Preschool Attendance methodology

In 2024, the Australian Government DoE submission to the NPAC included childcare administrative data.

Childcare administrative data

Childcare administrative data is information, collected in the CCSS, on childcare services and the children and families that use Australian Government approved childcare. The CCSS is the Australian Government's primary mechanism for managing childcare payments. The system enables childcare services to exchange childcare information online with the Australian Government to enable the payment of the CCS, on behalf of parents, to approved childcare services. Approved childcare services must regularly submit data to the CCSS, through software developed by registered third-party software providers, or directly via a web portal, and record child demographic, enrolment and attendance information.

Institutional environment

While the Australian Government DoE has portfolio responsibility for childcare, responsibility for the operation of the childcare administrative data is shared with Services Australia, an agency of the Australian Government Department of Social Services.

Childcare administrative data is collected for the purposes of administering the Child Care Subsidy. Payments are administered by Services Australia.

Relevance

Data is collected by the Australian Government DoE and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators. 

Data is provided against the 2024 NPAC NMDS and is reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. For CCSS records, an early childhood education episode refers to weekly charged hours between a customer and a service provider. The number of episodes will be determined by the number of charged weeks and the number of service providers a child attends. A child may have multiple episodes for a single service provider for a single week where there are multiple customers (e.g. if charged hours in the week are split between two parents). 

The CCSS is the national system that enables childcare services to exchange childcare information online with the Australian Government, to enable the payment of the CCS to approved childcare services on behalf of parents. It also provides information about the national supply and usage of childcare. CBDC services must regularly submit data to the CCSS, through software developed by registered third-party software providers, or directly via a web portal, and record child demographic, enrolment and attendance information. The childcare administrative data used a URL collection methodology for children and services and is drawn from the Services Australia Enterprise Data Warehouse. 

 In-scope children

The children who were in scope for the childcare administrative data extraction for the NPAC were all children aged 3 to 6 years (inclusive) as of 1 July of the collection year, and who: 

• were enrolled in an approved centre based day care service that operated in accordance with the NQF, and
• attended for at least one hour during Term 2 of the jurisdiction they reside in.

This includes children who were non-permanent residents.

In-scope services

The services in scope for the childcare administrative data extraction for the NPAC included all approved centre based day care services that are required to provide data related to the administration of CCS (such as enrolments and attendances) through the CCSS. CBDC providers approved for the CCS but which do not operate in accordance with the NQF and services not approved for the CCS (such as state-run preschools) are not included in the childcare administrative data. All approved CBDC services are assumed to deliver ECE programs.

Timeliness

The 2024 childcare administrative data was extracted on 1 October 2024.

Reference period

The childcare administrative data was extracted for Monday 15 April 2024 to Sunday 21 July 2024. This period covers Term 2 dates for all jurisdictions. 

Accuracy

CBDC are required by A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 (Cwlth) and Family Assistance Legislation (Jobs for Families Child Care Package) Act 2017 legislation to regularly submit certain records (i.e. weekly enrolments and attendance records etc.) for all children in attendance at the service. Collection of these records enables the Australian Government to make CCS payments on behalf of parents to approved childcare services.

Coverage

All approved CBDC services are required to provide data related to the administration of the CCS (such as enrolments and attendances) through the CCSS. The childcare administrative data provided for NPAC was limited to all approved CBDC services that had children aged 3 to 6 years (inclusive) enrolled. 

Data quality management

URL data for children and services is drawn from the Services Australia Enterprise Data Warehouse. Record details, such as child dates of birth and reference numbers as well as service client IDs, are checked and cross-referenced. This ensures there can only be one current enrolment at a service for the same parent/guardian and child combination. This results in high accuracy for child demographic details such as name, date of birth and address information etc. and the child's associated attendance records.

Data on families' Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander origin is captured within the Services Australia data warehouse. Within the Services Australia data collections, families may identify as Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander or choose not to provide this information. Those children whose families choose not to identify are classified as having neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander origin rather than origin being ‘Unknown/Not Stated’ for the publication.

Coherence

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

Hours attended are entered into the CCSS by approved services. The only adjustment made by the Australian Government DoE to the hours attended is rounding to one decimal place.

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

The Australian Government DoE does not collect information on Operationally Unavailable hours for the NPAC; all values for this item in the submission have been populated as 'Not Stated'. 

Deviation from the NPAC standards

• Annual preschool program period, total weeks: It is a legal requirement that centre based day care services must operate for at least 48 weeks per year, so annual preschool program total weeks was imputed to be 48 weeks.
• Attendance reference period start and end dates: The CCSS does not collect term-specific data. For the childcare administrative data, the start and end dates of the attendance reference period are the Monday and Sunday, respectively, of the week that the child attended their service.
• Enrolment start and end dates: The CCSS does not collect program related data. All approved centre based day care services are assumed to deliver early childhood education programs. Therefore, for the childcare administrative data the enrolment start and end dates are the Sundays at the end of the first and last week, respectively, of available data in the calendar year of the collection.

Accessibility 

Privacy and confidentiality requirements within Family Assistance Law limit the publication of childcare administrative data at certain granularities. De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website. A selection of childcare administrative data is published quarterly and is available on the Australian Government DoE website.

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information source

The information in this report has been sourced from the Australian Government DoE in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available from the Australian Government DoE website.

For the 2024 National Preschool Attendance Collection, the NSW Department of Education (NSW DoE) extrapolated data collected for the NECECC. For further details, see the Timeliness, Accuracy, and Coherence sections of this data quality statement. 

In 2024, the NSW DoE submission to the NECECC consisted of data from two data collections:

• 'Government School Census'
• 'Early Childhood Education Annual Preschool Census'

A) Government School Census

Institutional Environment

The organisation responsible for the Government School Census was NSW DoE. Data was collected under the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law 2010 (NSW) and the Education and Care Services National Regulations.

Relevance

Data is collected by NSW DoE and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators. The 2024 Government School Census collected data using a URL data collection methodology for children and service providers.

Data is provided against the 2024 ECEC NMDS and is reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. An episode refers to a child’s enrolment at a specific service provider. A child enrolled at multiple services will have at least one episode per service.

In-scope children

In 2024, NSW data includes all children aged 3 to 6 years (inclusive) who were enrolled in a preschool program during a two-week reference period of 29 July to 9 August, excluding children enrolled after the census date (2 August). Children who were non-permanent residents are included in the NSW data. 

The scope of the preschool component of the Government School Census included all children enrolled in a preschool program or Early Intervention class at a government school in NSW. Children are eligible to enrol at a government preschool if they turn 4 on or before 31 July of that year. Priority is given to children from disadvantaged backgrounds who are unable to access other children's services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children from families who experience financial hardship. While most children are aged 4 or 5, if there is spare capacity, places may be offered to 3-year-olds.

Children enrolled in an Early Intervention class at a NSW government school have been included in the Government School Census since 2012. Early intervention classes provide preschool education in a preschool setting for children with a disability.

In-scope services

The 2024 Government School Census included all government schools in NSW.

Timeliness

Data is collected over the reference period and extracted iteratively, with the first extraction date being 13 September 2024 and the final extraction date being 30 October 2024. 

Reference period

In 2024, per agreement with the Australian Government DoE and with endorsement from the ABS, NSW data was extrapolated from data collected during the Government School Census. The Government School Census is an annual collection and in 2024 was undertaken on 2 August, with a two-week reference period of 29 July to 9 August. Fortnightly data was converted to a one-week average (per NECECC) and multiplied by the standard NSW government Term 2, 2024 period of 10 weeks. The NSW DoE compiled, processed and validated the data before submitting it to the ABS in November 2024.

Accuracy

Data for the NPAC is aligned according to national standards outlined in the 2024 NPAC NMDS to maximise consistency of data across jurisdictions. 

