4240.0.55.001 - National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2012

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 13/03/2013

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Contents >> Collection Overview >> Collection Date and Reference Period

COLLECTION DATE AND REFERENCE PERIOD

The collection date for the National Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Collection is the first Friday in August of each year. In 2012, the collection date for all jurisdictions was Friday, 3 August 2012, with a recommended reference period of 30 July – 3 August 2012. Some jurisdictions preferred to incorporate a reference period of two weeks that included the collection date, to reflect their preschool program delivery models better. Jurisdictional collection dates and reference periods for 2012 are summarised in the table below.

2.1 JURISDICTIONAL COLLECTION DATES AND REFERENCE PERIODS, 2012


Jurisdiction	Collection Date	Reference Period

Australian Government	3 August 2012	30 July – 5 August 2012
		6 August – 10 August 2012(a)

New South Wales	3 August 2012	30 July – 3 August 2012
		30 July – 10 August 2012(b)

Victoria	3 August 2012	30 July – 3 August 2012

Queensland	3 August 2012	30 July – 5 August 2012 and
		23 July – 5 August 2012(c)(d)

South Australia	3 August 2012	23 July – 3 August 2012(c)

Western Australia	3 August 2012	23 July – 3 August 2012(c)

Tasmania	3 August 2012	23 July – 3 August 2012(c)

Northern Territory	3 August 2012	30 July – 3 August 2012

Australian Capital Territory	3 August 2012	30 July – 10 August 2012(c)
		30 July – 3 August 2012(e)

(a) DEEWR preschool census reference week.
(b) NSW community based preschools.
(c) Jurisdiction collected data for a fortnightly reference period to reflect their preschool delivery model.
(d) Reference period for community-based preschools in Queensland.
(e) ACT Catholic Preschool Collection.

For the National ECEC Collection to be comparable across the states and territories, it is necessary for all jurisdictions to have consistent collection dates and overlapping reference periods. The use of the recommended collection date of the first Friday in August also aligns the National ECEC Collection with the census date used for the National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC) to ensure that children are only counted in one sector of education.