Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031 Outcomes Framework: Second annual report

High-quality, affordable and inclusive early childhood education and care help children with disability and their families to succeed in life. Such early education and care benefit children’s primary education years and can support future success not only in educational attainment and employment, but also in economic and social participation (Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031).

Preschool enrolment

Preschool programs are structured, play-based learning programs which are delivered by a qualified teacher and aimed at children in the year or two before starting full-time schooling (SCRGSP 2023). Quality preschool education sets the foundation for all children to realise their potential, particularly vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

In Australia, preschool enrolment, or attendance, is not compulsory. However, recognising its benefits, since 2009, the Commonwealth has provided a per-child funding contribution to support States in delivering 15 hours of quality preschool a week, initially through Universal Access National Partnership arrangements, and from 2022, through the Preschool Reform Agreement (FFR 2021).

The Outcomes Framework intended to track the proportion of children with disability enrolled in a preschool program the year before full-time schooling (YBFS) compared with representation in community. Measure wording has been revised in this report to reflect available data more accurately (see Appendix B: List of measures).

Estimated resident population data for children with disability are not available. For this reason, the proportion of children with disability enrolled in preschool is compared with the estimated prevalence of children with disability in Australia. Disability prevalence is sourced from the ABS SDAC, the best source for this data. The measure is reported as:

• Proportion of children enrolled in a preschool program in the YBFS who have disability, compared with the proportion of children aged 4 to 5 years who have disability in community.

The desired key system outcome for this measure is that the preschool system supports children with disability to achieve their full potential.

Latest results: 2022

• In 2022, the proportion of children with disability who were enrolled in a preschool program in the YBFS was 6.3%, similar to the proportion of children with disability aged 4–5 in the community in 2018 – the latest year for which prevalence data for disability from the ABS SDAC are available (7.6%; 95% CI 6.2%–9.0%) (Figure 6.1).
• The proportion of children with disability who were enrolled in a preschool program in the YBFS in 2022 (6.3%) was the second highest proportion since 2018, only lower than in 2019 when it reached its highest point (6.8%).

Things to consider when interpreting results

• While the best available sources have been used for this measure, care should be taken in comparing results as the data come from 2 different sources.
• The YBFS population is an estimate of a single year cohort for the population that will transition to full-time schooling in the following year. Preschool starting age varies across jurisdictions and the YBFS population age range is specific to each state or territory. Data are not directly comparable across jurisdictions but are comparable across years for jurisdictions.

For figure notes, see Appendix C: Figure notes and sources.

For the latest data and breakdowns of the data, see Australia’s Disability Strategy Outcomes Framework | Preschool enrolment.