In 2024, per agreement with the ABS, NSW data was extrapolated from data collected during the Government School Census. All NSW DoE government school-based preschools were required to participate in the Government School Census by completing an online census form. NSW DoE ensured that all preschools submitted the compulsory data. 

There were three sections to the preschool component of the Government School Census:

• general preschool data that is not collected from harvested data (e.g. How many children are accessing Integration Funding Support? How many children in total are still waiting for a position in the preschool this year?)
• class or group data (overall session details for service and individual enrolment and attendance by child, along with daily fees paid, date of birth, sex, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, language background other than English, refugee status, disability status, health care card status and suburb)
• Teacher and School Learning Support Officer data (e.g. qualifications and length of employment)

Indigenous students are identified at enrolment through the enrolment form. In 2015 the Indigenous status question on the form was changed to match the standard national question, with users required to select one of four answers corresponding to the first 4 values of the 2024 ECEC NMDS item Person-Indigenous status. The corresponding Indigenous status question on the Enrolment Registration Number (ERN) system matched the standard national question.

Schools were required to answer the question by selecting a single value from an on-screen drop-down list. The values available for selection comprised the first 4 values of the 2024 ECEC NMDS as well as a supplementary value 'Unknown/Not Provided' to accommodate instances where the parent or carer did not provide this information on the enrolment form. Some records for school-based preschools did not distinguish between Aboriginal children and Torres Strait Islander children. Records for these children were coded as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin not further defined.

During the collection period, NSW DoE extracted children's details from the ERN system. Preschool staff checked enrolment data and allocated children to class groups. If enrolment details for any children were missing from the ERN, staff recorded these details and were encouraged to update ERN accordingly. Staff also entered additional information, such as Health Care Card and Disability status and attendance, and then electronically submitted the census to the secure NSW DoE Collection portal.

Data quality management

Preschools were notified about the data collection through online notices. Detailed instructions on collecting and entering the data using the secure NSW DoE Collections portal were available to preschools throughout the survey period. The online census contained validation rules to prevent inconsistencies and omissions. During the data collection period, preschool support workers could phone NSW DoE to clarify counting rules and data collection procedures. In addition, data anomaly reports were generated identifying problems such as incorrect age, low attendance or duplicate children. All anomalies were checked and data corrected if required. Signoff was required from all Principals whose school provided a preschool program.

Coherence

2024 is the first year of the NPAC and the data is experimental. Due to jurisdictional differences in coverage, collection methodologies and alignment with the 2024 ECEC NMDS standards, the data presented in this first iteration of the collection may not be directly comparable across all jurisdictions or with following years.

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

In 2024, per agreement with the Australian Government DoE and endorsement from the ABS, NSW data was extrapolated from data collected during the Government School Census. The Government School Census is an annual collection and in 2024 was undertaken on 2 August, with a two-week reference period of 29 July to 9 August. Fortnightly data was converted to a one-week average (per NECECC) and multiplied by the standard NSW government Term 2 2024 period of 10 weeks.

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

NSW did not collect data with sufficient granularity in 2024 to derive this optional element and had no analogous field from the NECECC.

Deviation from the NECECC standards

In 2024, per agreement with the Australian Government DoE and endorsement from the ABS, NSW data for the NPAC was derived using data collected for the NECECC cycle. As a result, the details below are deviations from the NECECC standards:

• Early childhood education program hours enrolled per week (Child): Derived as most government preschools operate 6 hours per day. The system allows enrolment to be entered as half day or full day.
• Early childhood education program hours attended per week (Child): Derived as most government preschools operate 6 hours per day. The system allows enrolment to be entered as half day or full day.

Interpretability

In 2024, per agreement with the Australian Government DoE and endorsement from the ABS, NSW data was extrapolated from data collected during the Government School Census. NSW DoE preschools were notified about the Government Schools Census through online notices. Detailed instructions on collecting and entering data using the secure NSW DoE Collections portal were available to preschools throughout the collection period.

Accessibility 

Privacy and confidentiality requirements within Family Assistance Law limit the publication of childcare administrative data at certain granularities. De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website. 

High level aggregate data is also available on the NSW Department of Education Insights Hub and Schools: In-Brief and Schools and students - Statistical Bulletin publications. 

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information source

The information in this report has been sourced from the NSW Department of Education in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available from the NSW Department of Education website.

B) Early Childhood Education (ECE) Annual Preschool Census

Institutional Environment

The organisation responsible for the 2024 ECE Annual Preschool Census is the NSW DoE. Data for the ECE Annual Preschool Census was collected under Funding Specifications, which are contracts with each service provider outlining the terms of renewable funding under the Early Childhood Education Grants Program. These preschools and mobile preschools are regulated under the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law 2010 (NSW) and the Education and Care Services National Regulations. 

Relevance

Data is collected by NSW DoE and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators. The 2024 ECE Annual Preschool Census used a URL collection methodology for children and service providers. Data for CCS-funded CBDC services is out-of-scope for the New South Wales submission and is provided by the Australian Government DoE.

In-scope children

In 2024, NSW data includes all children aged 3 to 6 (inclusive) enrolled in a preschool program regulated and funded by NSW DoE during a two-week reference period of 29 July to 9 August, excluding children enrolled after the census date (2 August). 

Services counted in the ECE Annual Preschool Census are required to give equal priority of access to children who are at least 4 years old on or before 31 July in that preschool year and not enrolled or registered at a school; children who are at least 3 years old on or before 31 July and from low income or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander families; children with English Language needs; children with disabilities; children who are at risk of significant harm (from a child protection perspective). There is no order of priority assigned to the list above.

In-scope services

Participation in the ECE Annual Preschool Census was mandatory for NSW Government-funded preschools. The collection included NSW Government-funded (but not necessarily NSW Government-run) preschool services, including preschools operated by Catholic and Independent schools, preschools operated by local governments, and community-managed preschools. 

Early childhood education programs not funded by the NSW Government, including some preschools delivered in non-government schools, were not in scope of the collection. These services are not excluded from applying for NSW Government funding, provided that they meet eligibility criteria, consistent with the objectives of universal access. As and when any of these services do enter into a funding agreement with the NSW Government under relevant preschool funding programs, they are thereafter required to participate in the ECE Annual Preschool Census.

The majority of preschool programs in NSW are delivered by commercial CBDC providers. Although NSW DoE provides funding to these services, the Australian Government is the primary funder of CBDCs. As a result, no data was collected from these services by the NSW Government as part of the ECE Annual Preschool Census. Data on commercial CBDCs was collected for the NECECC by the Australian Government DoE using the CCSS.

Some services operate both a community preschool and a CBDC under the one service approval. Because of the latter, they are registered for the CCS but were requested to provide information in the ECE Annual Preschool Census only for children who did not receive the subsidy.

Timeliness

Data is collected over the reference period, and extracted iteratively, with the first extraction date being 13 September 2024 and the final extraction date being 30 October 2024. 

Reference period

In 2024, per agreement with the Australian Government DoE and endorsement from the ABS, NSW data used a two-week reference period of 29 July to 9 August (per NECECC) to extrapolate data for the NPAC submission. The ECE Annual Preschool Census is an annual collection and was undertaken in 2024 from 22 July to 23 August, with a reference period of 29 July to 9 August. A reference fortnight was adopted to reflect the preschool delivery model in NSW whereby delivery of a preschool education program can vary between weeks. Fortnightly data was converted to a one-week average to enable valid and reliable national comparisons.

The NSW DoE compiled, processed and validated the data before submitting it to the ABS in November 2024.

Accuracy

Data for the NPAC is aligned according to national standards outlined in the 2024 ECEC NMDS.

In 2024, per agreement with the Australian Government DoE and endorsement from the ABS, NSW data was extrapolated from data collected during the ECE Annual Preschool Census. The Early Childhood Contract Management System (ECCMS) is the online system used by NSW DoE and service providers to manage preschool service contracts and funding. 

