2010 National Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Census 0

2010 NATIONAL EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
WORKFORCE CENSUS
JUNE 2011
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Page i
2010 National ECEC Workforce Census
Contents
1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 OVERVIEW OF ECEC WORKFORCE ....................................................................................... 2
2 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 4
2.1 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................... 4
2.2 RESPONSE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... 5
2.3 ABOUT THE DATA PRESENTED IN THIS REPORT...................................................................... 6
3 ECEC WORKFORCE................................................................................................................. 7
3.1 ECEC WORKFORCE OVERVIEW ............................................................................................ 7
3.2 WORKFORCE DEMOGRAPHICS .............................................................................................. 8
3.3 HIGHEST RELEVANT QUALIFICATIONS OF PAID CONTACT STAFF ........................................... 10
3.4 LEVELS OF TEACHING QUALIFICATION IN ECEC .................................................................. 11
3.5 EXPERIENCE AND TENURE OF CHILD CARE WORKFORCE...................................................... 12
4 SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILD CARE SERVICES ........................................... 15
4.1 HOURS OF OPERATION ....................................................................................................... 15
4.2 CHILDREN PARTICIPATING IN CHILD CARE ........................................................................... 16
4.3 CHILDREN PARTICIPATING IN PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS IN LONG DAY CARE ........................... 20
5 SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS ....................................... 21
6 PRESCHOOL AND CHILD CARE STAFF SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS ....................................... 27
6.1 OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 27
6.2 JOB SATISFACTION AND CAREER IN ECEC SECTOR ............................................................ 27
6.3 RETENTION ........................................................................................................................ 29
6.4 RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING ..................................................................................... 31
6.5 CURRENT STUDY ................................................................................................................ 32
ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 36
GLOSSARY .................................................................................................................................... 38
The Social Research Centre

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Page ii
List of tables and figures

Table 2.1.1: Collection dates ....................................................................................................................... 4
Table 2.2.1: National ECEC Workforce Census response summary ......................................................... 5
Table 3.1.1: Size of ECEC workforce in the National ECEC Workforce Census ....................................... 7
Table 3.2.1: Age, Gender and Indigenous status by service type .............................................................. 8
Figure 3.2.2: Hours worked by service type ................................................................................................. 9
Table 3.3.1: Highest level of ECEC-related qualifications of paid contact staff, by service type ............. 10
Table 3.4.1: Highest level of ECEC-related qualifications of paid contact staff in a teaching field, by
service type ............................................................................................................................ 11
Table 3.5.1: Years of experience in the ECEC sector of paid contact staff, by service type..................... 13
Table 3.5.2: Tenure as a paid contact staff in current service, by service type ......................................... 14
Table 4.1.1: Median and quartile weekly opening hours by service type .................................................. 15
Table 4.2.1: Number of children attending child care in the reference week, by service type .................. 16
Table 4.2.2: Number of children attending per week by age and service type .......................................... 17
Table 4.2.3: Indigenous children aged 0 to 12 attending child care, by service type ................................ 18
Table 4.2.4: LOTE children aged 0 to 12 attending child care, by service type ........................................ 18
Table 4.2.5: Children aged 0 to 12 with disabilities or underlying long term health conditions attending
child care, by service type ..................................................................................................... 19
Table 4.3.1: Access to preschool programs from approved LDC services, by State and Territory ........... 20
Table 5.1.1: Number and proportion of services with a Preschool Program or Other program by
service type and State and Territory ...................................................................................... 22
Table 5.1.2: Number and proportion of workers delivering a Preschool Program or Other program, by
qualification level, service type and State and Territory ........................................................ 24
Table 5.1.3: Number of workers delivering a Preschool Program or Other program, by hours worked,
qualification level and service type ........................................................................................ 26
Table 6.2.1: Agreement with attitude statements ...................................................................................... 28
Figure 6.3.1: Expectation of being employed by the same service in 12 months time ............................... 29
Table 6.3.2: Main reasons why staff may finish their current job in the next 12 months ........................... 30
Table 6.4.1: Proportion of staff who received RPL for qualifications in current job, by service type ......... 31
Table 6.5.1: Level of study for staff currently studying in an ECEC-related field, by service type ............ 32
Table 6.5.2: Agreement with statements about future study for those not currently enrolled in
education ............................................................................................................................... 34
Figure 6.6.1: Income distribution of paid full time workers by service type................................................. 35
Figure 6.6.2: Income distribution of paid part time workers by service type ............................................... 35

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Page 1
1 Executive summary
1.1 Background
The National Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Workforce Census 2010 (‘The National
ECEC Workforce Census’) is part of a range of Australian Government initiatives designed to
improve the quality of information used in developing and measuring early childhood policy and
programs. The National ECEC Workforce Census was conducted in partnership with state and
territory governments.
It is the latest in a series of large-scale collections which address information gaps in administrative
data sources. Predecessors include the Australian Government Census of Child Care Services
(AGCCCS) and the 2008-09 Child Care Provider Survey (CCPS), commissioned by the Department
of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) to collect data to supplement the
administrative data available from the Child Care Management System (CCMS).
Preschool services were included in the National ECEC Workforce Census, but were not included in
the large-scale collections noted above.
The National ECEC Workforce Census was developed specifically to address information gaps in
existing administrative data sources, with respect to the ECEC workforce, participation in and
provision of preschool programs and children with additional needs in child care.
National ECEC Workforce Census data will assist policy makers to better understand the challenges
of providing quality education and child care, assess the capacity in the workforce to meet future
demand and formulate strategies to support early childhood development policies.
Aggregated information will also be used to inform DEEWR contributions to the annual Report on
Government Services, the DEEWR Annual Report, and Portfolio Budget Statements. National ECEC
Workforce Census data will assist the Commonwealth and state and territory governments in
implementing the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care, the National
Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education and in developing the National Early Years
Workforce Strategy.
Subject to the data protocol, which sets out the principles, rules and procedures governing data
access, use and dissemination of the National ECEC Workforce Census, data may also be released
to external stakeholders, other government departments and researchers.

1.2 Overview of ECEC workforce
Key results from the Service Survey
Size of the workforce

It is estimated that 139,187 staff were employed in the ECEC sector during the reference week
(although this may include some double counting of staff with more than one part-time position).
Most workers in the sector were engaged by long day care services (48.8%), with preschool
(18.3%), outside school hours care (11.7%), vacation care (10.1%) and family day care (9.8%) also
employing a large number of workers.
Overall, 88.6% of the workforce was engaged in a contact role, with 78.1% in a ‘primary contact’ role
and 10.4 % in an ‘other contact’ role. A small proportion of the workforce (1.1%) were working in a
voluntary capacity.
Workforce demographics
The majority of the workforce (94.4%) were female, with males most strongly represented amongst
outside school hours care (15.4%) and vacation care (17.3%) services.
The median age was 25 for men and 36 for women.
Whilst over half of the workforce in outside school hours care (52.2%) and vacation care (56.7%)
services were aged 15 to 29, almost two thirds of the workforce in preschools (65.6%) and family
day care services (63.3%) were over 40 years of age.
Indigenous workers comprised 2.1% of the total ECEC workforce.
Hours of work
Across the ECEC sector the hours worked were evenly distributed between full-time (35 to 40 hours,
33.6%), long part-time (30 to 34 hours, 29.3%) and short part-time hours (up to 19 hours, 29.6%).
Few services reported staff working long hours (41 or more hours, 7.5%).
Qualifications
Over two thirds (69.8%) of paid contact staff had an ECEC-related qualification, of which 14.0% had
a 3 year Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) or above.
Over one third (36.7%) of paid preschool contact staff had a bachelor degree or higher qualification.
Years of experience
Over one quarter (26.6%) of paid contact staff in child care services had ten or more years
experience. Occasional care services, in particular, had a high proportion (44.1%) of staff with this
level of experience.
Almost one in ten (9.2%) paid contact staff in child care had less than one year’s experience.

Job tenure
Almost one in ten (9.4%) paid contact staff had worked in that capacity for their current service for
over ten years. A high proportion of the family day care workforce (24.7%), in particular, has ten or
more years of service as a contact worker with their current service.
45.0% of paid contact staff have worked in that capacity in their current service for one to three
years.
Key results from the Staff Survey
Job satisfaction and career in ECEC sector

88.0% of all respondents to the Staff Survey agreed that they were satisfied with their current job.
Just over half (51.7%) of respondents were satisfied with their pay and conditions.
Some two thirds (69.2%) of respondents would recommend a career in the sector to others.
Retention
Most Staff Survey respondents (80.3%) expected to still be employed with the same employer or
business in twelve months time.
Of those who indicated that they might not or would not be with the same employer in twelve months
time, 27.7% indicated they were seeking employment outside the sector, 27.6% expressed
dissatisfaction with their pay and conditions and 23.9% were returning to study or leaving for travel /
family reasons.
Recognition of prior learning

Just over one third of Staff Survey respondents (37.4%) had received some recognition of prior
learning, most commonly on the basis of study at TAFE (50.1%% of all those who received
recognition of their prior learning) or assessed skills and experience (29.9%).
Current study
Just under one third (30.8%) of Staff Survey respondents were studying in an ECEC-related field.
Amongst those not studying, the main barriers to study included time (48.9%), cost (45.3%) and the
wage increase resulting from investment of time and money in further study being too small (44.9%).

2 Introduction
2.1 Methodology
National ECEC Workforce Census data was collected in two parts.
The first part involved the collection of site level information from preschool services and approved
child care services (‘The Service Survey’).
Child care services provided information on usage and the number of children with additional needs
in child care. All services provided information on the delivery of and participation in preschool
programs, and information about their workforce (‘Staff information collected from services’).
The week in which services were surveyed is referred to as the ‘reference week’. Table 2.1.1
provides details of the reference week by service type and jurisdiction.
Table 2.1.1: Collection dates
Reference week
Service type(a) Jurisdiction
(2010)(b)
Long day care (LDC)
Family day care (FDC)
In home care (IHC)
NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, WA, NT, ACT 31 May to 6 June
Occasional care (OCC)
Outside school hours care (OSHC)
Preschool (PS)
Vacation care (VAC) Tas 7 to 13 June
Long day care
Family day care
In home care
Tas 21 to 27 June
Occasional care
Outside school hours care
Preschool
Vacation care NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, WA, NT, ACT 5 to 11 July
(a) Refer to Glossary for service type definitions.
(b) Variations in the reference weeks were due to the different school holiday periods across Australia.
The second part of the National ECEC Workforce Census involved the direct collection of
information from individual staff (‘The Staff Survey’ / ‘Staff information collected directly from
individual staff’). It sought detailed information on staff roles, qualifications, nature of employment,
professional development activities, pay and conditions and career intentions. Participation in the
Staff Survey was voluntary.
To assist quality and consistency of data collection across the first and second parts, there were
similarities between the workforce information requested from service providers and from individual
staff.
All National ECEC Workforce Census data were collected using a self-completion methodology, with
the predominant modes being online for child care services, hard copy self-completion for preschool
services and hard copy self-completion for the Staff Survey. Preschool services and individual staff
were also given the option of completing their questionnaires online.

