Preschool Education

In 2022

• there were 334,440 children aged 4 or 5 years old enrolled in a preschool program
• 80% of children enrolled in a preschool program were aged 4 years and 20% were aged 5 years
• it is estimated there were 306,070 children aged 4 years resident in Australia as at June 2022 and 313,387 aged 5 years. This indicates that 87% of all children aged 4 and 22% of all children aged 5 were enrolled in preschool programs
• 21% of all children enrolled in a preschool program resided in the fifth SEIFA quintile (least disadvantaged) while 17% resided in the first quintile (most disadvantaged). The largest group of children (23%) resided in the fourth SEIFA quintile
• over 95% of children enrolled were enrolled for 15 hours or more per week

In 2022

• there were 21,516 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 4 or 5 years old enrolled in a preschool program, representing over 6% of all children enrolled in preschool programs
• over 96% of enrolled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were enrolled for 15 hours or more per week
• 47% of enrolled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were enrolled in preschool programs in inner and outer regional areas followed by major cities (41%) and remote and very remote areas (12%)
• 40% of children enrolled in a preschool program in remote/very remote areas were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

Preschool programs are delivered through centre based day care services, or through dedicated preschools.

In 2022

• there were 165,516 children aged 4 and 5 enrolled only in preschool programs delivered by centre based day care services, representing 49% of all children enrolled
• there were 123,558 children enrolled only in preschool programs delivered by dedicated preschools, representing 37% of all children enrolled
• there were 45,363 children enrolled in preschool programs across more than one provider type, representing 14% of all children enrolled
• in dedicated preschools, 38% were enrolled in government preschools, 60% were enrolled in non-government preschools and the remaining 2% were enrolled in more than one preschool
• enrolments across service delivery models varied by state and territory. Western Australia (68%), Tasmania (58%), and the Northern Territory (54%) had the highest proportion of children enrolled in dedicated preschools, while Queensland (70%), New South Wales (64%) and Victoria (43%) had the highest proportion of children enrolled in preschool programs in centre based day care services
• the number of children enrolled across more than one provider type was 45,363 an increase of 13% compared to 2021

In 2022

• there were 228,786 children (68%) enrolled in preschool programs who paid $4 or less out of pocket per hour after subsidies were deducted, of these 83,222 children paid no fees
• there were 105,081 children (31%) enrolled in preschool programs who paid $5 or more per hour

In 2022

• there were 68,412 children (55%) enrolled in dedicated preschools who paid no fees, 38,502 (31%) paid $1-$4 per hour, and 16,304 (13%) paid $5 or more per hour
• there were 12,574 children (8%) enrolled in preschool programs in centre based day care services paid no fees, 76,206 (46%) paid $1-$4 per hour, and 76,498 (46%) paid $5 or more per hour
• there were 2,236 children (5%) enrolled in more than one provider type who paid no fees, 30,854 (68%) paid $1-4 per hour, and 12,268 (27%) paid $5 or more per hour

In 2022

• there were 12,999 service providers delivering a preschool program to children aged 3 to 6 years
• around one in three (33%) preschool program providers were dedicated preschools
• two out of three (67%) preschool program providers were centre based day care services
• service delivery models differ across the states and territories. New South Wales and Queensland have largely centre based day care delivery models (accounting for 81% and 74% of preschool program providers respectively). Dedicated preschools made up the highest proportion of providers in Tasmania (61%), Western Australia (55%), and the Northern Territory (54%).

This release previously used catalogue number 4240.0.