Notes on the data: Education

Aboriginal children aged 4 or 5 years i) enrolled in a preschool program and ii) attending a preschool program, 2022

Policy context: Research has shown that positive educational and life outcomes for children, particularly those from more disadvantaged backgrounds, are linked to participation in a quality preschool program [1]. Participation in high quality preschool supports school readiness as children were found to perform better at school with these benefits persisting over time. Children who attended preschool were found to outperform those who did not across all elements of national assessment results for Year 3 students, including numeracy, reading, spelling, writing and grammar [2].

The educational trajectories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are different from non-Indigenous Australians. The Australian Government has, over many years, increasingly recognised the importance of quality early childhood education to be fundamental in improving the future educational outcomes for Indigenous children and how this could help in closing the gap in later educational outcomes as measured compared with non-Indigenous children [3].

The 2023 Commonwealth Closing the Gap Implementation Plan notes that work is underway to increase First Nations children's preschool enrolments and attendance. Outcomes 3 and 4 aim to improve access to and quality of early childhood education and care for First Nations children. Access to culturally appropriate quality early childhood education and care is critical for preparing First Nations children to participate in and enjoy life-long learning, assisting them to build language, cognitive, social and emotional skills, and engage with their peers [4]. The Plan further states that implementing the Commonwealth’s early childhood reforms, including the Plan for Cheaper Child Care, and the Preschool Reform Agreement with states and territories, will drive improved engagement in early learning for First Nations children. In addition, the Productivity Commission will conduct a comprehensive review of the early childhood education and care sector.

Nationally in 2022, 99.2 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the Year Before Full time Schooling (YBFS) age cohort were enrolled in a preschool program. This is an increase from 76.7 per cent in 2016 (the baseline year). Nationally, based on progress from the baseline, the target shows good improvement and is on track to be met [5].

References

Rosier K. & McDonald, M. Promoting positive education and care transitions for children. Child Family Community Australia Resource Sheet, November 2011. Australian Institute of Family Studies, accessed 9 April 2018. Available from: https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/promoting-positive-education-and-care-transitions-children
Department of Education and Training. How is the Government supporting access to preschool education? Factsheet, July 2017, accessed 9 April 2018. Available from: https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/14._how_is_the_government_supporting_access_to_preschool_education.pdf
Moyle K. Literature review: Indigenous early childhood education, school readiness and transition programs into primary school 2019. Camberwell, Australia: Australian Council for Education Research.2019. Available from: https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=littlejbigcuz
2023 Commonwealth Closing the Gap Implementation Plan, accessed 22 April 2024. Available from https://www.niaa.gov.au/2023-commonwealth-closing-gap-implementation-plan/delivering-outcomes-and-targets/outcome-3-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-children-are-engaged-high-quality-culturally-appropriate-early-childhood-education-their-early-years
Productivity Commission, Closing the Gap Targets and Outcomes, Accessed 22 April 2024. Available from https://www.pc.gov.au/closing-the-gap-data/dashboard/se/outcome-area3

Notes:

Introduction

The data for 2022 have been limited to ‘Preschool’ under the ‘Sector’ category that ABS provide in the Preschool TableBuilder dataset: data published by PHIDU in previous years included children in a ‘Preschool program within centre-based day care’ and ‘Children across more than one provider type’. In the 2022 Preschool Census there were 8,795 in centre-based day care program and 2,599 children across more than one provider type.

The use of the sum of four- and five-year old children as the denominator was necessary as the ABS have used a calculation (which cannot be replicated at the IARE level), to produce a denominator that reflects the different ages across the states and territories at which children are enrolled in preschool. Had we published the data separately for four- and for five-year old children, many IAREs would have had over 100% of the four-year age cohort as enrolled in a preschool program; and for the five-year age cohort the data for a majority of IAREs would have been suppressed, due to small numbers. Despite combining the ages there is, however, a small number of areas with percentages in excess of 100% (six for enrolments and two for attendance). In addition, in 2022 there were some 2,186 Aboriginal children aged three or six enrolled in a preschool program.

Geography: Data available by Indigenous Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic outcomes (based on IRSEO) and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Aboriginal children aged 4 or 5 years enrolled in a preschool program, and those attending a preschool program, June 2022

Denominator: Aboriginal children aged 4 or 5 years at 30 June 2021 (data not available for 2022)

Source: Compiled by PHIDU based on the ABS Preschool Education, Australia, 2022 (data extracted from Survey TableBuilder) and estimated resident population (ERP), 2021 (produced as a consultancy for PHIDU by ABS).