After extensive follow-up activity to maximise participation and clarify responses, data were
consolidated, cleaned and weighted for analysis.
2.2 Response summary

Table 2.2.1 summarises the overall response to the National ECEC Workforce Census. It was
estimated that 16,378 services were operational during the reference week, and were considered as
in-scope for the Service Survey. Of these, 12,983 (79.3%) services responded.
The Service Survey response rate, defined as responding services as a per cent of estimated in-
scope services as at the reference week, was 81.4% for child care services and 74.2% for
preschools.
Some 61,941 worker responses to the Staff Survey were received, from 12,412 participating
services. Overall, 75.0% of all services had at least one staff member respond to the Staff Survey.
This was comprised of 74.0% of child care services and 77.4% of preschools. Note that ‘Estimated
operational services’ for the Staff Survey includes 170 services which were not operational in the
reference week for the Service Survey, but had at least one staff member respond to the Staff
Survey.
Table 2.2.1: National ECEC Workforce Census response summary (a)
Service Survey Staff Survey

Estimated in-
scope services
during Estimated
reference Responding Response operational Participating Participating
week services (a) rate % services services Services %
Total Services 16,378 12,983 79.3 16,548 12,412 75.0
Service type
LDC 5,784 4,878 84.3 5,817 4,991 85.8
FDC 313 300 95.8 315 288 91.4
IHC 69 58 84.1 71 45 63.4
OCC 85 78 91.8 86 77 89.5
OSHC 3,150 2,500 79.4 3,155 1,791 56.8
VAC 2,157 1,593 73.9 2,205 1,429 64.8
Subtotal
11,558 9,407 81.4 11,649 8,621 74.0
childcare
PS 4,820 3,576 74.2 4,899 3,791 77.4
State / Territory
NSW 5,077 4,193 82.6 5,113 3,851 75.3
Vic 4,083 3,074 75.0 4,159 3,119 75.0
Qld 2,911 2,371 75.7 2,945 2,230 75.7
SA 1,379 1,111 78.6 1,392 1,094 78.6
WA 1,771 1,318 74.4 1,774 1,333 75.1
Tas 535 414 77.4 537 371 69.1
NT 294 224 76.2 297 170 57.2
ACT 328 278 84.8 331 244 73.7
(a) Excludes 964 services which partially completed the Service Survey, for example, by logging in to the online version of
the Service Survey without completing the full survey.

The 81.4% response rate for child care services for the Service Survey, was lower than that
achieved for similar collections in 2006 (86%) and 2004 (88%).
Whilst 75.0% of services had at least one staff member respond to the Staff Survey, a Staff Survey
response rate, defined as responding staff as a per cent of total staff, is not provided, given that no
definitive estimate of the total number of staff can be established.
2.3 About the data presented in this report
Weighted services data

Unless otherwise stated, all data relating to services in of this report has been weighted to the
estimated in-scope population of operating services as at the reference week.
Although the weighting process corrects for minor imbalances in the achieved sample with respect to
service type (long day care, family day care / in home care, occasional care, outside school hours
care, vacation care and preschools) within jurisdiction and remoteness area (major city, inner
regional, outer regional, remote / very remote), weighted estimates should be used with caution.
Weighted estimates can be used indicatively to make comparisons between service types,
jurisdictions and to derive estimates of actual usage.
Weighted workforce and staff data
The ECEC workforce data presented in Section 3 of this report is based on worker information
provided by services as part of the Service Survey. It relates specifically to individual staff members
who worked during the reference week. It excludes those workers who were absent for the entire
reference week (eg workers on extended sick leave, annual or long service leave) and workers not
based at the service location and who had no involvement in the day to day management of the
service.
In this report, the estimated length of experience of a worker in the ECEC sector and years of
experience are not necessarily continuous. Periods of absence of 3 months or more are subtracted
from their total estimated experience.
Unless otherwise stated, workforce data has been weighted by assigning the service-level weight to
each staff member reported by the service.
The ECEC workforce data presented in Section 6 of this report is based solely on responses to the
Staff Survey. Staff responded in respect of the service they mainly worked in. Note that due to the
time lag between surveys, the staff who responded to the Staff Survey may differ from staff reported
by services in the Service Survey.
Staff Survey data have been weighted using a rim weighting procedure, which adjusts for
proportions within the achieved sample size. As noted above, weighted estimates should be used
with caution.

3 ECEC workforce
3.1 ECEC workforce overview
The data presented in sections 3.1 to 3.4 is based on staff information collected from services as
part of the Service Survey. Section 3.5 shows only staff information collected from child care
services as this staff data was not collected from preschool services.
A total of 139,187 staff were employed in the sector at the reference week (although this may
include some double counting of staff with more than one part-time position).
Overall, 88.6% of the workforce was engaged in a contact role, with 78.2% in a ‘primary contact’ role
and 10.4 % in an ‘other contact’ role. A small proportion of the workforce (1.1%) worked in a
voluntary capacity.
Nearly 49% of workers in the sector were engaged by long day care services, with 18.3% by
preschool services, 11.7% by outside school hours care, 10.1% by vacation care and 9.8% engaged
by family day care services.
Table 3.1.1: Size of ECEC workforce in the National ECEC Workforce Census (a)
PS LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total Total %
NSW 7,613 23,238 4,649 203 296 4,730 4,016 44,744 32.1%
Vic 7,294 14,513 3,276 292 185 4,104 2,453 32,116 23.1%
Qld 1,920 16,888 3,255 325 101 3,570 3,670 29,729 21.4%
SA 2,648 4,540 796 55 22 1,633 1,935 11,630 8.4%
WA 4,080 5,001 629 110 92 847 980 11,737 8.4%
Tas 1,071 1,446 499 67 51 428 368 3,929 2.8%
NT 371 709 169 0 0 239 252 1,740 1.2%
ACT 479 1,640 302 0 22 722 396 3,562 2.6%
Total 25,475 67,975 13,575 1,051 769 16,273 14,069 139,187 100.0%
Total % 18.3% 48.8% 9.8% 0.8% 0.6% 11.7% 10.1% 100.0%
(a) Totals may not equal sum of components due to rounding of weighted data.

3.2 Workforce demographics

Table 3.2.1 shows demographic information for the ECEC workforce by service type.
Males and younger workers were more likely to be employed in outside school hours care and
vacation care services. Over half of the outside school hours care (52.2%) and vacation care
(56.7%) workforce were aged 29 or under.
Long day care was the next youngest group, followed by in home care, with occasional care and
family day care services and preschools employing an older group of workers. Almost two thirds of
the workers in preschools (65.6%) and family day care services (63.3%) were aged 40 and over.
Male workers tended to be younger on average than women: the median age was 25 for men and
36 for women.
The proportion of Indigenous workers was highest among the occasional care workforce (3.3%) and
preschool workers (3.2%) and lowest among family day carers (0.8%).
Table 3.2.1: Age, Gender and Indigenous status by service type (a) (b)
PS LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total

Age group Percentage
15-19 1.3 6.4 0.2 4.6 4.2 11.4 10.6 5.9
20-24 4.5 19.7 1.9 20.4 10.9 29.5 31.5 17.6
25-29 6.7 17.1 6.3 14.5 11.6 11.3 14.6 13.2
30-34 8.3 12.0 12.1 8.7 11.4 7.0 7.7 10.3
35-39 13.7 11.2 16.2 8.0 12.3 6.9 6.9 11.2
40-44 16.9 9.7 16.1 6.7 11.2 7.6 7.1 11.0
45-49 17.9 8.7 15.3 10.1 13.1 8.2 7.4 10.8
50-54 15.6 7.4 13.7 8.5 12.5 8.5 6.7 9.6
55 and over 15.2 7.7 18.2 18.5 12.8 9.7 7.6 10.4
Number
Total specified 23,378 67,545 13,562 1,051 769 16,130 13,862 136,297
Total not specified 2,097 430 14 0 0 143 207 2,890
Gender Percentage
Male 3.6 2.6 1.1 2.2 1.7 15.4 17.3 5.6
Female 96.4 97.4 98.9 97.8 98.3 84.6 82.7 94.4
Number
Total specified 25,168 67,918 13,572 1,051 769 16,268 14,050 138,795
Total not specified 307 56 4 0 0 5 19 392
Indigenous status Percentage
Yes 3.2 1.8 0.8 1.4 3.3 2.1 2.4 2.1
No 96.8 98.2 99.2 98.6 96.7 97.9 97.6 97.9
Number
Total specified 22,731 54,426 11,633 789 573 12,966 11,058 114,176
Total not specified 2,744 13,549 1,943 261 196 3,307 3,011 25,011
TOTAL STAFF 25,475 67,975 13,576 1,050 769 16,273 14,069 139,187
(b) Services were asked to report the Indigenous status, i.e. the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, of each worker.

Hours of work
Figure 3.2.2 shows the hours worked in different service types in the sector. Overall, hours worked
in the sector were evenly balanced between short part-time hours (0 to 19 hours, 29.6%), long part-
time hours (20 to 34 hours, 29.3%) and full-time hours (35 to 40 hours 33.6%), with very few long
hours (41 or more hours, 7.5%) worked.
The workforce in family day care (47.9%) and in home care services (25.4%) were more likely to
work long hours, with in home care services having a large proportion of part-time workers (59.1%).
Preschools (75.4%), outside school hours care (90.7%) and vacation care (75.3%) services also had
large numbers of part-time workers, which is consistent with the sessional nature of these services.
Figure 3.2.2: Hours worked by service type (a) (b)
(b) Includes workers whose hours of work during the reference week were reported by a service.

