The ECDSG suggests that the first question (and response options) in the ‘Education and Training’ topic from the current Census be amended to capture data on early childhood education and care attendance. This could be achieved by:
a) Modifying the first question in the ‘Education and Training’ topic from the current 2016 Census to include reference to early childhood education services. This will help to ensure families with children in this age group are aware the question relates to them:
‘Is the person attending a school or any other educational institution (including an early childhood service)?’
And potentially including:
b) A drop-down response menu two additional choices: ‘early childhood service’ and ‘playgroup’.
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Assessment Criteria 1
1.
This topic is of current national importance.
National Importance
Data regarding the number of children attending an early childhood education service, or more informal early childhood such as playgroups are important to assist States and Territories plan to:
• to meet growing family requirements for more and better access to early learning, particularly with the predicted growth in child populations
• to identify and tackle urgent supply and access bottlenecks (as families seek more educational quality and care opportunities) and the associated financial and practical pressures these bottlenecks can create
• to provide more high-quality choices for families and allow them to match the demands of their working lives with their educational expectations for their children.
Data collected on a national level in combination with other characteristics captured in the Census will allow for more targeted, needs-based policy development.
Early childhood education data collected by the Census will also inform government policy development and provide research regarding the impact of early childhood education on population-level outcomes. National and international evidence show that children who participate in early childhood education for two years:
- benefit from increased lifetime earnings from improved cognitive skills
- increased length of school and educational attainment
- reduced incidence of obesity-related illness and
- are less likely to commit crime (Karoly 2016; Heckman 2012).
Assessment Criteria 2
2.
There is a need for data from a Census of the whole population.
For whole population
Early childhood education has been shown to help children achieve a material lift in future social, academic and emotional outcomes. Two years of early childhood education has been shown to improve socio-behavioural development, academic achievement through later schooling as measured by NAPLAN and PISA, an increased likelihood of university attendance, increased lifetime earnings from higher productivity and better health outcomes across the population. These potential links between early childhood education and other characteristics collected in the Census can be more clearly observed when data across the entire life stages of individuals are available.
Assessment Criteria 3
3.
The topic can be accurately collected in a form which the household completes themselves.
Easy to answer
Respondents are likely to know whether their child is attending an ‘early childhood service’ or a ‘playgroup’. In an online Census format, the two additional response options could be collected in an easy and quick drop-down menu.
Assessment Criteria 4
4.
The topic would be acceptable to Census respondents.
Acceptable
The topic of early childhood education is not likely to be considered intrusive, offensive or controversial.
Assessment Criteria 5
5.
The topic can be collected efficiently.
Collected efficiently
It is unlikely that the topic will require extensive processing, since it will only involve modification to an existing question and response options in the Census.
Assessment Criteria 6
6.
There is likely to be a continuing need for data on this topic in the following Census.
Continuing need
Given the prominent nature of early childhood education in the national policy agenda, and government focus on areas with the greatest economic return on investment, early childhood education is very likely to become increasingly important in the future. Time series data on this topic would provide a more complete picture of how the uptake of early childhood education impacts other characteristics of the population over time.
Assessment Criteria 7
7.
There are no other alternative data sources or solutions that could meet the topic need.
No alternatives
The ABS currently conducts surveys and census on early childhood education through the following:
- Early Childhood Education and Care National Workforce Census every three years
- Preschool Education, Australia Census annually.
However, these do not provide an all-encompassing snapshot of early childhood education attendance across the country in combination with other characteristics collected by the Census.