QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
The Childhood Education and Care survey (CEaCS) is conducted throughout Australia every three years in June as part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) household survey program.
In CEaCS 2014 additional follow up of just over 500 outstanding households to increase sample numbers was conducted in September 2014. These additional interviews had a reference week of 24 to 30 August 2014 rather than the 1 to 7 June or 8 to 14 June 2014 reference weeks for the June interviews. The June interviews accounted for 92% of all fully responding records. Approximately 83% of selected households were fully responding to CEaCS, resulting in 4,635 household records and 7,126 children records.
For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.
TableBuilder files are released in accordance with the conditions specified in the Statistics Determination 1983 made under section 13 of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (CSA). This ensures that confidentiality is maintained whilst enabling micro level data to be released. More information on the confidentiality practices associated with TableBuilder can be found at the Survey Confidentiality Page.
RELEVANCE
The Childhood Education and Care survey provides information about child care arrangements and early childhood education for children aged between 0–12 years of age.
As CEaCS was conducted as a supplement to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) persons excluded from the LFS were also excluded from this survey (see Explanatory Notes of Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0) for standard LFS exclusions). Additional exclusions from this survey were any non-residents visiting Australia (diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, members of non-Australian defence forces stationed in Australia, or non-residents otherwise visiting Australia), and residents of non-private dwellings such as hospitals, hotels and motels. Persons in all Indigenous Communities were again excluded from CEaCS in 2014.
Information collected in the survey included: usual care arrangements (types of care, duration and cost); care arrangements used in the survey reference week (types of care, duration and cost); attendance at a preschool or preschool program (usually or in the survey reference week); need for additional formal care or preschool; early childhood education and learning activities.
TIMELINESS
The ABS has been conducting similar surveys since 1969. Until 2005, these were known as the Child Care Surveys. Data from the most recent survey (in the form of html and data cubes) were released on 28 April 2015. The microdata products are released approximately 12 months after enumeration is completed.
ACCURACY
The microdata contains finer levels of detail of data items than what is otherwise published in other formats, for example, in Childhood Education and Care, Australia, June 2014 (cat. no. 4402.0). For more information on the level of detail provided, please refer to the data item list in the Downloads tab.
Steps to confidentialise the data made available in TableBuilder are taken in such a way as to maximise the usefulness of the content while maintaining the confidentiality of respondents selected in the survey. As a result it may not be possible to exactly reconcile all the statistics produced from TableBuilder with other published statistics. Further information about the steps taken to confidentialise the microdata is available through the Using TableBuilder page.
COHERENCE
The ABS seeks to maximise consistency and comparability over time by minimising changes to the survey. Sound survey practice, however, requires ongoing development to maintain the integrity of the data. For changes between iterations of the survey, please refer to the Explanatory Notes section of Childhood Education and Care, Australia, June 2014 (cat. no. 4402.0). For a full list of changes made to the LFS, see Chapter 20 of Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2013 (cat. no. 6102.0.55.001) and Information Paper : Forthcoming Changes to Labour Force Statistics, May 2015 (cat no. 6292.0)
After each Census, population estimates are normally revised back five years to the previous Census year. As announced in the June 2012 issue of Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0), intercensal error between the 2006 and 2011 Censuses was larger than normal due to improved methodologies used in the 2011 Census Post Enumeration Survey. The intercensal error analysis indicated that previous population estimates for the base Census years were over-counted. An indicative estimate of the size of the over-count is that there should have been 240,000 fewer people at June 2006, 130,000 fewer in 2001 and 70,000 fewer in 1996. As a result, Estimated Resident Population estimates have been revised for the last 20 years rather than the usual five.
Consequently, estimates of particular populations derived from CEaCS 2014 may be lower than those published for CEaCS 2011 and previous years as the CEaCS estimates have not been revised. Therefore, comparisons of CEaCS 2014 estimates of the number of children with previous years should not be made. However, for comparable data items, comparison of rates or proportions between years is appropriate.
INTERPRETABILITY
The information within this product should be referred to when using the microdata. It contains information including Survey methodology, File structure, Using TableBuilder, Conditions of use and the Data item lists.
The Explanatory Notes section of the Childhood Education and Care, Australia, June 2014 (cat. no. 4402.0) includes information on terminology, classifications and other technical aspects associated with the Childhood Education and Care survey.
ACCESSIBILITY
Microdata products are available to approved users. Users wishing to access TableBuilder should read the How to Apply for Microdata web page, before applying for access through the Registration page. Users should also familiarise themselves with information available via the Microdata web pages.
A full list of all available microdata can be viewed via the List of expected and available Microdata.
Any queries regarding access to microdata can be forwarded to microdata.access@abs.gov.au or phone (02) 6252 7714.
PRIVACY
The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS handles any personal information that you provide to us.
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