3.3 Highest relevant qualifications of paid contact staff

Over two thirds (69.8%) of paid contact staff had an ECEC-related qualification, of which 14.0% had
a 3 year Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) and above.
In all services, at least half of all paid contact staff had an ECEC-related qualification. Paid contact
staff in occasional care (80.5%), long day care (78.3%) and preschool (74.2%) services were most
likely to have an ECEC-related qualification. Paid contact staff (36.7%) in preschools were more
likely to have an ECEC-related Bachelor degree and above.
Table 3.3.1: Highest level of ECEC-related qualifications of paid contact staff, by service
type (a) (b)
Highest level of qualification

completed
Percentage
Bachelor degree and above 36.7 9.4 4.5 6.3 8.3 9.3 14.2 14.0
Bachelor degree pass 4 years
27.3 6.0 2.8 3.3 5.0 6.4 11.0 9.8
(or equivalent) and above
9.4 3.4 1.7 3.1 3.3 2.9 3.1 4.2
(or equivalent)
Advanced Diploma /
17.4 31.9 16.0 13.4 36.7 18.0 17.0 24.6
Diploma
Certificate III / IV 17.3 35.2 36.0 25.6 31.9 19.9 19.5 28.8
Below Certificate III 2.8 1.8 3.4 4.7 3.6 2.9 2.4 2.3
Total staff with an ECEC-related
74.2 78.3 59.9 50.1 80.5 50.0 53.1 69.8
qualification(c)
Total staff without an ECEC-
25.8 21.7 40.1 49.9 19.5 50.0 46.9 30.2
related qualification
Number
Bachelor degree and above 7,271 5,457 541 51 53 1,236 1,654 16,263
(or equivalent) and above 5,407 3,458 340 26 32 852 1,288 11,404
(or equivalent) 1,864 1,998 201 25 21 383 367 4,859
Advanced Diploma /
Diploma 3,437 18,504 1,916 108 237 2,385 1,984 28,571
Certificate III / IV 3,420 20,453 4,319 206 206 2,636 2,276 33,517
Below Certificate III 558 1,033 402 38 23 381 281 2,717
Total staff with an ECEC-related
qualification(c) 14,686 45,447 7,178 403 520 6,638 6,196 81,068
Total staff without an ECEC-
related qualification 5,106 12,583 4,810 402 126 6,628 5,473 35,127
Total specified 19,792 58,029 11,989 804 646 13,266 11,669 116,194
Total not specified 1,514 803 744 148 7 1,020 1,056 5,292
TOTAL STAFF 21,306 58,832 12,733 953 653 14,286 12,725 121,487
(a) Totals may not equal the sum of components due to rounding of weighted data.
(b) Table includes paid contact staff only. Paid contact staff refers to those workers who are paid and doing primary or
other contact work.
(c) Relevant ECEC qualifications include early childhood teaching, primary teaching, other teaching, child care, nursing
(including mothercraft nursing), other human welfare studies, behavioural science and other early childhood education
and care related qualifications.

3.4 Levels of teaching qualification in ECEC

Table 3.4.1 shows the qualification level of paid contact staff whose highest ECEC-related
qualification was in a teaching field. The qualifications of teachers and staff delivering Preschool
Programs and Other Programs is covered in Chapter 5.
The largest proportion of paid contact staff with an ECEC-related qualification in a teaching field was
in preschools (42.7%). Around 13.0% of all paid contact staff had a 3 year Bachelor degree pass
(or equivalent) or above in a teaching field, of which preschool staff (36.0%) were most likely to have
a 3 year Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) or above in a teaching field.
Table 3.4.1: Highest level of ECEC-related qualifications of paid contact staff in a teaching
field, by service type (a) (b)
Highest level of ECEC-

related qualification PS LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total
completed
Percentage
Bachelor degree and
above 36.0 8.7 3.2 3.6 7.3 7.7 12.2 13.0
Bachelor degree pass 4
years (or equivalent)
and above 26.8 5.6 1.9 1.7 4.7 5.5 10.0 9.2
years (or equivalent) 9.2 3.2 1.3 1.9 2.6 2.2 2.3 3.8
Other (c) 6.7 2.0 1.5 0.9 0.8 2.1 2.0 2.7
Total qualifications in a
teaching field 42.7 10.7 4.7 4.5 8.1 9.8 14.3 15.7
Total qualifications in
other ECEC-related
field (d) 31.5 67.6 55.1 45.6 72.4 40.3 38.8 54.1
Total with no ECEC
related qualification 25.8 21.7 40.1 49.9 19.5 50.0 46.9 30.2
Number
Bachelor degree and
above 7,127 5,061 382 29 47 1,018 1,428 15,091
years (or equivalent)
and above 5,307 3,225 223 14 30 728 1,162 10,689
years (or equivalent) 1,820 1,836 159 15 17 290 266 4,402
Other (c) 1,323 1,133 186 7 5 277 239 3,170
Total qualifications in a
teaching field 8,450 6,194 567 36 52 1,295 1,667 18,261
Total qualifications in
other ECEC-related
field (d) 6,236 39,252 6,611 367 468 5,343 4,529 62,806
Total with no ECEC
related qualification 5,106 12,583 4,810 402 126 6,628 5,473 35,127
Total specified 19,792 58,029 11,989 804 646 13,266 11,669 116,194
Total not specified 1,514 803 744 148 7 1,020 1,056 5,292
TOTAL STAFF 21,306 58,832 12,733 953 653 14,286 12,725 121,487
(b) Teaching fields include early childhood teaching, primary teaching and other teaching.
(c) ‘Other’ includes Advanced Diploma / Diploma, Certificate III / IV and Below Certificate III qualifications in a teaching
field.
(d) Other ECEC-related qualifications include child care, nursing (including mothercraft nursing), other human welfare
studies and services, behavioural science and other ECEC-related qualifications.

3.5 Experience and tenure of child care workforce

Information on the length of time that workers had worked in the ECEC sector and at their particular
service was collected for all child care workers and was not collected from those working in a
preschool.
As can be seen from Table 3.5.1, paid contact staff with relevant ECEC qualifications were generally
more experienced than paid contact staff without qualifications. Occasional care (47.6%) and family
day care (45.2%) had the greatest proportion of paid contact staff with ten or more years experience.
Staff without relevant ECEC qualifications were most likely (43.0%) to work in the ECEC sector for
one to three years.
Information was also collected on the length of time that each paid contact worker had been with
their service as a contact worker. Table 3.5.2 summarises this information. Generally, qualified staff
had spent longer as a contact worker with their service than non-qualified staff.
Family day care (24.7%) and occasional care (21.0%) had the greatest proportion of staff with ten or
more years experience in their service, with all services having a large proportion of staff with one to
three years of experience.

Table 3.5.1: Years of experience in the ECEC sector of paid contact staff, by service type (a)
Family day Occasional Out of school

Years of experience Long day care In home care Vacation care Total
care care hours care
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
(b)
Staff with relevant ECEC qualification
<1 year tenure 1,591 3.5 250 3.5 28 6.9 14 2.8 226 3.4 207 3.3 2,316 3.5
1-3 years tenure 12,708 28.0 1,332 18.7 90 22.4 106 20.4 1,709 25.8 1,764 28.6 17,709 26.8
4-6 years tenure 11,832 26.1 1,291 18.1 103 25.6 99 19.0 1,640 24.8 1,602 25.9 16,567 25.0
7-9 years tenure 5,809 12.8 1,035 14.5 42 10.4 53 10.2 795 12.0 737 11.9 8,470 12.8
10+ years tenure 13,396 29.5 3,219 45.2 140 34.8 248 47.6 2,244 33.9 1,866 30.2 21,113 31.9
(c)
Not specified 112 51 0 0 24 21 207
Total staff with relevant ECEC qualification 45,447 7,178 403 520 6,638 6,196 66,381
Staff with no ECEC qualification
<1 year tenure 3,382 27.0 632 13.2 97 24.2 21 16.8 1,320 20.0 1,093 20.1 6,545 21.9
1-3 years tenure 4,903 39.1 1,420 29.7 179 44.5 41 32.7 3,430 51.9 2,880 53.1 12,853 43.0
4-6 years tenure 1,654 13.2 676 14.1 60 14.9 13 10.5 1,053 15.9 864 15.9 4,319 14.5
7-9 years tenure 751 6.0 476 10.0 33 8.2 13 10.7 244 3.7 226 4.2 1,744 5.8
10+ years tenure 1,854 14.8 1,573 32.9 33 8.3 37 29.3 561 8.5 365 6.7 4,423 14.8
(c)
Not specified 39 34 0 0 20 46 138
Total staff with no ECEC qualification 12,583 4,810 402 126 6,628 5,473 30,021
All staff
<1 year tenure 4,972 8.6 883 7.4 125 15.5 36 5.5 1,546 11.7 1,299 11.2 8,860 9.2
1-3 years tenure 17,611 30.4 2,752 23.1 269 33.4 147 22.8 5,138 38.9 4,644 40.0 30,561 31.8
4-6 years tenure 13,486 23.3 1,967 16.5 163 20.2 112 17.3 2,693 20.4 2,466 21.3 20,886 21.7
7-9 years tenure 6,560 11.3 1,511 12.7 75 9.3 67 10.3 1,039 7.9 962 8.3 10,214 10.6
10+ years tenure 15,249 26.3 4,791 40.3 173 21.6 285 44.1 2,805 21.2 2,231 19.2 25,536 26.6
(c)
Not specified 151 85 0 0 44 66 346
Total specified 58,029 11,989 804 646 13,266 11,669 96,403
(d)
Total not specified 803 744 148 7 1,020 1,056 3,778
TOTAL STAFF 58,832 12,733 953 653 14,286 12,725 100,181
(a) Totals may not equal the sum of components due to rounding of weighted data and table only includes paid contact staff.
(b) Relevant ECEC qualifications include early childhood teaching, primary teaching, other teaching, child care, nursing (including mothercraft nursing), other human welfare studies, behavioural science
and other ECEC-related qualifications.
(c) Includes those contact staff whose years of experience in the ECEC sector were not specified.
(d) Includes those contact staff where services did not specify the qualifications of staff.

