In 2008, the importance of education in the early years of a child's development was formally acknowledged through the Council of Australian Government's endorsement of a new National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education (NP ECE). The National ECEC Collection was conducted for the second time in 2011 as part of data improvement projects under the NP ECE and the National Information Agreement on Early Childhood Education and Care. The aim of the National ECEC Collection is to provide comparable state and territory statistics on early childhood education. Experimental Estimates of Preschool Education, Australia (ABS cat. no. 4240.0) presents experimental estimates on counts of children enrolled and attending preschool programs and episodes of enrolment and attendance at preschool programs across Australia. The scope of the collection consists of all service providers delivering a preschool program. A preschool program for the National ECEC Collection is defined as a structured, play based learning program, delivered by a degree qualified teacher, primarily aimed at children in the year before they commence full-time schooling. This is irrespective of the type of institution that provides it, or whether it is government funded or privately provided. Programs may be delivered in a variety of service settings including separate preschools or kindergartens, long day care centres or in association with a school. Long day care (LDC) centres that do not operate a preschool program are considered out of scope. The operational collection scope of child information for the National ECEC Collection consists of all children who at 1 July were between 3 and 6 years of age (inclusive), are within scope of the collection if they were enrolled during the reference period at a preschool program. To be considered as enrolled, the child must have attended the preschool program for at least one hour during the reference period, or be absent due to illness or extended holiday leave and expected to return. The National ECEC Collection was conducted for the second time in 2011 and will continue to be conducted annually. The collection date for the National ECEC Collection is the first Friday in August of each year. In 2011, the collection date for all jurisdictions was Friday, 5 August 2011, with a reference period of 1–5 August 2011. Some jurisdictions preferred to incorporate a reference period of one or two weeks that included the collection date, to better reflect their preschool program delivery model. The first Friday in August will be the collection date for future collections, with jurisdictions determining their reference periods ensuring that they include the collection date. A summary of jurisdictional collection reference periods for 2011 can be found within the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection: Concepts, Sources and Methods (ABS cat. no. 4240.0.55.001). |