Using administrative and survey data relating to monitor early childhood - Education and care Dr Paul Jelfs Assistant Statistician Australian Bureau of Statistics

10/08/08 Introduction 'Early childhood is a time of remarkable transformation and extreme vulnerability' (UNESCO, 2007)..generally recognised that children from birth to 8 years display social, emotional and intellectual characteristics which are distinct from those shown in other periods of their lives (Fleer & Udy 2002) Early childhood education and care = “inseparable nature of education and care in the early childhood period” (Press 2006; OECD 2006). Children benefit from positive care and learning experiences and there is agreement that these experiences have positive benefits later in life. … need exists for an improved evidence base for policy development and program evaluation in early childhood. Data Gaps report – ABS, DEEWR, FaHCSIA, Treasury, AIHW

National boundaries

10/08/08 Early childhood systems in Australia Early childhood education and care - Australian and State or Territory govts – wide range of service providers including government, local government, community, schools and private businesses Australian government's role – assist parents with the cost - Child Care Benefit (CCB) and Child Care Tax Rebate (CCTR) – operational funding to support services and administer quality assurance system State and Territory government’s role – licensing and regulating child care and provide some direct funding – Long Day Care, Family Day Care, Outside School Hours Care, Vacation Care, In-Home Care and Occasional Care services (private business, community and some State and local government investment) Families also use informal, unregulated child care arrangements (paid or unpaid – e.g grandparents, neighbours etc)

10/08/08 Types of learning

10/08/08 Data issues Each of these types of learning have: – Different data needs to measure issues – Different combinations of sectors to collect data – Varied data systems and practices across sectors – Data often tied to payment not social monitoring – Differential levels of access to data – Differential levels of expertise to use the data The problem: There is not an integrated and comprehensive picture of young children's education and care and there are many issues affecting data quality and coverage.

10/08/08 Data sources – Part 1

10/08/08 Data sources – Part 2

10/08/08 Key policy questions What factors in early childhood are critical to children's optimal development and later outcomes? The very early years What are the characteristics and circumstances of 0–2 year old children, including their formal and informal care experiences and family circumstances such as parenting behaviours, and how do these impact on children's development and later outcomes? Years preceding primary school What are the characteristics and circumstances of 3–5 year old children in the years preceding school, including their educational program and care experiences and family circumstances such as parenting behaviour, and how do these impact on children's development and later outcomes?

10/08/08 Information requirements 1.Participants (eg. Child Demographic characteristics, participation, type of care) 2.Non-participants (eg. Child demographic characteristics, other participation, reasons) 3.Providers (eg. Private, public sector, entity name) 4.Resources (e.g staff numbers) 5.Activities (eg. Types of learning activities) 6.Outputs and outcomes (eg. Health and wellbeing, social knowledge, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, transition experiences) 7.Family (eg. Parent demographic characteristics, education, labour and income characteristics, health issues, style, family relationships, Social support, Safe and secure home environment) 8.Context (eg. Geography, Child health issues)

10/08/08 Data development options Improvements to the evidence base on early childhood could be addressed in several ways – developing new collections – expanding existing collections – implementing improved standards for existing collections – data linkage

10/08/08 Data linkage model

10/08/08 An option Outcome - linkage to address the effect of non-participation in pre-school – its subsequent impact on preparation for school (AEDI) – the early school testing results for numeracy and literacy and care – education patterns into later life Linking the data… – pre-school administrative data (eg. Enrolment, program type, teachers/carers) – school administrative data (e.g preschool participation, teachers, demographics) – AEDI and literacy and numeracy test results (eg. student, class, school performance) – education survey data (eg. Indigenous status, teacher numbers & qualifications) The challenges in this type of approach – legislation and guidelines for data use and privacy – the population in surveys and administrative needs to be aligned (time and geography) – information provided into the data files must be of good quality

Education outcomes Preschool data Parent data AEDI data Health dataSchool data

10/08/08 Conclusion There are significant benefits to data linkage and integrating data however: – May not be necessary to link all the data all the time – Targeted/periodical linkage may be appropriate to fill gaps There are also substantial challenges – not to be underestimated (non data issues) The inter-jurisdictional nature of the education and child care also creates challenges which need to be overcome through negotiation, legislative change and systems, data development and training investment.

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