Table 3.5.2: Tenure as a paid contact staff in current service, by service type (a)
Family day Occasional Out of school

Years of tenure as contact worker Long day care In home care Vacation care Total
care care hours care
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
(b)
Staff with relevant ECEC qualification
<1 year tenure 8,841 19.5 1,016 14.7 91 22.7 58 11.1 1,066 16.1 1,136 18.4 12,207 18.5
1-3 years tenure 21,200 46.8 2,214 32.0 216 53.8 192 37.0 2,886 43.7 2,801 45.3 29,511 44.8
4-6 years tenure 8,685 19.2 1,179 17.0 64 15.9 102 19.6 1,343 20.3 1,260 20.4 12,633 19.2
7-9 years tenure 3,102 6.9 854 12.3 18 4.6 58 11.1 524 7.9 435 7.0 4,991 7.6
10+ years tenure 3,431 7.6 1,657 23.9 12 3.1 111 21.3 781 11.8 547 8.8 6,539 9.9
(c)
Not specified 188 259 0 0 37 17 501
Total staff with relevant ECEC qualification 45,447 7,178 403 520 6,638 6,196 66,381
Staff with no ECEC qualification
<1 year tenure 4,635 37.0 935 20.3 145 36.1 29 23.2 1,769 26.8 1,580 29.0 9,092 30.6
1-3 years tenure 5,211 41.6 1,508 32.8 199 49.4 46 36.6 3,577 54.2 2,930 53.8 13,471 45.4
4-6 years tenure 1,256 10.0 565 12.3 33 8.3 14 11.5 805 12.2 637 11.7 3,311 11.2
7-9 years tenure 560 4.5 397 8.6 19 4.6 11 8.8 182 2.8 158 2.9 1,326 4.5
10+ years tenure 861 6.9 1,189 25.9 6 1.6 25 19.8 264 4.0 143 2.6 2,488 8.4
(c)
Not specified 60 217 0 1 30 25 333
Total staff with no ECEC qualification 12,583 4,810 402 126 6,628 5,473 30,021
All staff
<1 year tenure 13,475 23.3 1,950 16.9 236 29.4 86 13.4 2,835 21.5 2,716 23.4 21,299 22.3
1-3 years tenure 26,412 45.7 3,722 32.3 415 51.6 238 36.9 6,464 49.0 5,731 49.3 42,982 45.0
4-6 years tenure 9,940 17.2 1,744 15.2 97 12.1 116 18.0 2,148 16.3 1,897 16.3 15,943 16.7
7-9 years tenure 3,662 6.3 1,251 10.9 37 4.6 69 10.7 706 5.3 593 5.1 6,317 6.6
10+ years tenure 4,292 7.4 2,846 24.7 19 2.3 135 21.0 1,046 7.9 690 5.9 9,027 9.4
(c)
Not specified 248 476 0 1 67 41 833
Total specified 58,029 11,989 804 646 13,266 11,669 96,403
(d)
Total not specified 803 744 148 7 1,020 1,056 3,778
TOTAL STAFF 58,832 12,733 953 653 14,286 12,725 100,181
(a) Totals may not equal the sum of components due to rounding of weighted data and table only includes contact staff.
(b) Relevant ECEC qualifications include early childhood teaching, primary teaching, other teaching, child care, nursing (including mothercraft nursing), other human welfare studies, behavioural science
and other ECEC-related qualifications.
(c) Includes those contact staff whose years of experience in the ECEC sector were not specified.
(d) Includes those contact staff where services did not specify the qualifications of staff.

4 Selected characteristics of child care services

This section describes selected characteristics of child care services such as hours of operation,
number of children attending and children participating in preschool programs, as well as selected
characteristics of the children attending each service type, such as age and the presence of any
special needs. The data presented in this section was provided by child care services as part of the
Service Survey and was not collected from preschool services.
4.1 Hours of operation

Most services (93.1%) that specified opening hours between Monday and Friday reported they
maintained consistent opening hours throughout the week, with in home care services the most
likely to offer variable hours of operation by day of week (24.0%).
A number of in home care services (15.2%) had multiple opening and closing times within a day.
Aside from outside school hours care, other service types typically stayed open throughout the day.
Almost all providers (98.2%) were open five days per week, irrespective of the service provided.
Table 4.1.1 shows the number of hours that services were open in the reference week by service
type. There was general consistency in weekly opening hours within long day care, occasional care,
and vacation care.
Outside school hours care operated, on average, for 23 hours and 45 minutes per week, while in
home care operated for the highest average number of hours per week (66).
Approximately two thirds (69.0%) of outside school hours care services offered both before and after
school sessions, and 31.0% offered after school sessions only. The median duration of the morning
session was two hours, while the median duration of the afternoon session was three hours.
One fifth (20.4%) of in home care services offered two sessions on some days of the week. This
was rare (less than 5%) for other services.
In home care services were the only service type to offer weekend care in significant amounts. All in
home care services offered care seven days per week and were open for an average of eleven
hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
Table 4.1.1: Median and quartile weekly opening hours by service type (a)
LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC

Opening hours Hours
Median 55:00 na 66:00 41:00 23:45 53:15
th
25 percentile 52:30 na 60:00 40:00 15:50 50:00
th
75 percentile 57:30 na 91:00 45:00 26:15 55:00
Number of services
Total specified 5,736 na 40 84 3,090 2,115
Not specified 45 na 14 1 57 41
TOTAL SERVICES 5,781 na 53 85 3,147 2,156
(a) Totals may not equal the sum of components due to rounding of weighted data

4.2 Children participating in child care
Children attending child care

Table 4.2.1 provides a historical view of the number of children attending child care services during
the reference week, by service type.
It is estimated that in 2010, 989,452 children attended a child care service during the reference
week, although it should be noted that this figure will include some double counting where a child
attended more than one service.
Over half (54.9%) of the total children in care at the reference week attended long day care, with
smaller proportions of children in outside school hours care (21.4%), vacation care (13.2%) and
family day care (9.5%). A relatively small proportion of children in care were in occasional care
(0.6%) or in home care (0.4%).
Of all the children in care, the proportion attending long day care services during the reference week
increased by 2.5 percentage points in 2010, relative to 2006.
Table 4.2.1: Number of children attending child care in the reference week, by service type
(a) (b)
2004 (c) 2006 (c) 2010

Service Type
No of No of No of
children % children % children %
Long day care 383,020 50.9 420,110 52.4 543,539 54.9
Family day care 89,300 11.9 84,350 10.5 93,738 9.5
In home care 3,240 0.4 3,200 0.4 3,513 0.4
Occasional care 7,359 1.0 6,767 0.8 6,401 0.6
Outside school hours care 160,790 21.4 173,770 21.7 211,514 21.4
Vacation care 101,710 13.5 107,280 13.4 130,747 13.2
Other (d) 7,341 1.0 5,583 0.7 na na
Total 752,760 100.0 801,060 100.0 989,452 100.0
(b) Data includes double counting where children attend more than one service type.
(c) Data sourced from the 2004 and 2006 Australian Government Census of Child Care Services.
(d) In 2004, ‘other service types’ also included Multifunctional Children’s Services. In 2006 ‘other service types’ included
non mainstream services such as multifunctional Aboriginal children’s services, mobile and toy library services, and
Aboriginal playgroups and enrichment programs. Data was not collected from ’Other services’ in 2010 as non
mainstream services were out of scope of the National ECEC Workforce Census.

Attendance by age
Table 4.2.2 shows the number of children in each type of care by age group.
Child care attendance was most common for children aged 3-5 years, of which children aged 3 had
the highest attendance (169,509).
Table 4.2.2: Number of children attending per week by age and service type (a)
LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total

Children
Aged 0-2 years
% services (b) 95.6 99.6 95.7 100.0 0.4 0.7
Children 231,81
attending 2 41,625 1,176 3,256 350 324 278,542
Aged 3-5 years
% services (b) 99.1 99.2 95.7 100.0 91.6 90.4
Children 299,57
attending 2 34,917 1,120 3,141 34,595 18,770 392,116
Aged 6-9 years
% services (b) 19.6 94.7 95.4 4.2 98.4 97.2
Children
attending 10,547 12,079 739 4 134,290 83,082 240,740
Aged 10+ years
% services (b) 9.5 87.0 75.1 0.0 94.4 95.2
Children
attending 1,608 5,118 479 0 42,278 28,571 78,055
All ages
Children 543,53
attending 9 93,738 3,514 6,401 211,514 130,747 989,453
Services
Total
specified 5,766 329 53 85 3,132 2,152 11,516
Total not
specified 15 0 0 0 15 4 35
TOTAL
SERVICES 5,781 329 53 85 3,147 2,156 11,551
(b) Refers to the proportion of services, by service type, that offered care to children in the specified age ranges.

Children in special needs groups

Tables 4.2.3 to 4.2.5 show the number of children in special needs groups, aged 0 to 12, attending
child care services in the reference week.
Tables 4.2.3 and 4.2.4 show that occasional care services reported the highest proportion of
attendance by Indigenous children (3.7%) and children whose parents or guardian spoke a language
other than English (LOTE) at home (18.4%).
Almost one third (32.3%) of Indigenous children attended a service with at least one Indigenous staff
member.
Table 4.2.3: Indigenous children aged 0 to 12 attending child care, by service type (a)
Children
Indigenous
No. of children 10,690 1,789 85 238 3,576 2,778 19,156
% of all children(b) 2.0 1.9 2.4 3.7 1.7 2.1 1.9
Services
Indigenous
Total specified(c) 5,686 327 53 85 3,053 2,102 11,307
Total not specified 95 1 0 0 94 54 244
All special needs groups
TOTAL SERVICES 5,781 329 53 85 3,147 2,156 11,551
a) Totals may not equal the sum of components due to rounding of weighted data.
b) Refers to children in special needs groups as a proportion of all children attending that child care service type in the
reference week. Note that this includes a small number of services who did not specify the number of special needs
children.
c) Includes services where there was a response to children attending in at least one age group.
Table 4.2.4: LOTE children aged 0 to 12 attending child care, by service type (a)
Children
Language other than English
Number of children 84,096 11,035 249 1,175 25,195 14,329 136,078
% of all children(b) 15.5 11.8 7.1 18.4 11.9 11.0 13.8
Services
Language other than English
TOTAL SERVICES 5,781 329 53 85 3,147 2,156 11,551
a) Totals may not equal the sum of components due to rounding of weighted data.
b) Refers to children in special needs groups as a proportion of all children attending that child care service type in the
children.
c) Includes services where there was a response to children attending in at least one age group.

Overall, 61.9% of responding services cared for at least one child with a disability or underlying long
term health condition. The median number of children with a disability or underlying long term health
condition per service was one.
Disabilities or underlying long term health conditions in communication (1.7%), interpersonal

interactions and relationships (1.7%) and learning (1.5%) were most common in children attending
child care in the reference week. In home care had the highest percentage of children with
disabilities (7.1%).
Table 4.2.5: Children aged 0 to 12 with disabilities or underlying long term health conditions
attending child care, by service type (a)
Children
(b)
All disabilities or underlying long term health conditions
Number of children 14,125 1,536 248 291 5,779 5,496 27,474
% of all children(b) 2.6 1.6 7.1 4.5 2.7 4.2 2.8
Learning
Number of children 7,679 656 169 133 3,027 3,240 14,905
% of all children(b) 1.4 0.7 4.8 2.1 1.4 2.5 1.5
Communication
% of all children(b) 1.8 0.8 4.6 2.9 1.3 2.4 1.7
Mobility
Number of children 2,032 229 104 37 669 905 3,975
% of all children(b) 0.4 0.2 2.9 0.6 0.3 0.7 0.4
Self-care
% of all children(b) 0.9 0.6 3.9 1.4 0.7 1.6 0.9
Interpersonal
% of all children(b) 1.4 0.7 4.3 2.0 1.9 3.2 1.7
Other
% of all children(b) 1.0 0.8 4.7 1.5 1.4 2.5 1.3
Services
Total specified(d) 5,766 329 53 85 3,132 2,152 11,516
TOTAL SERVICES 5,781 329 53 85 3,147 2,156 11,551
(b) Due to the presence of children with multiple disabilities or long term health conditions, the sum of individual disabilities
may not equal ‘All disabilities’.
(c) Refers to children in special needs groups as a proportion of all children attending that child care service type in the
children.
(d) Includes services where there was a response to children attending in at least one age group.