There are four main sections to the census component of ECCMS:

• Service location details (drawn from core ECCMS and not editable by users)
• Service location operating details
• Individual child details, e.g. name, address, daily fees, low income status, enrolment and attendance
• Individual worker details, e.g. qualification field and level, main role, main work activity

Information on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status was provided to the community preschool by a child's parent or carer in accordance with the record keeping requirements of the Education and Care Services National Regulations. Services were required to answer the question by selecting a single value from an on-screen drop-down list. The values available for selection comprised the first 4 values of the 2024 ECEC NMDS as well as the supplementary value Not Stated to accommodate instances where the parent or carer did not provide this information to the Service.

Data quality management

Prior to data submission a user with a defined level of authority must enter a declaration that the entered data is correct. Following data submission NSW DoE undertook a data validation phase where submitted data was cross-checked for consistency with service operational characteristics and past submissions. Where large variations or unusual data was apparent, service providers were contacted to confirm data accuracy. If data was incorrect the census was reopened to allow the user to correct and resubmit data. All data validation rules were coded into Structured Query Language procedures, and NSW DoE maintained an anomalies database to track communications, and the status of potential errors.

Coherence

2024 is the first year of the NPAC and the data is experimental. Due to jurisdictional differences in coverage, collection methodologies and alignment with the 2024 ECEC NMDS standards, the data presented in this first iteration of the collection may not be directly comparable across all jurisdictions or with following years.

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

In 2024, per agreement with the Australian Government DoE and endorsement from the ABS, NSW data was extrapolated from data collected during the ECE Annual Preschool Census. The ECE Annual Preschool Census is an annual collection and in 2024 was undertaken on 2 August, with a two-week reference period of 29 July to 9 August. Fortnightly data was converted to a one-week average (per NECECC) and multiplied by the standard NSW government Term 2 2024 period of 10 weeks.

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

NSW did not collect data with sufficient granularity in 2024 to derive this optional element and had no analogous field from the NECECC.

Deviation from the NECECC standards

In 2024, per agreement with the Australian Government DoE and endorsement from the ABS, NSW data for the NPAC was derived using data collected for the NECECC cycle. As a result, the details below are deviations from the NECECC standards:

• Early childhood education program hours enrolled per week (Child): Derived as most government preschools operate 6 hours per day. The system allows enrolment to be entered as half day or full day.
• Early childhood education program hours attended per week (Child): Derived as most government preschools operate 6 hours per day. The system allows enrolment to be entered as half day or full day.

Interpretability

In 2024, per agreement with the Australian Government DoE and endorsement from the ABS, NSW data was extrapolated from data collected during the ECE Annual Preschool Census.

NSW DoE provided a range of information and support to service providers throughout all stages of the collection. These included: 

• regular emails to services in the lead up to and during the collection phase in 2024
• a dedicated Early Childhood Education Census webpage providing summary information, portal access and links to resources and contact information

Detailed instructions on the process of data entry, including explanations and examples of concepts, were provided online within the application via summary 'tooltips' and extensive online help. NSW DoE also provided a separate ECE Annual Preschool Census Quick Reference Guide.

During the 5-week collection phase service providers could also contact a dedicated 1300 phone number and email for assistance.

Accessibility 

De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website. High level aggregate data is also available on the NSW Department of Education Insights Hub and Schools: In-Brief and Schools and students - Statistical Bulletin publications.  

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information source

The information in this report has been sourced from the NSW DoE in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available from the NSW Department of Education website.

For the 2024 NPAC, the Vic. DE submitted a subset of total preschool data per transitional arrangements agreed with the ABS for the first year of the NPAC. For further details, see Institutional Environment, Relevance, Timeliness, Accuracy, and Coherence sections. 

Institutional Environment

The attendance data for the NPAC 2024 submission from the Vic. DE was provided by a sample of service providers that record attendance electronically. The data was submitted under a Memorandum of Understanding made with each of these providers.

This attendance data was supplemented with Child enrolment and Service data from Vic. DE’s internal Kindergarten Information Management System (KIMS). KIMS is a salesforce-based system used to manage funding of early learning services. Data in KIMS is collected in accordance with Funding and Service Agreement requirements. 

Relevance

Data was collected by Vic. DE and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators. 

Data is provided against the 2024 NPAC NMDS and is reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. An episode refers to a child’s enrolment at a specific service provider. A child enrolled at multiple services will have at least one episode per service. A child may have multiple episodes per service where they have multiple enrolments with distinct start and end dates. Data for CCS-funded CBDC services is out-of-scope for the Victorian submission and is provided by the Australian Government DoE. URL data collection methodology was employed for children and schools.

In-scope children

Only children who were active during Term 2 and enrolled in their first year of funded Four-Year-Old preschool, also known as the YBFS, were considered in scope for Victoria’s NPAC submission. This includes children who were non-permanent residents. Children who did not meet the YBFS criteria were considered out-of-scope and excluded from the collection. Children attending services that did not collect electronic childcare attendance data were also excluded.

In-scope services

Services that were active, funded and offering a four-year-old childcare program in Term 2 were in-scope. In 2024, Victoria collected data from selected sessional services collecting electronic childcare attendance data to form part of the NPAC. This sample comprised nine service providers, which account for approximately 15 percent of YBFS enrolments in Victoria. For 2024, the data from this sample is supplemented by CBDC data provided by the Australian Government DoE from the CCSS. 

Services not offering a funded YBFS program or not collecting electronic attendance data were excluded.

Timeliness

Vic. DE received data from services between 8 July 2024 and 3 September 2024. This data was merged with additional data from KIMS which was extracted on 30 September 2024.

Reference period

The reference period was Term 2 of the Victorian school year, from 15 April 2024 to 28 June 2024.

The Vic. DE compiled, processed, and validated the data before submitting it to the ABS in November 2024.

Accuracy

The attendance records were collected solely for the NPAC. 

Response rates

Responses were received for all 317 services managed by the 9 service providers that were included in the sample for the 2024 NPAC data submission. 

Data quality management

Checks were undertaken to confirm attendance data only referred to funded enrolments. For example, attendance records that could not be linked to an active and funded enrolment record were removed. Additionally, attendance records were limited to only to dates within the reference period and records that did not attend during the reference period were not included.

Checks for duplicated enrolments and attendance records were undertaken and duplicate records were removed. 

Service data in KIMS was received through a workflow which included validation and completeness checks. 

Coherence

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

Hours attended during the reference period were calculated by summing the weekly attendance hours for each child after weekly attendance hours were capped to capture attendance within funding limits. Attendance hours were calculated as per the NPAC counting rules and are based on the length of a session for each child reported as attending, not arrival and departure times.

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

Operationally unavailable hours were not collected in 2024. 

Deviation from the NPAC standards

For Victoria there were no deviations between the NPAC standards and data collected.

Interpretability

The Vic. DE provides information on funding criteria and data collection responsibilities in the Kindergarten funding guide available on the Vic. DE website. 

Accessibility 

De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website.

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information source

The information in this report has been sourced from the Vic. DE in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available from the Vic. DE website. 

Institutional Environment

The organisation responsible for collecting Queensland data for the 2024 NPAC is the Queensland Department of Education (Qld DoE). Data for the 2024 NPAC were collected under the Education and Care Services Act 2013 (Qld), the Education and Care Service National Law 2011 (Qld) and the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (Qld).

Data was gathered from two sources: for all non-government services via the Queensland Government’s QGrants system and for all state-delivered kindergarten services via the Qld DoE OneSchool system.

Relevance

Data is collected by Qld DoE and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators. 

Data is provided against the 2024 NPAC NMDS and reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. An episode refers to a child’s enrolment at a specific service provider. A child enrolled at multiple services will have at least one episode per service. A child may have multiple episodes per service where they have multiple enrolments with distinct start and end dates. Data for CCS-funded CBDC services is out-of-scope for the Queensland submission and is provided by the Australian Government DoE.

