According to the Childhood Education and Care Survey (ABS 2018), of children aged 0–12 in 2017:
- children from couple families were more likely to attend formal care (28%) than children from one-parent families (24%), and less likely to attend informal care (29% and 45%, respectively). Children from one-parent families were more likely to attend a combination of formal and informal care types (12%) than children from couple families (9%)
- 60% of children from couple families where both parents were employed usually attended care. Among them, 38% used informal care and 35% used formal care
- 75% of children from one-parent families where the parent was employed usually attended care. Of these, 61% were in informal care, while 34% were in formal care
- grandparents were the most common source of childcare for couple families (22%). For one-parent families, grandparents and the non-resident parent were an equal source of childcare (both 20%)
- 52% of children from couple families and 43% from one-parent families did not usually attend care (ABS 2018).
Preschool programs aim to meet the learning needs of young children through play-based activities (DET 2018). These programs are generally provided by preschools or centre-based day care services (formerly long day care) in the years before children enter full-time school (Warren et al. 2016). Preschool participation is not compulsory and age entry requirements vary across states and territories (ABS 2019c). Preschool subsidies are available in all states and territories (DET 2019).
Preschool and centre-based day care
A preschool program can be offered by a preschool or a centre-based day care service.
According to the ABS (2014), preschools deliver a structured educational program to children before they start school. The preschool program can be delivered from a stand-alone facility or the preschool may be integrated or co-located within a school. Preschools can be operated by government or non-government entities.
Centre-based day care services provide childcare to children aged 0–5. Services may include delivery of a preschool program by a qualified teacher. Like preschools, centre-based day care can be offered from a stand-alone facility or be co-located within a school. Centre-based day care can also be operated by for-profit and not-for-profit organisations.
Since 2008, the Australian Government has provided funding to assist states and territories to increase preschool participation through the National Partnership Agreements on Universal Access to Early Childhood Education (Warren et al. 2016). The initiative aims to provide universal access to quality preschool programs for all children in the year before full-time school for 600 hours per year.
In 2018, nearly 342,500 children aged 4–5 were enrolled in a preschool program, an increase from 339,000 in 2017 (ABS 2019b) (Figure 3). More children were enrolled in a preschool program through a centre-based day care service (50%) than a preschool (42%) (ABS 2019b).
Of children aged 4–5 and enrolled in a preschool program:
- around 275,000 were aged 4 and 68,000 aged 5, representing 86% of all children aged 4 and 21% of all children aged 5
- more than 18,000 were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian children (representing 85% of Indigenous 4-year-olds and 19% of Indigenous 5-year-olds). This number is around 5% higher than in 2017 (ABS 2019b)
- most children (95%) were enrolled for 15 hours per week or more
- about half of children (51%) were enrolled in a program that charged between $1 and $4 per hour; around 1 in 5 (22%) in a free program (ABS 2019b).