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4240.0.55.002 - National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection: Data Collection Guide, 2011  
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/03/2012  First Issue
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NUMBER OF PRESCHOOL PROGRAM ENROLMENTS


Technical name: Service provider organisation - number of preschool program enrolments, total N[NNNN]
METeOR identifier: 441268
METeOR link: http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/441268
METeOR definition: The total number of individual preschool program enrolments recorded at the service.

Scope
Inclusions: For all early childhood education and care services that deliver a preschool program:

  • The total number of children enrolled in the preschool program, by sex and single year of age.
Exclusions:
  • Children who were not actively attending during the reference period or who were absent and not expected to return.
  • Early childhood education and care services that do not deliver a preschool program.

Underlying Concepts
Concept: Preschool program enrolment.
Nominal definition: A child that has been offered a place in a preschool program and is actively attending.
Operational definition: The number of children that are enrolled in a preschool program. Please see data item list in Chapter 1, Collection Specifications for specific disaggregation and cross classification of this data element as specified in the 2011 ECEC Data Request.
It must be noted that data collected at the aggregate level will be published as episodes of enrolments, not number of children enrolled. This is because it is not possible to identify duplicate enrolments within aggregate collections, once jurisdictional service provider data are merged.
Supporting data elements: Enrolment must be cross classified and reported by the following data elements: Conceptual issues:
  • The child must have been offered a place in a preschool program and actively attending to be counted as enrolled.
  • A child is considered to be actively attending if they have attended a preschool program for at least one hour in the reference period or was absent during the reference period due to illness or extended holiday leave but was expected to return.
  • The nominal and operational definitions of Number of preschool program enrolments differ due to the aggregate data collection methodology.

Standard Jurisdictional Output Categories
Representation class: Count
Data type: Number
Format: N[NNNN], for example: 75
Supplementary values:
      0 - Nil
      ns - Not stated/inadequately described

2.4.16 LEGAL VALUE CHECKS

Edit specificationsEdit resolution
1.
If field is blank.Provide a valid number of enrolled children, otherwise amend to ‘0’ for nil children or ‘ns’ for unknown.
2.
If character length is greater than 5.Provide a valid number of enrolled children.
3.
Of total number of children enrolled is less than total number of children attending in a preschool program.Provide a valid number of enrolled and attending children and verify that enrolments are equal to or greater than number of children attending.


Guide for Use
This data element must be cross classified and reported by the supporting data elements listed above.

Counting rules:
  • The number of children enrolled in a preschool program should be collected for each preschool program available at the service. Data should then be aggregated to the service provider level for reporting purposes.
  • The total number of children enrolled, cross classified by their sex and age (as of 1 July 2011) should be reported.
  • A child should only be counted as being enrolled in a preschool program if they have been offered a place in a preschool program and are actively attending. A child is considered to be actively attending if they have attended a preschool program for at least one hour in the reference period or was absent during the reference period due to illness or extended holiday leave but was expected to return.
  • Jurisdictions that adopt a two week reference period are required to derive their data to a representative week.

Classification Definitions
CODE ns - Not stated/inadequately described
For use when the number of children enrolled at the service provider is unknown, not stated or inadequately described. Where the number of children enrolled is unknown, the ABS requests that jurisdictions identify the reason for the unknown response and document any follow-up processes undertaken.

Other Information
Related URL data element: Preschool program enrolment indicator.

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