URL data collection methodology was employed for children and schools.

In-scope children

The scope of the Queensland NPAC submission is all children aged 3 to 6 (inclusive) who attended a preschool program for at least one hour at any time during Term 2, 2024. This includes children who were non-permanent residents. 

In-scope services

The services in-scope for the 2024 NPAC were all Queensland preschool or child-care services that were not in receipt of the CCS during the reference period.  

Timeliness

Data was collected over the reference period and extracted on 7 October 2024. The Qld DoE compiled, processed and validated the data before submitting it to the ABS on 1 November 2024.

Reference period

The reference period for Queensland was Term 2, 2024. This refers to the 10-week period from 15 April to 21 June 2024 for all services except 20 independent school services which operated until Week 8 or Week 9.

Data from the reference period was extrapolated by the ABS to the entire 2024 Queensland school year for calculation of attendance performance and subsequent analysis.

Accuracy

Records for children enrolled in preschool were sourced from Queensland’s state school enrolment system (OneSchool) while Queensland’s grant management system (QGrants) was the source for records of children enrolled in sessional kindergartens and a small number of CBDC services not in the CCSS.

QGrants is used by non-government providers to apply for approved kindergarten program provider status and funding. As part of their agreements with Qld DoE, providers are required to submit a range of data to QGrants for each service at the end of a funding period (e.g., a quarter or term). This includes child level details and daily enrolment and attendance hours which are recorded by services in their software managements systems according to specifications outlined by the department. 

Response rates

All 113 State-delivered kindergarten services with active registrations responded to the collection and a further 432 (out of 436) non-government services also responded to the collection. This represented an overall response rate of 99.3%.

Data quality management

Both QGrants and Oneschool include a range of input validations to support data quality. For example, the QGrants system generates warnings and validations which check whether dates of birth are within the eligible ranges and that child names are entered rather than initials.

Upon extraction, the data was also subject to a series of interrogations and validations to ensure that the information was complete, internally consistent and within fixed known parameters. For example, edits were run to ensure that a child’s daily attendance hours did not exceed their enrolment hours on a particular day, that no child had attendance hours on a public holiday, to identify and resolve duplicate records at a service level and to resolve incomplete or conflicting address (postcode/suburb) information.

Coherence

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

The OneSchool and QGrants systems accurately reported hours of enrolment and attendance daily. Overall, the data was of sufficient quality with only a small number of records requiring adjustment.

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

Operationally Unavailable Hours are not explicitly recorded in the OneSchool or QGrants systems and have been estimated based on patterns of child attendance at a service level over time and the timing of public and local holidays. 

To identify operationally unavailable days, Queensland calculated the number of children attending on a given day as a proportion of those enrolled on that day at a service. If this proportion was less than a set threshold, the day was flagged and investigated to determine whether it was a non-operational day.  

If a child was enrolled on an operationally unavailable day their enrolment hours are attributed to their operational unavailable hours.

Deviation from the NPAC standards

For Queensland there were no deviations between the NPAC standards and data collected.

Interpretability

Data specifications were provided to assist third party software providers and non-government services with the collection and reporting of child level enrolment and attendance data through QGrants. Documentation is also available on the Qld DoE website and in the OneSchool system to assist services and schools with the delivery of kindergarten and attendance recording.

Accessibility

De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website.

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information source

The information contained within this report has been provided by the Qld DoE in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available at the Qld DoE website.

Institutional Environment

South Australia's Department for Education (SA DfE) operated standalone and school-based preschools enter their data into the Early Years System (EYS) or the Education Management System (EMS). The SA DfE preschools using the EYS undertake a data submission process into the Early Childhood Data System (DAC), whereas EMS users have their data extracted and uploaded by the SA DfE corporate office. Non-government sessional preschool providers who are not CCS-approved services submit their data via the SA DfE’s Non-Government Preschool Data System (NGPDS).

The data was collected under the Education and Children Services Act 2019 (SA). The SA DfE corporate office extracted and compiled the data for submission to the ABS.

Relevance

Data is collected by the SA DfE and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators.

Data is provided against the 2024 NPAC NMDS and is reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. An episode refers to a child’s enrolment at a specific service provider. A child enrolled at multiple services will have at least one episode per service. A child may have multiple episodes per service where they have multiple enrolments with distinct start and end dates. Data for CCS-funded CBDC services is out-of-scope for the South Australian submission and is provided by the Australian Government DoE. 

URL data collection methodology was employed for children and schools.

In-scope children

The scope of the NPAC is all children aged 3 to 6 years (inclusive) who have attended a preschool program at any time during the reference period. In South Australia, the NPAC data included children aged 3 to 5 years (inclusive) who were enrolled and attending an in-scope service. This includes children who were non-permanent residents.

Under the SA DfE preschool enrolment policy, SA DfE operated preschools have two major enrolment intakes each year, where all children are eligible to access their YBFS preschool entitlement (15 hours per week). All children are eligible to commence preschool in the first intake from Term 1 in January of that year if they turn 4 years of age by 1 May of the same year. For the second (or mid-year) intake, children can commence preschool from Term 3 in July of that year if they turn 4 years of age between 1 May and 31 October of the same year. 

Aboriginal children and children who have been or are in care (i.e. under the guardianship of the Chief Executive of the Department for Child Protection), are eligible to attend preschool after their 3rd birthday. In these circumstances, a child may be enrolled at any time after their 3rd birthday and attend a preschool program for an average of 15 hours per week. Their entitlement of 15 hours per week is not limited to 12 months and they can continue in preschool up until their 6th birthday. 

Children transferring from an interstate or overseas preschool, who turn 4 years of age during the year, are eligible to continue their learning and be enrolled in a South Australian government preschool. A parent who is a full-time serving member of the permanent navy, the regular army, or the permanent air force, who has a child who turns 4 years of age on or before 31 July, can choose to have their child start preschool at the beginning of that year (i.e. first intake).

Some funded preschool programs operating in non-government in-scope services also provide preschool to 3-year-old children. The SA DfE does not obligate these services to submit data for these children in the NPAC unless they are enrolled in a SA DfE funded preschool program in their YBFS. Any data received for 3-year-old children from these non-government services (regardless of whether they are in their YBFS) were included in the SA DfE NPAC submission.

In-scope services

In-scope services in the NPAC for South Australia included government managed preschool services or government funded preschool programs operating in non-government standalone or school-based preschool services that are not approved for the CCS. Out of scope were preschool services that receive no funding for their preschool program from the SA DfE, and CCS-approved non-government services.

Timeliness

Data was collected over the reference period and extracted on 31 October 2024. The SA DfE compiled, processed and validated the data before submitting it to the ABS in November 2024.

Reference period

The reference period for all sites was from 29 April 2024 to 5 July 2024.

Accuracy

In 2024, the NPAC for South Australia utilised three systems: one for non-government preschool providers and two for department preschools. The EYS and the EMS are web-based preschool administration systems used by SA DfE preschools in South Australia. Non-government preschool providers that are funded by the department use the NGPDS to submit the data required for the NPAC.

The NGPDS was developed as a web-based preschool data reporting system that serves the dual purpose of collecting data requirements for grant funding administration as well as to satisfy state and national reporting obligations. The EYS, EMS and NGPDS have been developed with the capability of importing data from other administrative systems (e.g. the CCSS) to reduce respondent burden and input error. The EYS, EMS and NGPDS have validation rules built in to ensure services are submitting accurate data that is compliant with the NPAC standards.

The SA DfE collated data collected from all systems using a data repository known as the DAC. The DAC allows for DfE corporate office to administer a data collection and to undertake quality assurance processes on the data received from service providers. The DAC also performs sequential match coding for children enrolled in preschool across multiple services. Service provider details are stored and maintained in the Location Services System, from which data for the NPAC were also obtained.

