children enrolled and attending preschool programs, as well as episodes of preschool enrolment and attendance. In order to accurately report on the number of children who have received early childhood education, a requirement of the National ECEC Collection is to count each child once. Given the complexity of the service delivery models for ECEC across Australia, it is a statistical challenge to identify children attending multiple preschool programs within the collection reference period and then to accurately report the number of children enrolled or attending in a preschool program. For the purpose of reporting on hours or fees, total hours and total fees are counted for children attending multiple preschool programs within or across sectors. Below is a summary of the different ways that a child could be counted more than once. Across jurisdictions When children and their families move interstate during the reference period, they may still be on the old preschool enrolment list as well as the new preschool enrolment list. This issue is more prominent when the two jurisdictions involved have different collection reference periods (i.e. one in April and one in August). Cross border issues Where a child is enrolled and attending two preschools in two separate jurisdictions (e.g. NSW and ACT). This could occur when a family lives near the state border and wish to increase their child's hours of preschool attendance. Within a sector Where a child is enrolled and attending two preschool programs within a sector. Duplicates could be present because a child’s family has decided to use two non-government services to increase their child's hours of preschool attendance. Across sectors Where a child is enrolled and attending two preschool programs across sectors. Duplicates may exist because a child’s family has chosen to use a combination of government preschool and a non-government preschool to increase their child's hours of preschool attendance. Across time Where a child attends preschool for more than one year (e.g. a child repeats preschool or is enrolled in an 'early entry' preschool program). Identification of unique records can be resolved by application of a statistical linkage key and through consultation with jurisdictions. For the 2010 National ECEC Collection, removal of duplication was partially achieved for some jurisdictions, however, for other jurisdictions it was not achieved. See Chapter 4, Jurisdictional Data Quality Statements for jurisdictional specific assessments of duplication. Episodes of enrolment/attendance at a preschool program An episode is the count of the occurrence of a specific characteristic. For the National ECEC Collection, an episode refers to a preschool program provided to a child. When one child attends two different preschool programs, the child is attending two episodes of preschool. For the 2010 National ECEC Collection, not all jurisdictions were able to provide enough detail from administrative systems to accurately provide counts of children. For this reason, episodes of preschool delivery (not counts of children) were only reported for some jurisdictions for 2010.
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