4.3 Children participating in preschool programs in long day care

Table 4.3.1 shows the number of children who attended preschool programs in long day care, as
reported by the service. More detailed information on the delivery of preschool programs in long day
care is covered in Chapter 5.
New South Wales accounted for more than half of the children attending preschool programs in long
day care centres, while children were most commonly taken to off-site preschool programs in
Victoria and South Australia.
Table 4.3.1: Access to preschool programs from approved LDC services, by State and
Territory (a) (b)
Children taken to a Participated in an in-house Of which:

preschool program preschool program offered in Participated in both the in-house
delivered by a different an approved child care preschool program and a program
service service provided by a different service
NSW 318 63,820 255
Vic 1,279 16,730 284
Qld 231 16,366 38
SA 1,374 5,552 516
WA 910 5,164 390
Tas 104 477 9
NT 370 547 139
ACT 251 2,555 71
AUST 4,837 111,213 1,701
(b) LDC services offering preschool programs may not meet the definition of preschool programs as defined in Section 5 of
this report.

5 Selected characteristics of Preschool Programs

This section contains analysis on Preschool Programs delivered in long day care and preschool
services. A Preschool Program is a structured, play-based learning program, usually provided by a
qualified teacher on a sessional basis. Preschool Programs are primarily aimed at children in the
year or two before they commence formal schooling, irrespective of the type of institution that
provides the program or whether the program is government funded or privately provided.
For the National ECEC Workforce Census, two specific criteria were used for classifying a service as
providing a Preschool Program: where a program was delivered by a university qualified teacher
(with at least a 3 year Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) qualification in a relevant ECEC
teaching field) and if the program was based on a curriculum or learning framework. Some
preschool services did not meet one or both of these criteria during the reference week and were
therefore classified as either running an ‘Other program’ or having ‘No program’.
‘Other program’ includes those programs not based on a specific curriculum or framework and / or
programs delivered by a staff member with other than a 3 year Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent)
or above qualification in a relevant ECEC teaching field.
‘No program’ indicates that a program was not run by the service in the reference week or that staff
delivering the program had no ECEC related qualification. The Preschool Program definition is
detailed in the Glossary.
Table 5.1.1 shows the number of long day care and preschool services offering Preschool Programs
across Australia. As expected, the majority (84.2%) of preschool services had a Preschool Program,
with Tasmania having the highest proportion of programs (91.5%), followed by the Australian Capital
Territory (90.8%). Across Australia, 12.6% of preschool services had an ‘Other program’.
Around 37.0% of all long day care services offered a Preschool Program during the reference week.
Provision of Preschool Programs in long day care services varied widely across Australia, with New
South Wales having the highest proportion of services with a program meeting relevant criteria
(49.7%), followed by Victoria (44.1%).

Table 5.1.1: Number and proportion of services with a Preschool Program or Other program by service type and State and Territory (a)
NSW Vic Qld SA WA Tas NT ACT Australia

No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Preschool Services
(b)
Preschool Program 784 77.6 1,335 87.8 337 87.7 382 77.9 758 87.2 199 91.5 87 68.2 77 90.8 3,958 84.2
Other program
Advanced
(c)
Diploma/Diploma 43 4.2 123 8.1 16 4.2 62 12.6 52 6.0 6 2.6 9 7.4 1 1.5 312 6.6
Other ECEC
(d)
Qualification 158 15.7 35 2.3 28 7.2 25 5.1 24 2.8 7 3.3 3 2.1 4 4.6 283 6.0
(e)
No program 26 2.5 27 1.8 3 0.9 22 4.5 35 4.0 6 2.6 28 22.3 3 3.1 150 3.2
Total specified 1,010 100 1,520 100 384 100 491 100 868 100 218 100 128 100 84 100 4,703 100
(f)
Not specified 21 16 9 15 33 8 1 3 106
Long day care Services
(b)
Preschool Program 1,162 49.7 487 44.1 282 21.8 77 26.7 58 12.8 8 7.3 9 13.0 41 37.9 2,124 36.9
Other program
Advanced
(c)
Diploma/Diploma 56 2.4 15 1.4 7 0.6 8 2.8 5 1.0 0 - 1 1.6 1 1.0 94 1.6
Other ECEC
(d)
Qualification 470 20.1 113 10.3 153 11.8 53 18.3 91 20.1 5 4.7 10 15.0 34 31.0 929 16.1
(e)
No program 648 27.7 488 44.2 848 65.7 151 52.2 300 66.1 91 87.9 47 70.4 33 30.1 2,605 45.3
Total specified 2,337 100 1,103 100 1,290 100 289 100 453 100 103 100 67 100 109 100 5,751 100
(f)
Not specified 16 1 6 1 6 30
Total preschool and long day care Services
(b)
Preschool Program 1,946 58.1 1,822 69.5 618 36.9 460 58.9 816 61.7 207 64.4 96 49.2 118 61.0 6,082 58.2
Other Program
Advanced
(c)
Diploma/Diploma 99 2.9 138 5.3 24 1.4 70 8.9 56 4.3 6 1.8 11 5.4 2 1.2 405 3.9
Other ECEC
(d)
Qualification 629 18.8 148 5.6 181 10.8 78 10.0 115 8.7 12 3.8 13 6.5 38 19.5 1,212 11.6
(e)
No Program 674 20.1 515 19.6 852 50.9 173 22.1 335 25.3 96 30.0 76 38.8 35 18.3 2,755 26.4
Total specified 3,347 100 2,623 100 1,674 100 780 100 1,322 100 321 100 195 100 193 100 10,454 100
(f)
Not specified 37 17 15 16 38 8 1 3 136
(b) Includes services where at least one Teacher delivered a Preschool Program. See Glossary for the definition of Teacher.
(c) Includes services where the highest qualified Staff member delivered a program and had an Advanced Diploma or Diploma qualification in a teaching field only.
(d) Includes services where the highest qualified Staff member delivered a program and had an ECEC qualification in a non-teaching field at any level, an ECEC qualification below the Diploma
level in any field, or delivered a program not based on a specific (or known) curriculum or framework.
(e) No program was delivered by the service during the reference week. Also includes programs delivered by a staff member without an ECEC related qualification.
(f) Insufficient information was provided for classification.

The National ECEC Workforce Census classified workers delivering a Preschool Program as
teachers if they had a contact role with children and had obtained a teaching qualification at or
above the 3 year Bachelor degree level pass (or equivalent) (see the Glossary for more details). In
this section, workers delivering a Preschool Program or Other program are classified as staff if they
had other than a 3 year Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) or above qualification in a relevant
ECEC teaching field.
Table 5.1.2 shows the highest level of relevant qualifications held by teachers and other staff who
deliver Preschool Programs, in preschool and long day care services. Of the 10,522 workers who
delivered Preschool Programs in preschool services, 67.6% were teachers with a 3 year Bachelor
degree pass (or equivalent) and above. Approximately three times as many staff had a 4 year
Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) or higher teaching qualification (50.2%), compared to a 3 year
Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) (17.4%). The qualification profiles of workers delivering a
Preschool Program or Other program varied widely across Australia. The state or territory with the
highest proportion of workers with a 4 year Bachelor teaching degree pass (or equivalent) and above
was Tasmania (86.5%), followed by the Australian Capital Territory (78.2%) and Western Australia
(74.7%).
A lower proportion of staff delivering a Preschool Program or Other program in long day care
services had a 3 year Bachelor teaching degree pass (or equivalent) or higher (37.0%) compared to
those in preschool (67.6%). In addition, the proportion of those workers delivering a Preschool
Program with a 4 year Bachelor degree pass (equivalent) and above in a teaching field was lower in
long day care (24.0%) than in preschool (50.2%). In long day care, Victoria had the highest
proportion of workers with a 4 year Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) and above in a teaching
field (27.8%), followed by Tasmania (27.4%) and Queensland (26.4%). Staff in long day care
services predominantly had qualifications (at Diploma level or above) in ECEC-related fields other
than teaching (59.0%).

Table 5.1.2: Number and proportion of workers delivering a Preschool Program or Other program, by qualification level, service type and State and
Territory (a) (b) (c)
NSW Vic Qld SA WA Tas NT ACT Australia

No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Preschool
(d)
Teaching field Workers
(e) 898 29.1 1,548 49.0 476 55.8 570 52.1 1,154 74.7 362 86.5 96 69.7 177 78.2 5,280 50.2
801 25.9 582 18.4 101 11.8 139 12.7 165 10.7 16 3.9 14 10.0 12 5.2 1,829 17.4
(or equivalent)
Advanced Diploma / Diploma 179 5.8 443 14.0 63 7.4 239 21.8 128 8.3 23 5.5 19 13.6 6 2.9 1,101 10.5
Other ECEC-related field, at
(f) 1,211 39.2 587 18.6 212 24.9 147 13.4 97 6.3 17 4.1 9 6.7 31 13.8 2,312 22.0
Diploma level or above
Total delivering program at
3,089 100 3,160 100 852 100 1,095 100 1,545 100 418 100 137 100 226 100 10,522 100
Long day care
(d)
Teaching field Workers
(e) 1,154 23.2 461 27.8 336 26.4 111 23.8 57 13.2 11 27.4 9 23.0 48 21.0 2,186 24.0
Bachelor degree pass 3 year (or
868 17.4 178 10.7 84 6.6 16 3.5 19 4.4 np - np - np - 1,184 13.0
equivalent)
Advanced Diploma / Diploma 227 4.6 69 4.2 33 2.6 23 4.9 11 2.6 np - np - np - 366 4.0
Other ECEC-related field, at
(f) 2,731 54.8 950 57.3 817 64.3 315 67.8 343 79.8 27 66.6 27 71.2 163 71.4 5,373 59.0
Total delivering program at
4,980 100 1,658 100 1,270 100 464 100 430 100 41 100 38 100 228 100 9,109 100
Total delivering preschool and
long day care programs, at 8,069 4,818 2,122 1,559 1,975 459 175 454 19,631
diploma level or above
np: Not available for publication for confidentiality reasons. These teachers have been included in total and Australia counts.
(b) Data only includes those workers whose qualifications were specified.
(c) Workers with qualification exemptions have not been included.
(d) Only includes teachers who were reported by services to be delivering an in-house preschool program during the reference week, and with ECEC-related qualifications in the fields of early childhood
related teaching, or other teaching qualifications.
(e) Includes Bachelor degree (4 years or equivalent), Bachelor degree honours, Graduate diploma or graduate certificate and Post graduate degree.
(f) Other ECEC-related qualifications include child care, nursing (including mothercraft nursing), other human welfare studies and services, behavioural science and other ECEC-related qualifications, at
the Diploma level or above. These workers are delivering programs that do not meet the criteria for a ‘Preschool Program’ as defined by the National ECEC Workforce Census.