Aboriginal children are identified by the SA DfE through the standard question "Is the child of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin?" on the Preschool Enrolment Form.

Response rates

All funded sites that are not CCS-approved submitted data for the collection, for a response rate of 100%. 

Data quality management

Before collecting the data sites on EMS were monitored daily to check the data to ensure dates, campuses, attendances were entered correctly. Sites on EYS checked their data before they submitted it. Once data was extracted checks were made to ensure data made sense, e.g. gender, YBFS, expected start date. 

Coherence

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

Preschool services record their available sessions and children are booked into these sessions each week. If a child attends the booked session, then those booked hours count towards the hours attended.

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

If an in-scope preschool service in South Australia had any eligible booked sessions cancelled, then the booked hours have been reported as operationally unavailable hours in accordance with the NPAC standards for the children that were not able to attend.

Deviation from the NPAC standards

For South Australia there were no deviations between the NPAC standards and data collected.

Interpretability

The systems used by in-scope preschool services have been configured to effectively collect all data required for the NPAC. SA DfE operated preschool services are provided with EMS or EYS customised instructions available online. A dedicated EYS/EMS Support Team was in place to support users with technical issues or queries and the Data Management and Reporting team were available to respond to any data related questions.

In-scope non-government services were provided personalised online training on the NPAC requirements prior to the commencement of the collection and customer support if required during the collection. 

Accessibility 

De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website.

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information source

The information contained within this report has been provided by SA DfE in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available on the SA DfE website.

Institutional Environment

The organisation responsible for the NPAC for Western Australia is the Western Australia Department of Education (WA DoE). Data for 2024 were collected under the School Education Act 1999 (WA).

URL data is collected using the Student Census System. The data is sourced differently for public and non-government schools:

• Public school attendance data is loaded from school servers and confirmed as correct via the Student Census System
• Non-government school attendance data is loaded via a comma-separated value file to the Student Census System

The collected data is placed in a data warehouse and WA DoE compiles, process and validates the URL data before submission to the ABS. 

Relevance

Data is collected by WA DoE and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators.  

Data is provided against the 2024 NPAC NMDS and is reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. An episode refers to a child’s enrolment at a specific service provider. A child enrolled at multiple services will have at least one episode per service. A child may have multiple episodes per service where they have multiple enrolments with distinct start and end dates. The 2024 Student Census System used a URL data collection methodology for children and service providers. Data for CCS-funded CBDC services is out-of-scope for the Western Australian submission and is provided by the Australian Government DoE.

In-scope children

The scope of the NPAC is all children aged 3 to 6 years (inclusive) who have attended a preschool program at any time during Term 2. In Western Australia students aged 4 by 30 June are enrolled in childcare in their YBFS. This includes children who were non-permanent residents. Students attending the School of Special Education Needs: Sensory are excluded from the collection.

In-scope services

All registered and funded schools and community-based preschools operating under provisions of the School Education Act 1999 (WA) were in-scope for the NPAC. The School of Special Education Needs: Sensory is excluded from the collection. Preschool programs provided in CBDC settings are not funded or regulated by WA DoE and so are excluded from the collection.

Timeliness

Data is collected over the reference period and extracted during the Semester 2 Student Census which was undertaken on 2 August 2024. The WA DoE compiled, processed and validated the data before submitting it to the ABS in November 2024.

Reference period 

The reference period for Western Australia was Term 2, 2024. For public school services this was from 15 April 2024 to 28 June 2024. Non-government schools generally have some minor variations to the start and/or end date. 

Data from the reference is extrapolated by the ABS to the entire year for calculation of attendance performance and subsequent analysis.

Accuracy

Government and community preschool data was obtained through a daily data harvesting process from each school’s administrative system, which is fed into the Student Information Database (SID). The SID is the primary source of URL data for public schools. The SID data was uploaded into the WA DoE Student Census System where the data was checked, verified, and endorsed as accurate by each school principal. Non-government schools uploaded URL data to the WA DoE's Student Census System with attendance data for any child enrolled during Term 2.

Following the validation checks detailed below, government, non-government and community preschool data collected through the Western Australia August School Census were then stored in the Student Census System data warehouse, and extracted for the NPAC.

Response rates

941 schools provided data for the NPAC. While a definitive response rate is difficult to determine as there are no other collections with the same reference period, WA DoE is confident that all schools with preschool enrolments in Term 2 have provided URL data for the NPAC. Non-government schools that are authorised to enrol preschool students as per their registration were required to clearly indicate if there were any preschool enrolments during Term 2. 

Data quality management

Internal validation processes for the NPAC occurred at three different points of the process. The WA DoE Student Census System had a series of in-built validation rules, some of which required the school to edit data before continuing, while other rules generated warnings alerting the user to anomalies. A second set of validation processes were run by the WA August Student Census team, using both routine and ad-hoc validation methods to examine data while it was assembled into working files. The third set of validation rules were built into the custom software which extracts data from the data warehouse to produce the files in the format required for NPAC.

Indigenous students are identified at enrolment using a standard enrolment form question. The coding of the responses is as per the NECECC, i.e. 1 - 4, and 9 for not stated or inadequately described. Schools' student information systems do not allow valid entries other than prescribed. WA DoE is confident it achieves a very high level of accuracy of its Indigenous identification, with results showing a high level of concordance with other independent measures/estimates (e.g. ABS Estimated Resident Populations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians).

This is attributed to a strong push within the Western Australia school sector (in which most preschools reside) to address:

• learning needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
• Aboriginal Education Officer involvement in schools to liaise with local Aboriginal communities to assist them enrol their children where applicable
• a student-centred funding model in the Western Australia public school system which provides a higher rate of funding for students (including those in preschool) who are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students to address their needs.

Schools' census data is also subjected to audit by the WA DoE.

Coherence

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

The hours attended during the reference period are calculated as follows:

• Public schools’ student attendance is validated by the school principal through the Student Census System and with each session being three hours in duration, the attended hours are calculated. This is an estimated value because Western Australia collects and reports attendance as half-day session, not as a time-based (hourly) value.
• Non-government schools provide the number of sessions in the reference period as well as the duration of each session on average. Sessions may be reported as half-day sessions or full-day sessions to accommodate the variations among non-government schools. Hours attended are calculated by multiplying the number of sessions in the reference period by the average duration of the session at the school. Students with zero attendance hours were excluded from the data when submitted to the ABS by the WA DoE in November 2024. 

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

Operationally unavailable hours during the reference period are calculated as follows:

• For each student enrolled at a public school, the attendance pattern was analysed to determine if one of the operationally unavailable days affected the student’s attendance. In limited circumstances such as when a student changes their attendance pattern during the term this may result in over or underestimation of operationally unavailable sessions.
• Non-government schools provided the number of sessions impacted due to public holidays, school closure days and pupil-free days. Guidelines were provided to the school and their student management systems provider to keep methodology consistent for all WA schools.
• The number of unavailable sessions were converted to hours based on the average duration of each session at the school attended. Operationally unavailable hours are reported in the relevant column but have not been added to attended hours for the reference period.

Deviation from the NPAC standards

• Child's SA1 and Mesh Block of Residence: for children for whom a valid address was not provided, the child’s SA1 and Mesh Block information were imputed using the SA1 and Mesh Block address information for the service provider.
• Preschool Program Provider ID/Name: data is reported at the school level. It is not possible to report separate/multiple service delivery locations as campuses of the main school.
• Child's Preschool Program Start Date/End Date: in instances where a child is enrolled at a service provider, un-enrols and re-enrols within the reference period then the initial enrolment episode and re-enrolment episode have not been reported separately. The two enrolment episodes are combined with the Preschool Program Start Date as the start date for the first enrolment period and the Preschool Program End Date as not applicable if the enrolment is continuing. This deviation is limited to public schools only and is known to impact fewer than 10 students in total.
• Operationally Unavailable Hours: operationally unavailable hours include days where the school was closed for religious holidays or funeral in a remote community during the reference period.

