Seven in Ten Children Attending PreschoolDo these findings surprise you…
In June 2008, 72 per cent of children aged 3-6 who were not in school were usually attending a preschool or a preschool program in long day care, according to new findings from the Childhood Education and Care Survey (CEaCS) just released by the ABS.
The CEaCS also found that 82 per cent of school children aged 4-8 years had attended a preschool program in the year before commencing school.
The CEaCS is the first national survey to measure attendance in preschool programs in both preschools and long day care centres.
Of all children aged 3-6 years who usually attended a preschool, 23 per cent attended for the 'benchmark' 15 hours or more per week, although it was more common for children to attend for 10 to 14 hours per week.
The CEaCS also found that 43 per cent (1.5 million) of all children aged 0-12 years attended child care - with 22 per cent of these children attending formal care, and 29 per cent using informal care.
In 2008 grandparents were caring for 19 per cent of children aged 0-12 years, and the second most common type of care was long day care (12 per cent).
Of the parents surveyed 75 per cent with children aged 0-12 said work was the main reason their child was in formal care while 29 per cent of parents thought that formal care was beneficial for their child.
Parents of 58 per cent of children aged 0-12 years using informal care reported work related reasons, followed by personal reasons (31 per cent), including time out, time to care for other relatives, study leave or to pursue sport or recreational activities.
Parents of 126,000 children reported that they either wanted to place their children in child care or preschool, or they wanted access to additional or different types of care or preschool. Of these parents, 32 per cent had applied for new or additional care or preschool enrolment.
Attendance in formal child care rose from 17 per cent of children aged 0-11 years in 1999 to 22 per cent in 2008, while the use of informal care fell from 37 per cent to 34 per cent over the same period.
In June 2008 41 per cent of employed male parents reported that they used a range of work arrangements to facilitate caring for their children aged 0-11 years, up from 27 per cent in 1999.
Flexible working hours was the most common type of work arrangement used by parents to facilitate caring for their children, with 30 per cent of employed fathers and 42 per cent of working mothers using this option.
Part-time work was the most common arrangement used by employed mothers (42 per cent) to care for their children compared to 5 per cent of employed fathers working part time for this purpose.
Overall, 74 per cent of employed female parents used some form of work arrangement to facilitate care for their children.
Do these findings surprise you? To have your say on the ABS survey click through to CareforKids.com.au/Social.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
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