Preschool Attendance Rates

In reply to Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (29 July 2016). (Estimates Committee A)

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills): I have been advised of the following:

There were two reasons for the differences between the 2014-15 actual and the 2015-16 estimated preschool enrolment and attendances reported in the 2016-17 budget papers. The first was due to an adjustment to the preschool enrolment count to exclude early entry children (there were 409 early entry enrolments not included in the enrolment count for the 2015-16 estimated result) and the second was due to a decrease in the preschool-aged population between 2014 and 2015 (the four-year-old population in South Australia decreased by 242 children in 2015).

In 2015, South Australia was assessed by the Australian Government as having 100 per cent of children in their year before full time school enrolled in an early childhood education program.

In regards to the number of available places in Department for Education and Child Development (DECD) preschools, there are currently 29,218 places based on the full-time physical capacity of our 382 preschools. Based on the number of preschool enrolments reported for DECD preschools in the 2015 Annual Census, the utilisation rate in greater metropolitan Adelaide was 67 per cent and 45 per cent for preschools located in regional and remote areas.

Under the National Quality Framework from 1 January 2016, preschools in South Australia must meet an educator to child ration of 1:11. There are always a small number of DECD preschools that reach full capacity each year. These services implement their priority of access policy in deciding on which enrolments to accept. The circumstances of the child and family would be considered by these services when prioritising enrolments, with a focus on access and equity.