Interpretability

For all schools, the collection instrument contained significant guidance and computation rules to prevent inconsistent responses.

Accessibility 

De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website.

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information source

The information contained within this report has been provided by WA DoE in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available on the WA DoE website.

For the 2024 NPAC the Tasmanian Department for Education, Children, and Young People (Tas. DECYP) extrapolated data collected from Independent schools for the 2024 NECECC using a concordance file provided by the ABS. Data for all public sector providers, which represented the vast majority of children, were collected from the NPAC. For further details, see the Relevance, Timeliness, Accuracy, and Coherence sections of this data quality statement. 

Institutional Environment

The organisation responsible for the Tasmanian NPAC Data Collection is the Tas. DECYP. The data is collected under the Education Act 2016 (Tas.).

Relevance

Data is collected by the Tas. DECYP and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators.

Data is provided against the 2024 NPAC NMDS and is reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. An episode refers to a child’s enrolment at a specific service provider. A child enrolled at multiple services will have at least one episode per service. A child may have multiple episodes per service where they have multiple enrolments with distinct start and end dates. Data for CCS-funded CBDC services is out-of-scope for the Tasmania submission and is provided by the Australian Government DoE. 

URL data collection methodology was employed for children and schools.

In-scope children

The scope of the preschool education component of the Tasmanian submission was all children enrolled in a preschool program in the year before full-time schooling (Kindergarten in Tasmania) in 2024. The scope of the NPAC is all children aged 3 to 6 years (inclusive) who have attended a preschool program at any time during Term 2. This includes children who were non-permanent residents. 

In-scope services

The Tasmanian NPAC data collection was managed in conjunction with the Tasmanian Catholic Education Office and Independent Schools Tasmania to ensure preschool children at non-government schools were completely represented.

Independent schools’ data is included in the NPAC submission for 2024 were extrapolated using the data from the NECECC 2024 and a concordance file provided by the ABS to map the NECECC data to the NPAC template. This means that the data for the Independent sector for 2024 should be treated as averages/a base reference point for future NPAC cycles. 

Timeliness

Data for the Government and Catholic Sectors was extracted on 27 August 2024. Per the transitional arrangements agreed between the Tas DECYP and the ABS, the Independent sector data was collected during the NECECC reference period and signed off and extracted on 23 August 2024. Tas. DECYP compiled, processed and validated the data before submitting it to the ABS in November 2024.

Reference period

The reference period for Tasmania was Term 2 of the school year, from 29 April to 5 July 2024. Data for the Government and Catholic sectors was collected for this reference period. 

The Independent sector data was collected during a distinct reference period from 29 July to 9 August 2024 and extrapolated to align with the longer Term 2 reference period. 

Accuracy

Tas. DECYP compiled the data provided by the Government, Independent, and Catholic school sectors via a custom-built web-based tool originally designed for the NECECC. Extensive enhanced functionality was integrated into the existing web-based tool to accommodate the expanded scope required for the NPAC collection for 2024. 

Data was collected from the three sectors as follows:

• Government sector: data was extracted from government schools’ student enrolment and attendance management platform and loaded directly into the web-based tool.
• Catholic sector: data was collected centrally by the Catholic education sector and submitted to Tas. DECYP. This data was then uploaded into the web-based tool.
• Independent sector: data was manually entered by staff directly into the web-based tool for the ECEC data, this data was then used with a concordance file with predefined business rules provided by the ABS to extrapolate the ECEC data to fit the scope of the NPAC collection. 

Government service providers uploaded information from each child enrolment form into the Tas. DECYP student management system 'EduPoint' which stored the information in a data warehouse. The data warehouse contains in-built data quality checks that provide timely data feedback to schools. Data from the warehouse was then used to populate the Tasmanian NPAC submission. 

The Catholic education sector collected data centrally with their equivalent student management system as 'Edupoint'. The data was validated via their internal process before being sent to Tas. DECYP, who conducted further validation before uploading into the web base tool. 

Indigenous students are identified at enrolment in Tasmanian government schools using the national Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) schools’ enrolment question: "Is the student of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin?" The responses available are: No; Yes, Aboriginal; Yes, Torres Strait Islander; or Yes, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. If a student or family doesn't answer the question, then the response is 'Not Stated'.

For Non-government schools, the same question is asked, with available responses from the non-government Kinder enrolment system: Aboriginal but not Torres Strait Islander origin; Torres Strait Islander but not Aboriginal origin; Both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin; Neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander origin; and not stated/inadequately described. If there is no response, it is coded as 'Not Stated'.

Response rates

The response rate of all in-scope services that provided Kindergarten data to the Tas. DECYP was 100%.

Data quality management

The data of government and non-government service providers were reviewed and cleaned by Tas. DECYP staff. This process included numerous system quality checks such as confirming student ages, hours enrolled, and verifying duplicate enrolments across schools. 

As it was not possible to collect Independent schools’ data during the NPAC 2024 reference period (29 April to 5 July 2024), data collected for these schools during the NECECC reference period (29 July to 9 August 2024) was merged into the NPAC submission file. This resulted in duplicate records for a small number of children who attended a Government/Catholic sector school between 29 April and 5 July 2024 and then attended an Independent school during the NECECC reference period (29 July to 9 August). As agreed with ABS, Tas. DECYP removed Independent records that were duplicates of a child’s attendance record from a Government or Catholic sector to avoid double-counting attendance for these children.

Extensive quality assurance occurred for the attendance data, to ensure that data was consistent with other Tas. DECYP data sources and Catholic Education Sector data sources. Specific validation methods applied in the data collection application and by Tas. DECYP included:

• data code compliance with the NPAC standards
• detection of inconsistent data coding, e.g. students with dates of birth outside expected date ranges, indicating coding errors
• comparisons of student enrolment counts with previous year data
• review of school summary tables by student data by various categories, i.e. Indigenous status, enrolment hours
• students in repeat years of preschool

Coherence

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

Hours Attended during the Reference Period were calculated using school start and end times for each day of the childcare class, and days the class ran through the week, divided by the number of weeks in the reference period (10 weeks) to produce an average number of attendance hours per week during the reference period.

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

The Tas. DECYP did not calculate Operationally Unavailable Hours for the NPAC 2024 cycle. 

Deviation from the NPAC standards

• Hours attended during the reference period: hours of attendance were derived from the kinder class times. Attendance was recorded per student per class.

Interpretability

An instructional guide was supplied to assist custodians with collecting and providing data for Tasmania’s NPAC submission. 

Accessibility 

Government student Kinder numbers are published in the Tas. DECYP annual report. De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website.

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information source

The information contained within this report has been sourced from Tas. DECYP in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available at the Tas. DECYP website or email kinder@decyp.tas.gov.au.

Institutional Environment

The organisation responsible for the Northern Territory NPAC 2024 data collection is the Northern Territory Department of Education and Training (NT DET). Data was collected under the Education Act (NT) 2016. The Northern Territory Department of Corporate and Digital Development compiled the data from two sources on behalf of the NT DET:

1. Student Administration and Management System (SAMS) for government schools.
2. Collaborative Online Data Exchange (CODEX) tool for non-government, non-CCS preschools.

Relevance

Data is collected by the NT DET and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators.  

Data is provided against the 2024 NPAC NMDS and is reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. An episode refers to a child’s enrolment at a specific service provider. A child enrolled at multiple services will have at least one episode per service. A child may have multiple episodes per service where they have multiple enrolments with distinct start and end dates. Data for CCS-funded CBDC services is out-of-scope for the Northern Territory submission and is provided by the Australian Government DoE.

URL data collection methodology was employed for children and schools.

In-scope children

The scope of the Northern Territory NPAC is all children aged 3 to 6 years (inclusive) who have attended a non-CCS registered government or non-government preschool program at least once during the reference period. This includes children who were non-permanent residents.