Table 5.1.3 shows the hours worked by staff delivering a Preschool Program or Other program in
preschools and long day care services. The table also shows the qualifications of staff who
delivered a Preschool Program or Other program.
In preschool services, the most common range of hours worked by teachers was 30 to 39 hours for
those with 4 year Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) and above (30.8%) and those with 3 year
Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) (30.9%). There was little variation in the pattern of hours
worked by staff with different qualifications. In total, just over half (52.3%) of preschool workers
worked between 20 and 39 hours during the reference week.
The proportion of total staff working 30 to 39 hours with qualifications of Diploma level or above was
much higher in long day care services (52.0%) compared to preschool (30.2%). Furthermore, there
was a higher percentage of long day care staff working 40 to 49 hours (19.6%) than staff in
preschool services (11.1%). As with preschool, there was only minor variation in the working pattern
of staff with different qualification levels.

Table 5.1.3: Number of workers delivering a Preschool Program or Other program, by hours worked, qualification level and service type (a) (b) (c)
Hours worked Australia

Total Specified (g)
<10 10 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 + Total
no. % no. % no. % no. % no. % no. % no. %
Preschool
(d)
Teaching field
Bachelor degree pass 4 years (or
(e) 574 11.0 1,197 22.9 1,072 20.5 1,605 30.8 656 12.6 113 2.2 5,216 100 5,280
equivalent) and above
177 9.8 455 25.2 421 23.2 558 30.9 181 10.0 18 1.0 1,810 100 1,829
equivalent)
Advanced Diploma / Diploma 94 8.6 309 28.3 255 23.4 313 28.7 95 8.7 24 2.2 1,090 100 1,101
Other ECEC-related field, at Diploma
(f) 288 12.6 555 24.3 555 24.3 666 29.1 218 9.6 5 0.2 2,286 100 2,312
level or above
Total delivering program at Diploma
1,132 10.9 2,516 24.2 2,302 22.1 3,142 30.2 1,150 11.1 160 1.5 10,403 100 10,522
level or above
Long day care
(d)
Teaching field
(e) 95 4.4 200 9.1 299 13.7 1,068 48.9 479 21.9 43 2.0 2,184 100 2,186
equivalent) and above
Bachelor degree pass 3 year (or
68 5.8 150 12.6 185 15.6 542 45.8 212 17.9 27 2.3 1,184 100 1,184
equivalent)
Advanced Diploma / Diploma 13 3.6 43 11.7 54 14.8 158 43.2 92 25.1 6 1.6 366 100 366
Other ECEC-related field, at Diploma
(f) 173 3.2 438 8.2 739 13.8 2,966 55.2 1,005 18.7 52 1.0 5,373 100 5,373
level or above
Total delivering program at Diploma
350 3.8 831 9.1 1,278 14.0 4,734 52.0 1,788 19.6 127 1.4 9,108 100 9,109
level or above
Total delivering preschool and long
day care programs, at diploma level 1,483 7.6 3,347 17.2 3,580 18.3 7,876 40.4 2,938 15.1 288 1.5 19,511 100 19,631
or above
(b) Table only includes those workers whose qualifications were specified.
(c) Workers with qualification exemptions have not been included.
(d) Only includes teachers who were reported by services to be delivering an in-house preschool program during the reference week, and with ECEC-related qualifications in the fields of early
childhood related teaching, or other teaching qualifications.
(e) Includes Bachelor degree (4 years or equivalent), Bachelor degree honours, Graduate diploma or graduate certificate and Post graduate degree.
(f) Other ECEC-related qualifications include child care, nursing (including mothercraft nursing), other human welfare studies and services, behavioural science and other ECEC-related
qualifications, at the level of Diploma or above. These workers are delivering programs that do not meet the criteria for a ‘Preschool Program’ as defined by the National ECEC Workforce
Census.
(g) Australia total includes those workers whose working hours were not specified for the reference week.

6 Preschool and child care Staff Survey highlights

6.1 Overview
The analysis presented in this section is based on data collected directly from staff in the Staff
Survey. It covers job satisfaction, plans to stay within the sector, whether staff received recognition
of prior learning when completing their child care qualifications, current study, attitudes to study and
income.
6.2 Job satisfaction and career in ECEC sector

Whilst most respondents (refer to Table 6.2.1) were satisfied with their job (88.0%), a lower
proportion (51.7%) were satisfied with their pay and conditions. Dissatisfaction with pay and
conditions was most acute for long day care (34.9%) and preschool (30.0%) workers.
At least three quarters of respondents agreed that there was good team spirit and morale in the
workplace (80.6%) and that management was supportive (78.8%).
Just over half of respondents felt that their job had a high social status (52.1%), while over half
indicated that their job was stressful (52.2%).
Outside school hours care (37.5%) and vacation care (36.4%) respondents were less likely to agree
that their job was stressful than workers in other service types.
In keeping with overall levels of job satisfaction, a relatively small proportion of respondents (9.9%)
indicated that if they could, they would leave the sector today, with occasional care workers the most
likely to want to leave (14.4%).
Workers generally entered the sector because they wanted to work with children (83.3%) and not
because it was their only available opportunity (14.6%). Most respondents expressed an interest to
further their career in the sector (63.3%) and would recommend a career in the sector to others
(69.2%).
Although in home carers were most likely to indicate that they entered the sector because it was the
only opportunity available at the time (19.1%), they were also the most likely to be willing to
recommend a career in the sector to others (76.1%).

Table 6.2.1: Agreement with attitude statements (a) (b)
Statement PS LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total

Job Satisfaction
I am satisfied with my job % agree 91.5 85.3 88.8 90.3 88.1 90.6 90.9 88.0
% disagree 2.3 3.4 2.7 2.5 3.0 1.7 1.9 2.8
I am satisfied with my pay and conditions % agree 50.3 43.1 60.3 58.7 54.0 67.4 69.6 51.7
% disagree 30.0 34.9 18.2 19.8 29.8 15.0 14.3 27.9
There is a good spirit and team morale in my workplace % agree 84.6 76.8 75.8 75.8 78.4 88.9 87.1 80.6
% disagree 5.3 7.1 4.5 2.9 6.2 2.9 3.5 5.6
Management are supportive % agree 80.9 76.4 78.2 75.7 77.8 82.3 83.1 78.8
% disagree 6.3 7.6 4.9 5.4 6.7 4.8 5.0 6.5
My job is important to me because it has high status and I receive positive
% agree 47.9 52.2 55.8 46.7 44.3 53.7 54.4 52.1
recognition in the community
% disagree 19.8 19.7 16.7 19.0 25.3 14.9 14.0 18.3
The job is stressful % agree 51.8 58.6 55.9 47.0 54.5 37.5 36.4 52.2
% disagree 20.6 14.0 14.3 21.5 19.8 30.7 28.8 18.8
Career in ECEC Sector
If I could I’d leave the sector today % agree 7.5 11.7 11.3 12.7 14.4 7.3 7.1 9.9
% disagree 80.3 71.6 71.2 70.6 70.1 78.1 79.5 74.7
I entered the sector because I always wanted to work with children % agree 84.9 85.7 81.5 79.7 84.8 76.9 77.7 83.3
% disagree 3.9 3.6 4.9 4.9 4.3 6.0 6.2 4.3
I entered the sector because it was the only opportunity available at the
% agree 10.1 13.9 21.0 19.1 16.1 17.5 16.5 14.6
time
% disagree 79.0 73.5 62.4 64.7 71.4 65.3 66.7 71.7
I am interested in furthering my career in the sector % agree 57.4 66.5 63.2 63.0 63.2 60.3 61.8 63.3
% disagree 13.7 11.3 11.1 13.5 12.9 13.3 12.2 12.1
I would recommend a career in the sector to others % agree 72.3 64.7 73.6 76.1 61.4 74.8 75.2 69.2
% disagree 6.7 9.0 5.8 4.0 12.0 4.9 4.1 7.3
(a) Table excludes the proportion of staff who indicated neutral agreement to the statements.
(b) Table excludes unpaid staff.

6.3 Retention
Most workers (80.3%) expected to still be employed with the same employer or business in 12
months time (see Figure 6.3.1). This was consistent across all service types.
Figure 6.3.1: Expectation of being employed by the same service in 12 months time (a) (b)
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Yes No Don't know
(a) Chart only includes workers who indicated their expectations of being employed.
(b) Chart excludes unpaid staff.

