KEY COLLECTION CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS


This section describes key concepts and definitions used in the 2011 National Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Collection. Further terms and definitions are provided in the Glossary.


EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE

'Early childhood education and care' (ECEC) incorporates all early childhood education and child care programs. ECEC programs are delivered in a variety of service provider delivery settings such as stand-alone preschools, preschool within schools or in Long Day Care (LDC) centres, and may be delivered to children of all ages.

Responsibility for ECEC is shared between the Australian Government and the state and territory governments, and is administered through a wide range of service provider management types including government, local government, community, schools (both government and non-government) and private organisations.


PRESCHOOL PROGRAM

A preschool program for the purposes of 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. This guide uses the term 'preschool program', notwithstanding that the terminology varies considerably across the jurisdictions.

A preschool program can be delivered in a variety of settings such as stand-alone preschools, preschools within a school (both government and non-government), and preschools within a for-profit long day care (LDC) centre. A child may attend both a preschool and a separate or adjoined child care facility, such as family day care, outside school hours care, vacation care, in-home care and occasional care services. LDC centres may or may not offer preschool programs within their service offering. Participation in preschool is not compulsory and is influenced by parental preference and on other factors, such as school starting age within the particular jurisdiction.

Terminology and age entry requirements differ across states and territories, these differences are summarised in the following table.

	Preschool (Year before full-time schooling		First year of School (Year prior to Grade 1)
Jurisdiction	Program name	Age-entry requirement	Program name	Age-entry requirement
New South Wales	Preschool	3 and 4 year olds	Kindergarten(c)	5 by 31 July
Victoria	Kindergarten	4 by 30 April	Preparatory (Prep)(c)	5 by 30 April
Queensland	Kindergarten/Pre-Preparatory (Pre-Prep)	4 by 30 April	Preparatory Year (Prep)(d)	5 by 30 June
South Australia	Preschool/Kindergarten	Entry after 4th birthday(f)	Reception(c)	Entry after 5th birthday
Western Australia	Kindergarten	4 by 30 June	Pre-Primary(d)	5 by 30 June
Tasmania	Kindergarten	4 by 1 January	Preparatory(e)	5 by 1 January
Northern Territory	Preschool	4 by 30 June(b)	Transition(c)	5 by 30 June
Australian Capital Territory	Preschool	4 by 30 April	Kindergarten(c)	5 by 30 April

(a) Sourced from the 2011 Report on Government Services (SCRGSP, 2011).
(b) For Indigenous children in remote areas, age requirement is 3 years old by 30 June.
(c) Program is compulsory from age 6.
(d) Program is non-compulsory. Children starting school from age 6 can enrol into Year 1.
(e) Program is compulsory from age 5.
(f) Indigenous children and children under the guardianship of the Minister may commence preschool from 3 years of age.


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 of children, due to the varying delivery models of early childhood education across the 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 children aged 3, 4, 5 and sometimes 6 years old. Children who are 6 years old and attending a preschool program have usually attended more than one year of a preschool program, or may have been delayed from starting preschool at the usual age. The 3 year old children include those that are eligible for early entry due to special needs or giftedness, or that attend the first year of full-time schooling as 4 year olds due to the jurisdictions school starting age. Children eligible for early entry as 3 year olds that remain for a second year of preschool as 4 year olds (i.e. early entry for Indigenous children or children with special needs), are in their YBFS when they attend preschool as 4 year olds.

Operationally for the National ECEC Collection, children are only included in the YBFS cohort when they are in their final year of preschool, as determined by their age at the time of the reference period.

The count of preschool enrolments in the YBFS is estimated by including children aged 4 and 5 years old that are attending their first year at a preschool program. Operationally, children who are enrolled and attending a preschool program for more than one year (i.e. as a result of repeating or service delivery model) are then removed from the count of enrolments and attendance and not considered to be in the YBFS.

In this respect, a 4 year old child who attends preschool in 2011 and then again in 2012 as a 5 year old, would be included in the 2011 counts but removed from the 2012 counts.

The methodology for estimating the YBFS concept for the National ECEC Collection will be reviewed annually to ensure that the most appropriate measurement is being used for this concept.


SERVICE PROVIDER

For the purposes of the National ECEC Collection, a service provider is defined as an establishment that directly provides child care and/or educational services to children at a specific geographical location. These services could include long day care (LDC), stand-alone preschool, occasional care, outside of school hours care and vacation care services. Service providers may provide multiple services within a single geographical location, however for the purposes of the National ECEC Collection, only service providers delivering preschool programs are considered in-scope.

A single service provider may deliver multiple preschool programs within the same geographical location. Due to legislative requirements in some jurisdictions, separate licences may be issued to each preschool program within a single service provider, even though the programs are being delivered within the same geographical location. For the purposes of the National ECEC Collection, this would be considered as a single service provider delivering multiple preschool programs.

There are also instances where two different service providers, with different management structures, can operate within the same geographical location. An example of this is a school that has a preschool program located on the same grounds as a LDC that also happens to be delivering a preschool program, however each provider has different management arrangements.

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