In the Northern Territory, children are eligible to enrol in preschool at the beginning of the year if they turn 4 years of age on or prior to 30 June of the same year. If a Northern Territory child turns 4 years of age after 30 June, they can enrol in preschool on or after their 4th birthday. Children in very remote schools may be enrolled in a preschool program when they turn 3 years of age. 

In addition, the NT DET has approved the delivery of a 3-year-old preschool program at three government preschools across the Northern Territory in 2024 as part of a trial to identify and respond to children with additional needs earlier and provide a strong start to full-time schooling.

In-scope services

Data collection methodology and sources differed between government and non-government preschools, however the data collected was at the same level of detail and are comparable across the two sectors.

CBDC providers that deliver preschool programs were not in scope for the NT submission.

Timeliness

Data was collected over the reference period and extracted on 15 October 2024. The NT DET compiled, processed and validated the data before submitting it to the ABS in October 2024.

Reference period

Not all Northern Territory preschools operate with the same term dates. The Term 2 reference period for all but two schools was 15 April to 21 June. The reference period for one non-government school was 16 April to 21 June, while one remote government school operates on different school terms and the reference period for this school was 8 April to 21 June. Data from the reference period is extrapolated by the ABS to the entire year for calculation of attendance performance and subsequent analysis.

Accuracy

All enrolment and attendance data for government schools including for preschool year levels was captured in the SAMS. There are eight separate collections of enrolment and attendance data throughout the school year, with collections three and four relevant to the Term 2 NPAC data collection period. The data collections are used to inform various internal and external reporting requirements including the NPAC. 

As part of the standard enrolment and attendance data validation process of government schools, school principals were required to check the data, edit if necessary, and confirm accuracy. Business rules guided the processing of data. The enrolment and attendance data validation process required formal sign-off from school principals, stating it was a true and accurate representation of their school for each enrolment and attendance period. This ensured the quality and validity of the data being provided. Internal validation of the early childhood data was subsequently undertaken. 

Non-government schools provided child and service provider record level attendance information via the CODEX tool specifically for the NPAC. The data supplied was validated by the principal or delegate.

All data was processed centrally for inclusion in the NPAC.

It should be noted that attendance patterns for the Northern Territory demonstrate a relatively large number of students with multiple enrolments. This is partially due to the high mobility of remote and very remote populations.

Data quality management

Detailed validation processes used by NT DET in 2024 were as follows: 

• school validation: as above, all government schools were provided with data reports as part of the standard enrolment and attendance data validation process and were required to confirm the information was correct. Schools were required to carry out validation reporting to maintain data quality, targeting such areas as child Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, gender and age. Non-government schools were able to generate detailed reports from CODEX for review before they validated their preschool data.
• system validation: the validation process included historical comparison against NECECC data and cross checking of data against national reporting rules

Student Indigenous status is identified through the enrolment form. Government schools use the following question:

Question: Is the student of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin?

Response: 

• No
• Yes, Aboriginal
• Yes, Torres Strait Islander
• Yes, both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Where no answer is recorded, schools are asked to follow up with the parent/guardian to confirm the Indigenous status of the child. This is done throughout the year and forms part of the validation process for Enrolment and Attendance collections. Students without a valid Indigenous status are flagged in validation reports. If the parent/guardian does not wish to disclose the Indigenous status, it is recorded as ‘Not Stated’.

Non-government schools are not required to use the same enrolment form as government schools so the wording may vary slightly. 

Child information (gender/sex, Indigenous status, address or date of birth) were reported against the last known attribute at the time of data extraction. It is unlikely data will be updated, unless incorrect. Where a child had an invalid address, the school address was reported.

During the consultation phase of the NPAC project, NT DET engaged with the Northern Territory non-government sector to identify all in-scope preschool programs. Data responses were received from all relevant non-government schools.

Coherence

An analysis of the coherence of this collection with other jurisdictional collections should be undertaken on an individual basis, with consideration of any data elements that are not consistent with the NPAC standards. 

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

Preschool attendance is recorded at session level, with a maximum of two sessions per day. Preschool in government schools are set at three hours per session and thus hours attended was calculated by multiplying the number of sessions attended during the period by three hours.

Non-government schools used similar methodology, but with session hours specific to each school. 

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

For government schools, operationally unavailable hours were estimated at school level, based on dates that the school was closed due to various reasons including public holidays and school closures irrespective of whether the student was timetabled to attend. This approach is used due to the varied delivery of preschool in government schools. The number of hours of preschool normally available per day is summed e.g. if there are two sessions of preschool available on that day and each session normally lasts 3 hours, then 6 hours per unavailable day is recorded. Some non-government schools used an equivalent measure, whilst some schools calculated unavailable hours based on each student’s individual daily timetable.

Deviations from the NPAC standard

For the Northern Territory there were no deviations from the NPAC standard.

Comparisons to other jurisdictional collections

The Northern Territory government publishes government school attendance rates by Year level, including for preschool, measured as the proportion of student sessions attended, compared to the sessions they are expected to attend during the reporting period, by term and year on the NT DET website. Whilst the methodology is not exactly the same, trends should broadly align.

Interpretability

The NT DET provided a range of support and information to Northern Territory non-government preschools to assist in the collection and reporting of data, such as meetings, training sessions, manuals and ‘how to’ guides, to support correct interpretation and definition of concepts. Detailed reports and instructional papers on the requirements, processes and rules for submitting data through the Non-Government Age/Grade Census were provided to service providers to assist with data provision.

Accessibility 

De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website.

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information source

The information contained within this report has been provided by the NT DET in consultation with the ABS. Further information is available at the NT DET website.

Institutional Environment

The Australian Capital Territory Education Directorate (the Directorate) was responsible for the submission of public sector school data for the 2024 NPAC. This data was sourced from:

• ACT public school student administration system
• ACT Student movement register.

The ACT public school data used in the NPAC is collected under the Education Act 2004 (ACT).

Relevance

Data is collected by the Directorate and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators.

Data is provided against the 2024 NPAC NMDS and are reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. An episode refers to a child’s enrolment at a specific service provider. A child enrolled at multiple services will have at least one episode per service. A child may have multiple episodes per service where they have multiple enrolments with distinct start and end dates. Data for CCS-funded CBDC services is out-of-scope for the Directorate's submission and is provided by the Australian Government DoE.

URL data collection methodology was employed for children and schools.

In-scope children

Children in-scope for NPAC were aged 3 to 6 years (inclusive) on 1 July in the collection year and enrolled in a preschool program in the year before full-time school at a public school in the ACT during the reference period. This includes children who were non-permanent residents.

To be considered enrolled, the child must have attended the preschool program during the reference period.

In-scope services

A preschool program is in-scope if it was providing a structured, play based learning program, delivered by a qualified teacher, aimed at children in the year or two before they commence full-time schooling (a preschool program) during the reference period. These criteria apply irrespective of the type of institution that provides the program or whether it is government funded or privately provided.

Timeliness

ACT public school data extraction dates are provided below.

• student addresses for students in August Census (data as at 2 August, 2024) were extracted 4 August 2024
• student addresses for students not in August Census were extracted 12 November 2024
• student enrolment records and student attributes for students who were enrolled in Term 2 were extracted 7 August 2024
• student start and exit dates for students who were enrolled in Term 2 were extracted 5 November 2024
• attendance records for students who were enrolled in Term 2 were extracted 30 July 2024

Reference period

The reference period for the ACT public school sector is Term 2, from Monday 29 April 2024 to Friday 5 July 2024. 

Accuracy

The ACT public school data used in the NPAC is collected as set out in the Education Act 2004 (ACT) to enable the Directorate to effectively manage enrolment and attendance in ACT public schools.

The data represents a ‘snapshot’ of the data at the time of extraction and may not include retrospective updates.

Response rates

All eligible ACT public preschools provided data for the NPAC.