Table 6.3.2 shows the main reasons why staff thought they might not or would not be with the same
employer in 12 months time.
The main reasons were reported as the nature of the work and conditions in the sector, such as
seeking employment elsewhere (27.7%), dissatisfaction with pay or conditions (27.6%) or stress
(17.1%). Some reasons were due to external factors, such as personal reasons (23.9%), maternity
leave (10.0%) or retirement (5.3%).
Seeking employment outside the sector was least common among preschool workers (16.7%) and
most common among outside school hours care workers (39.3%) and vacation care workers
(38.5%).
Outside school hours care workers and vacation care workers were also the least likely to say that
their reason for leaving was due to the stress levels of their job (9.3% and 9.4% respectively) and
the most likely to say that their reason for leaving related to a return to study, travel or a family
reason (23.2% and 28.6% respectively).
Preschool workers were most likely to say that they were leaving due to temporary work
arrangements (31.3%), while relatively large proportions of family day care workers (19.4%) and
occasional care workers (17.1%) were leaving due to retirement.
Table 6.3.2: Main reasons why staff may finish their current job in the next 12 months (a) (b)
Percentage
Seeking other employment outside
16.7 25.7 24.7 28.3 24.3 39.3 38.5 27.7
of sector
Dissatisfaction with pay / conditions 19.9 32.9 26.5 13.1 15.7 21.5 20.5 27.6
Returning to study/ travel / family
15.6 25.7 19.5 22.9 20.4 23.2 28.6 23.9
reasons
The job is stressful 12.2 21.3 21.3 16.2 17.6 9.3 9.4 17.1
Seasonal / temporary job / fixed
31.3 7.3 5.2 17.9 17.4 4.5 6.5 10.2
contract finishing
Maternity leave 7.6 13.0 10.8 9.9 11.2 4.7 4.0 10.0
Workplace culture 7.9 11.1 8.5 7.2 8.9 4.6 6.4 9.1
Retiring 8.9 3.7 19.4 6.1 17.1 3.8 3.3 5.3
Difficulty in managing children’s
2.2 3.8 3.6 4.6 1.3 2.6 2.7 3.3
behaviour
Employer / business closing down /
3.6 2.9 1.1 0.4 2.6 2.6 2.3 2.7
downsizing
Unable / Unwilling to complete
2.2 1.7 5.1 1.7 6.0 4.3 3.1 2.5
qualification requirements
Other 26.4 25.4 18.7 14.2 17.1 30.3 30.4 26.2
Number
Total specified 1,566 6,291 625 90 68 1,526 1,306 11,473
(c)
Total – reason not specified 86 266 60 12 2 85 84 596
Total not expecting to stay with
1,652 6,557 685 102 71 1,611 1,390 12,069
their service
(a) Survey respondents could indicate more than one reason for expecting to finish their current job in the next 12 months.
(b) Table excludes unpaid staff.
(c) Includes staff who indicated that they did not want to answer the question.

6.4 Recognition of prior learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) allows a person to receive recognition and credit for the
knowledge and skills they have, no matter how these were attained, including overseas. This can
include skills from:
 Previous study, including courses at school and at college, through adult education classes
or training programs at work
 Work experience, including work that is paid or unpaid
 Life experience, including leisure pursuits or voluntary work.
Just over one third of the respondents (37.4%) had received some recognition of prior learning when
completing their qualification (see Table 6.4.1), with RPL most common among family day care
respondents (43.2%).
RPL was most commonly on the basis of study at TAFE (50.1% of all those who received RPL) or
assessed skills and experience (29.9%).
Table 6.4.1: Proportion of staff who received RPL for qualifications in current job, by service
type (a)
RPL status Percentage

Any RPL 33.4 39.0 43.2 35.1 39.0 34.1 35.4 37.4
No RPL 52.0 51.7 44.1 46.4 52.2 50.1 49.0 50.6
RPL not applicable 14.6 9.3 12.7 18.5 8.9 15.8 15.6 12.0
(b)
Basis for RPL
Study at university 30.9 13.2 7.1 17.6 12.2 25.4 28.3 18.2
Study at a TAFE / technical
college 40.0 55.4 50.1 41.1 51.7 44.6 45.7 50.1
Other study 12.5 18.7 18.0 17.1 17.3 13.0 11.7 16.3
Assessed skills and
experience 32.6 25.3 42.0 44.9 33.4 32.5 32.4 29.9
Other 7.2 6.8 9.4 10.6 7.8 7.7 8.7 7.5
Had RPL, basis not stated 1.9 2.1 2.6 2.6 2.3 2.7 3.0 2.3
Number
Total specified 10,933 29,754 5,643 454 339 7,124 6,135 60,382
Total not specified (c) 302 791 154 13 6 168 126 1,559
TOTAL STAFF 11,235 30,545 5,797 467 345 7,291 6,261 61,941
(b) Totals may not sum to 100% as staff could report more than one basis for RPL.
(c) Includes unpaid staff who were not asked to report on RPL.

6.5 Current study

Almost one third (30.8%) of Staff Survey respondents were currently studying (see Table 6.5.1).
Study was most common for staff employed by outside school hours care (35.2%), long day care
(35.0%) and vacation care services (35.1%), and least common for preschool services (15.8%).
Outside school hours care staff (47.1% of those currently studying) and vacation care staff (50.6%)
were most likely to be studying for a university degree.
Almost two thirds (65.4%) of respondents were studying in a child care or children services field, with
early childhood teaching (16.7%) and primary teaching (9.8%) the next most popular fields.
Table 6.5.1: Level of study for staff currently studying in an ECEC-related field, by service
type (a)
Level of qualification
currently studying
Study status Percentage
Studying 15.8 35.0 28.3 20.9 26.1 35.2 35.1 30.8
Not studying 84.2 65.0 71.7 79.1 73.9 64.8 64.9 69.2
Study level
Bachelor degree and above 27.0 14.6 5.5 26.4 15.1 47.1 50.6 23.6
years (or equivalent) and
above 21.5 10.0 3.0 23.4 11.1 42.0 46.0 19.0
years (or equivalent) 5.5 4.6 2.5 3.0 4.0 5.1 4.5 4.5
Advanced Diploma /
Diploma 30.8 48.1 39.7 26.3 55.7 23.0 22.7 39.4
Certificate III / IV 36.3 32.4 48.3 40.0 22.7 25.0 21.7 31.9
Below Certificate III 2.2 1.3 0.9 3.4 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.4
Level not specified 3.7 3.6 5.6 3.9 5.1 3.7 3.9 3.9
Number
Total specified 11,040 30,137 5,694 461 341 7,189 6,173 61,036
(b)
Total not specified 195 408 103 6 4 102 88 905
TOTAL STAFF 11,235 30,545 5,797 467 345 7,291 6,261 61,941
(b) Includes unpaid staff who were not asked about their current study.
Respondents were also asked why they were studying for their qualification. Staff generally
undertook study for professional development reasons: The three most common responses were to
upgrade skills or qualifications (69.6%), their own motivation (46.0%), and the desire to improve their
effectiveness in their role (45.1%).
Respondents not enrolled in education were asked to rate their agreement with seven statements
about the reasons they were not studying (see Table 6.5.2).

Less than one third of respondents agreed that they were not interested in further education
(29.2%), with time (48.9%), cost (45.3%) and lack of value in terms of wage increases (44.9%) seen
as the main barriers to further study. Lack of time (60.0%) and cost (53.2%) were particularly
common reasons amongst family day care respondents.
A relatively small proportion of respondents cited difficulty in accessing education (14.1%),

undertaking the Recognition Assessment Process (9.8%) and getting support from their managers
and colleagues (4.8%) as reasons for not studying.

Table 6.5.2: Agreement with statements about future study for those not currently enrolled in education (a)
Statement PS LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total

I would like to further my studies, but the cost is too high % agree 43.2 47.8 53.2 50.3 49.0 37.7 38.4 45.3
% disagree 24.9 24.4 18.1 21.9 22.3 32.5 31.7 25.5
I would like to further my studies, but I don’t have enough
% agree 51.9 50.7 60.0 53.1 44.7 36.1 36.7 48.9
spare time
% disagree 20.8 23.4 17.3 23.6 24.4 34.3 33.1 24.4
It’s not worth the time and money to study further – any
% agree 46.6 49.4 44.4 39.4 50.8 33.4 33.2 44.9
resulting wage increase is too small
% disagree 24.1 24.9 28.0 29.8 25.9 35.7 36.5 27.4
It is the difficulty in accessing training facilities that stops me
% agree 15.0 13.2 21.1 21.0 14.8 11.4 11.6 14.1
from further studies
% disagree 48.7 52.4 45.4 47.1 45.7 54.7 54.4 51.3
It is the difficulty in undertaking the Recognition Assessment
% agree 9.8 10.1 12.3 10.8 12.4 7.7 8.2 9.8
Processes (RAP) that stops me from further study
% disagree 44.7 49.1 44.7 45.4 40.5 51.7 51.8 48.2
I would like to further my studies, but am not supported by
% agree 3.7 5.7 4.2 5.5 7.1 4.7 3.9 4.8
managers / colleagues
% disagree 72.2 73.5 72.6 65.6 70.2 73.9 74.0 73.1
I am not interested in further studies or going back to study % agree 32.9 27.8 30.2 30.1 31.9 28.2 26.7 29.2
% disagree 39.2 45.3 44.2 45.4 43.9 43.0 45.3 43.6
(a) Table excludes the proportion of staff who indicated neutral agreement to the statements.

6.6 Income
Figure 6.6.1 shows the annual income distribution of paid full time workers by service type. The
majority of full time workers in preschools (50.4%) earned $52,000 or more per year and just over
half of full time workers in child care services earned between $31,200 and $51,999 per year.
Figure 6.6.1: Income distribution of paid full time workers by service type (a) (b) (c)
(a) Income figures refer to pre-tax incomes for the worker’s early childhood education and care job.
(b) Excludes those paid workers who did not report their income in the Staff Survey.
(c) Where full time is defined as paid hours of 35 hours or more per week.
Across all service types (refer to Figure 6.6.2), most part time workers (79.5%) earned less than
$32,000 per year. The largest proportion of part time workers in long day care (57.8%), in home
care (52.3%), occasional care (50.1%), family day care (48.6%) and preschools (42.6%) earned
between $15,600 and $31,199 per year. In vacation care and outside school hours care around
57% of part time workers earned less than $15,600 per year
Figure 6.6.2: Income distribution of paid part time workers by service type (a) (b) (c)
(a) Income figures refer to pre-tax incomes for the worker’s early childhood education and care job.
(b) Excludes those paid workers who did not report their income in the Staff Survey.
(c) Where part time is defined as paid hours of 0 to less than 35 hours per week.