Data quality management

The quality of ACT public school data is managed by undertaking significant and detailed checking and validation of student and school details. 

Coherence

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

Hours Attended during the Reference Period were derived by identifying the total possible hours of attendance and the total number of hours of whole day absences for each provider and for each student. Any absences recorded outside the timetabled classes, or recorded on operationally unavailable days were excluded from calculations.

Attendance per student per provider is calculated by subtracting absence hours from total possible hours.

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

Operationally Unavailable Hours for each student were calculated by identifying the number of hours of public holidays and student-free days that fell on a student’s scheduled class day. 

Deviation from the NPAC standards

For ACT public schools there were no deviations from the NPAC standards.

Interpretability 

ACT public preschools were notified of the data collection via standard internal communications. Schools were reminded to ensure that preschool attendance was accurately recorded during the reporting period.

Accessibility 

Privacy and confidentiality requirements within Family Assistance Law limit the publication of childcare administrative data at certain granularities. De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website.

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information Source

Information was provided by the ACT Education Directorate. Further details are available from the Directorate website.

Institutional Environment

The Australian Capital Territory Education Directorate (the Directorate) was responsible for the submission of Independent sector school data for the 2024 NPAC. The data was sourced from ACT Independent school administration systems.

The data used in the NPAC is collected under the Education Act 2004 (ACT).

Relevance

Data is collected by the Directorate and supplied to the ABS for the purpose of producing high-quality preschool attendance estimates for use by the Australian Government DoE in the calculation of PRA performance indicators. 

Data is provided against the 2024 NPAC NMDS and are reported at the episode level for each enrolment of an in-scope child within the reference period. An episode refers to a child’s enrolment at a specific service provider. A child enrolled at multiple services will have at least one episode per service. A child may have multiple episodes per service where they have multiple enrolments with distinct start and end dates. Data for CBDC services is out-of-scope for the Directorate's submission and is provided by the Australian Government DoE.

URL data collection methodology was employed for children and service providers.

In-scope children

Children in-scope for NPAC were aged 3 to 6 years (inclusive) on 30 April in the collection year and were enrolled in a preschool program in the year before full-time school at an independent school in the ACT during the reference period. This includes children who were non-permanent residents.

To be considered enrolled, the child must have attended the preschool program for at least one hour during the reference period.

In-scope services

A preschool program is in-scope if it was providing a structured, play based learning program, delivered by a qualified teacher, aimed at children in the year or two before they commence full-time schooling (a preschool program) during the reference period. These criteria apply irrespective of the type of institution that provides the program or whether it is government funded or privately provided.

Timeliness

The Independent school submission has a reference period of Term 2 of the school year in the ACT. Data was requested from ACT Independent schools as detailed below. 

• schools were sent information about the collection 28 June 2024
• schools were sent the data collection template (provided by ABS) 18 July 2024
• schools returned the completed template from 21 July 2024 to 2 August 2024

Reference period

The reference period for the ACT Independent school sector is Term 2. All Independent schools started Term 2 on Monday 29 April 2024 and ended on Friday 28 June 2024 or Friday 5 July 2024.

Accuracy

The Directorate validated the 2024 data from each participating independent school. Service provider information for independent preschools in the ACT was provided by each school through data supplied to the Directorate.

The data represents a ‘snapshot’ of the data at the time of extraction and may not include retrospective updates made to data.

Response rates

All ACT independent preschools who did not use the CCSS provided data for NPAC to the Directorate.

Data quality management

The quality of ACT Independent sector school data was managed by undertaking significant and detailed checking and validation of student and school details. 

Coherence

Calculation of Hours Attended during the Reference Period

Hours Attended during the Reference Period were derived from the length of a session for each child reported as attending, not arrival and departure times. For this count, actual session hours were reported (e.g. duration calculated from session start and end time). 

Calculation of Operationally Unavailable Hours

Operationally Unavailable Hours for each student were calculated by identifying the number of hours of public holidays and student-free days that fell on a student’s scheduled class day.

Deviation from the NPAC standards

The ACT state specific age cut-off date is 30 April. Most students in the YBFS were 4 years old as of 30 April of the reference year. 

Interpretability 

The Directorate liaised with each participating independent school to collect data and verify details.

Accessibility 

Privacy and confidentiality requirements within Family Assistance Law limit the publication of childcare administrative data at certain granularities. De-identified aggregate data (which includes childcare administrative data) is published as part of Preschool Attendance on the ABS website.

Confidentialised microdata will be made available via ABS DataLab to the Australian Government DoE, and state and territory education departments, subject to approval.

Information Source

Information was collected directly from independent schools via a secure file transfer system. Further details are available from the Directorate website.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

Children are included in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander counts if they are identified by a parent or guardian as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.

Attendance

For the purposes of this publication, a child is defined as attending a preschool program if the child was enrolled and present for at least one hour during the reference period. Children who did not attend a preschool program during the reference period (e.g. children who were absent due to illness or extended holiday leave) are defined as not attending a preschool program.

Child-specific year before full-time schooling

A child is defined as being in the CSYBFS if, according to state rules, their birth date means they are:

• Eligible for preschool, and it is the year before they become eligible for school, or
• Eligible for preschool or school, and school is compulsory the following year, and they were not identified as a YBFS repeater.

Enrolment

A child is defined as being enrolled if they were offered a place, formally enrolled or registered in the preschool program and:

• attended the preschool program for at least one hour during the reference period, or
• were absent during the reference period due to illness or extended holiday leave but were expected to return.

A child is defined as not being enrolled if they were absent during the reference period and not expected to return to the preschool program. 

Episode

An episode is the count of the occurrence of a specific characteristic. For example, a preschool episode refers to a preschool program provided to a child. 

Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD)

The Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD) used in this release was developed by the ABS and ranks areas in Australia according to most disadvantaged to least disadvantaged using variables from the 2021 Census. A low score on this index indicates a high proportion of relatively disadvantaged people in an area. It cannot be concluded that an area with a very high score has a large proportion of relatively advantaged people, as there are no variables in the index to indicate this.

Indigenous status

Refer to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Operationally unavailable hours

Operationally unavailable hours are those hours within the attendance reference period where the service provider was not available for the children to attend due to safety (a risk to attendees at the service provider or in relation to access to the location), planning and pupil-free days, or public holidays.

Preschool program

A preschool program is a structured, play-based learning program, delivered by a degree qualified teacher, aimed at children in the year or two before they commence full-time schooling. This is irrespective of the type of institution that provides it or whether it is government funded and/or privately provided. Preschool programs are often referred to by other terms such as early childhood education, early learning or kindergarten.

Service type

Service type is a classification derived from the service activity type characteristics of service providers.

Service activity type

The service activity type is the main type of service available from, or provided by, a service provider. Service activity types include:

• Centre Based Day Care (CBDC): A centre based day care service is a centre based form of child care service providing all-day or part-time care for children. For-profit and not-for profit organisations, local councils, community organisations and employers may run these services. CBDC primarily provides services for children aged 0-5 years. Some CBDCs may also provide early childhood education and kindergarten programs and care for school children before and after school and during school holidays, where state and territory government regulations allow this. The service may operate from stand-alone or shared premises, including those on school grounds.
• Early childhood education program: Comprises services providing a structured, play-based learning program, aimed at children in the year or two before they commence full-time schooling. The terms most commonly used to describe early education programs which are subject to the Universal Access to Early Childhood Education National Partnerships (UANP) in states and territories are:
  • kindergarten – Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania
  • kindergarten or preschool – Victoria, South Australia
  • preschool – New South Wales, Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory

Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA)

SEIFA is a collection of 4 summary measures that have been created from 2021 Census information. The indexes can be used to explore different aspects of socio-economic conditions by geographic areas. The SEIFA index used in this publication is the Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD).

Unit record level data collection

Unit record level data collections contain data for each individual statistical entity in a collection population.