Abbreviations

ECEC National Workforce Census – Summary Report
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
AGCCCS Australian Government Census of Child Care Services (2006)
ASC After school hours care
BSC Before school hours care
CCB Child Care Benefit
CCMS Child Care Management System
CCPS Child Care Provider Survey (2008-09)
DEEWR Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
ECEC Early Childhood Education and Care
FDC Family day care
IHC In home care
LDC Long day care
N Population
n Achieved sample size
OCC Occasional care
OSHC Outside school hours care
PS Preschool
ROGS Report on Government Services
SCH Statistical Clearing House
VAC Vacation care

ECEC National Workforce Census – Summary Report
Glossary

After school hours care (ASC) – refer to OSHC
Before school hours care (BSC) – refer to OSHC
Child Care Management System (CCMS) – DEEWR administrative system from which the child care services
contact list for the National ECEC Workforce Census was generated.
Child care services – refers to ASC, BSC, FDC, IHC, LDC, OCC and VAC services.
Disability or long term health condition – The National ECEC Workforce Census collected data on the
following areas:
Learning and applying knowledge, education – intentionally using senses to experience certain
stimuli (e.g. watching, listening, touching, smelling and tasting); ability to imitate actions or behaviours;
learning to read and write; ability to solve problems, make decisions or think; and ability to focus and
maintain attention to specific stimuli or tasks.
Communication – understanding and/or responding to spoken messages or non-verbal messages

such as symbols, signs or drawings; speaking and/or singing; making self understood in their most
effective method of communication or language if applicable.
Mobility – ability to roll, crawl, walk, climb and move around within and outside of buildings; being able
to stay in the same body position (e.g. sitting and standing) to play or carry out a task; performing
coordinated actions of handling objects (such as picking something up, grasping a toy, or throwing).
Self-care – caring for oneself by performing activities appropriate to age, such as washing and drying
oneself, dressing, eating, drinking and toileting.
Interpersonal interactions and relationships – carrying out the tasks required for appropriate, basic
and/or complex interactions with other people (including family members, friends, relatives, adults and
strangers); creating and maintaining relationships in formal settings (such as child centre); behaving
within acceptable limits; responding to the feelings of others and coping with own emotions.
Other – including general tasks (such as undertaking and carrying out single or multiple tasks or being
able to follow and adapt to changes in routine, or managing behaviours or emotions in completing
tasks); domestic life; community and social life (such as ability to engage in groups or clubs for children
that undertake activities such as play, games, sport and/or other hobbies).
Early Childhood Education and Care National Minimum Dataset (ECEC NMDS) - the Early Childhood
Education and Care National Minimum Dataset (ECEC NMDS) was developed to provide a nationally consistent
approach to data collection and provision for the NP ECE. It was endorsed by the Early Childhood Data Sub
Group under the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs in 2010.
Family Day Care (FDC) - refers to services in receipt of the Child Care Benefit where a network of individual
carers provide flexible care, typically in their own home, for other people's children and as part of coordinated
home-based care schemes. Care is predominantly provided for children from birth to 6 years old who are not
yet at school, but may also be provided for school-aged children. Both not-for-profit and for-profit providers may
operate a FDC service.
A FDC service is responsible for the effective operation of all components of FDC, including recruiting, training
and supporting carers; monitoring care provision; and providing advice, support and information for parents. The
service also assists parents to select an appropriate FDC carer for their child. A FDC service can provide
flexible care, including all-day care, part-time, casual, before and after school care, and care during school
holidays. FDC services may provide access to preschool programs for eligible children.

In home care (IHC) - similar to FDC but the professional care is provided in the child’s own home. IHC is
funded by the Australian Government, is not widely available and is usually an option where other forms of care
are not suitable. This usually arises in circumstances where it is difficult for the child to be cared for outside the
home; for example if the child has a disability and the home is structured especially for them.
Integrated Centres – these centres provide integrated services to children from birth to 8 years of age. The
combination of services provided may include preschool to Year 2, child care, family support and other services
that support children’s learning, health and well-being. Most will be captured as a subset of the above services.
Long Day Care (LDC) - a centre-based form of child care service in receipt of Child Care Benefit. LDC services
provide all-day or part-time care for children from birth to 6 years old who attend the centre on a regular basis.
Care is generally provided in a building, or part of a building, that has been created or redeveloped specifically
for use as a child care centre, and children are usually grouped together in rooms according to age. Centres, in
the majority of cases, operate between 7:30 am and 6:00 pm on normal working days for 48 weeks per year, so
that parents can manage both the care of their children and demands of employment. Private operators, local
councils, community organisations, employers or non-profit organisations may run these services.
Services may provide respite care and other non work-related child care but must ensure care is offered to
families in line with the Priority of Access Guidelines. Services may offer access to preschool programs for
children of eligible age (age varies between jurisdictions) and provide care for school children before and after
school and during school holidays.
National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education (NP ECE) - the NP ECE is a national
agreement to ensure that every child, 12 months prior to full-time schooling, has access to a preschool program
delivered by: a four year ECEC university qualified early childhood teacher; in accordance with a national early
years learning framework; for 15 hours a week, 40 weeks a year; across a diversity of settings; in a form that
meets the needs of parents; and at a cost that does not present a barrier to participation.
Non mainstream services - these services are out of scope of this project and the following description is
provided for information only. Non mainstream services are provided by not-for-profit organisations and are
delivered mainly in rural, remote or Indigenous communities, providing access to ECEC where the market would
otherwise fail to deliver. These services are generally subject to relevant children’s services state and territory
regulations. Types of non mainstream services may include: mobile ECEC services; Multifunctional Aboriginal
Children’s Services; Indigenous playgroups; Indigenous OSHC and enrichment programs; crèches including
Jobs, Education and Training (JET) crèches; neighbourhood models of occasional care and rural care services.
Occasional care (OCC) - centre-based child care service that supports families by providing flexible care for
children from birth to five years. Families can access occasional care either hourly, on a sessional basis for
short periods or at irregular intervals. OCC services are run by community organisations, non-profit
organisations or local councils.
Other contact – an ‘other contact worker’ has some duties involving direct contact with children, but deals
mainly with staffing or management issues such as supervising staff and handling queries from parents. This
may include, but is not limited to, principals, deputy principals, centre managers and coordinators.
Outside school hours care (OSHC) - services in receipt of Child Care Benefit provide care for primary school-
aged children (typically aged 5 to 12 years) before and / or after school care and can also operate during school
holidays (vacation care) and on pupil free days. OSHC services are usually provided from primary school
premises. Services may also be located in child care centres, community facilities or other OSHC centres
located near the primary school. Both not-for-profit and for-profit providers may operate OSHC services.

Participation rate – a service is considered to have participated in the National ECEC Workforce Census either
by completing the Service Survey, or by having a least one staff member complete a Staff Survey. Participation
rate is defined as participating services as a per cent of estimated in scope services.
Preschools (PS) - services licensed and / or funded by state or territory governments to deliver preschool
services at a particular location. Preschool comprises a structured educational program provided by a qualified
teacher in a variety of settings, usually aimed at children in the year before they commence formal schooling.
The terminology for preschool varies between jurisdictions, with the most commonly used terms being:
 Kindergarten in Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia

 Kindergarten or Preschool in South Australia and Victoria
 Preschool in Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Northern Territory.
For the purposes of this report, preschool refers to both kindergarten and preschool.
Educational programs or curricula may be provided in long day care and other settings. For the purposes of this
report, long day care and other child care settings which run a preschool program are not included in the
definition of preschools, to avoid double counting.
Preschool program - the Early Childhood Education and Care National Minimum Dataset (ECEC NMDS)
defines preschool programs as being comprised of a structured, play-based learning program usually provided
by a qualified teacher on a sessional basis. It is primarily aimed at children in the year or two before they
commence formal schooling, irrespective of the type of institution that provides the program or whether the
program is government funded or privately provided.
The following criteria were used to define a ‘Preschool Program’ and are listed below:
1. Delivered by a Teacher of a Preschool Program; and
2. Delivered based on a curriculum or framework.
Primary contact – a ‘primary contact worker’ mainly has direct contact with children. This may include, but is
not limited to, teachers, teachers’ assistants / aides, specialist teachers and therapists.
Response rate – completed Service Survey returns as a per cent of estimated in scope services.
Rim weighting - rim weighting is usually used when there is a need to weight according to various
characteristics, but the relationship of those characteristics is not known and / or when weighting needs to take
into account multiple characteristics at the same time.
Rim weighting is also used when there are not enough respondents to adequately fill all the possible cells of the
weighting matrix.
Service Survey – refers to the first part of the National ECEC Workforce Census, where services provided
information on usage, the number of children with additional needs in child care, and the provision of access to
preschool programs in relation to a seven day period or ‘reference week’.
Staff information collected from services - part of the Service Survey, whereby services were also asked to
provide information about their workforce at the individual worker level, including the role of staff, length of
service, qualifications (including exemptions), current study and employment status.
Staff Survey – refers to the second part of the National ECEC Workforce Census, which involved the collection
of information from individual ECEC staff.
Teacher of a Preschool Program - the ECEC NMDS defines a teacher as a person with a relevant university
qualification (or equivalent) who is delivering a Preschool Program. Delivery of a Preschool Program is defined
as face-to-face delivery by a primary contact worker of a program that is a structured, play-based, educational

program. A teacher is included as delivering a Preschool Program if they delivered the program at least once
during the reference week. This definition applies at the worker level.
The following were all necessary criteria to define someone as a ‘Teacher of a Preschool Program’:
1. Delivered at least one hour of a Preschool Program in the reference week;

2. Had a relevant degree (4 year Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent) or higher, or 3 year
Bachelor degree pass (or equivalent)) in a relevant ECEC teaching field. Relevant ECEC
teaching fields include qualifications in early childhood related teaching, primary teaching, or
other teaching;
3. Was a primary contact or other contact worker; and

4. Had a role as a Principal, Director, teacher, teacher in charge or group leader.

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2010 NATIONAL EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE

The Social Research Centre

List of tables and figures

The Social Research Centre

The Social Research Centre

1.2 Overview of ECEC workforce

Key results from the Service Survey

Size of the workforce

The median age was 25 for men and 36 for women.

Indigenous workers comprised 2.1% of the total ECEC workforce.

The Social Research Centre

Key results from the Staff Survey

Job satisfaction and career in ECEC sector

Recognition of prior learning

The Social Research Centre

Table 2.1.1: Collection dates

The Social Research Centre

2.2 Response summary

Table 2.2.1: National ECEC Workforce Census response summary (a)

Service Survey Staff Survey

The Social Research Centre

2.3 About the data presented in this report

Weighted services data

Weighted workforce and staff data

The Social Research Centre

PS LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total Total %

The Social Research Centre

3.2 Workforce demographics

PS LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total

The Social Research Centre

Figure 3.2.2: Hours worked by service type (a) (b)

The Social Research Centre

3.3 Highest relevant qualifications of paid contact staff

Highest level of qualification

The Social Research Centre

3.4 Levels of teaching qualification in ECEC

Highest level of ECEC-

The Social Research Centre

3.5 Experience and tenure of child care workforce

The Social Research Centre

Family day Occasional Out of school

The Social Research Centre

Family day Occasional Out of school

The Social Research Centre

4 Selected characteristics of child care services

4.1 Hours of operation

LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC

The Social Research Centre

4.2 Children participating in child care

Children attending child care

2004 (c) 2006 (c) 2010

The Social Research Centre

LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total

The Social Research Centre

Children in special needs groups

LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total

LDC FDC IHC OCC OSHC VAC Total

The Social Research Centre

Disabilities or underlying long term health conditions in communication (1.7%), interpersonal