Child care and early education in Australia - The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Executive summary

This report was commissioned by the Australian Government Office for Women as part of the Women’s Leadership and Development Programme. The research undertaken for Child care and early education in Australia is based on data collected in Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) from parents, children and child care/early education carers and teachers. The Wave 1 LSAC sample comprises 5,107 infants (mean age 8.8 months, range from 3 to 19 months) and 4,983 children (mean age 4 years and 9 months, range from 4 years and 3 months to 5 years and 7 months) and their families. The report addresses a number of questions relating to child care and early education in Australia and contains findings on these topics:

child care and early education attendance patterns for infants and 4 to 5 year-old children
parents’ reasons for using care and satisfaction with their infant or child’s care/education
family, child and community factors related to current attendance at child care and early education services
indicators of quality in formal and informal care/education programs attended by the LSAC infant or child
developmental outcomes, such as health, social and cognitive development, for infants and children in relation to care/education attendance patterns, quality indicators, and other influencing family, child and community factors.

Key findings

Parents’ use of infant child care

Just over one-third (34.9 per cent) of the LSAC parents were using regular child care for their infants; however, the proportion varied by infant age. It was lowest (18.0 per cent) for children 6 months and younger, increasing to 29.7 per cent for children aged between 6 and 9 months, 38.7 per cent for children between 9 and 12 months, and 48.9 per cent for children older than 12 months. Of infants who were 12 months or older at the time of the interview (n=1,037), 47.5 per cent had received non-parental care prior to the age of 12 months.
The majority of the parents using child care (62.1 per cent) accessed informal care provided by relatives, usually grandparents, or non-relatives; 37.9 per cent used formal, government-regulated long day care or family day care services; and 10.0 per cent used a combination of formal and informal care.
There were notable differences in the use of formal and informal care by LSAC families. Long day care centres were more likely to be used by mothers who had a university education, were employed full-time rather than part-time and whose family income was higher. Relative care was less commonly used by older mothers (over 35) and more common when there was only one child in the family. Mothers using long day care centres tended to report lower levels of social support, parenting self-efficacy and positive parenting behaviour, than mothers using family day care or informal home-based care.
Weekly hours of child care in formal care settings (average of 20 to 21 hours a week) were longer than for informal (average of 14 hours a week). The longest hours in care were experienced by infants attending a combination of formal and informal arrangements (average of 24 hours a week).
Longer hours of infant care were more common when mothers were older, more highly educated, employed full-time rather than part-time, and families had a higher income, fewer children and spoke a language other than English at home.
Parents typically used child care to enable them to meet their employment, study, family or personal responsibilities. The most common reason cited for using care was work or study (72.3 per cent), followed by taking a break (9.6 per cent), shopping, sport and social activities (9.4 per cent), and health or other needs (1.7 per cent).

Quality of infant child care

Information on quality of care was limited by the small number of carers who returned their questionnaires (530); nevertheless these data indicated similarities and differences in infants’ child care experiences.
Carer ratings of their interaction with children in learning and care giving practices were at a similar, moderate to high level for all types of infant care. However, provisions for play and learning were rated as less available in informal home-based settings than in long day care centres and family day care services.
Carer qualifications differed by care type. The majority of carers in long day care centres held a certificate or diploma (76.2 per cent) or university qualification (22.1 per cent), whereas only 54.9 per cent of family day carers and 26.6 per cent of relatives held a certificate/diploma qualification. Long day care staff were younger than family day carers (average age 34 versus 42 years) and relatives (average age 56 years).
For long day care centres, additional information was collected on group size and staff-to-child ratios. Most children (62.2 per cent) were cared for in groups of six to 10 children; 32.8 per cent in groups of more than 10; and 5.0 per cent in groups of five children or less. The majority (75.8 per cent) of long day care centres met state or territory regulations (or recommended regulations) of one adult to four children, but less than half (40.7 per cent) met the recommended ratio of one qualified adult to four children.

Infant health

Child care was an important predictor of parents’ report of their infants’ low physical health, particularly for recurrent problems with gastrointestinal, ear and other infections. Infants attending long day care centres were almost twice as likely as children not receiving care to have problems with infections. Home-based child care settings provided by family day care or informal carers were not associated with a higher incidence of infection.
In comparison to child care factors, family demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial predictors showed relatively few significant associations with infant health outcomes.
When analyses were restricted to infants in regular non-parental child care, poorer health outcomes were highest in the group of infants who attended long day care centres for 21 or more hours per week and lowest in the groups who received one to eight or nine to 20 hours per week of care with relatives.

Infant communication

In regard to parents’ concern for their infants’ emergent communication skills, family demographic and psychosocial factors were more important predictors than were child care factors. Infants receiving regular child care were no more likely than children in exclusive parental care to fall within the ‘concern’ category.
‘Type of care’ differences were evident for communication concern, being lowest in the group of infants receiving care with relatives. Hours of care showed some disadvantage for infant communication in the group attending long day care centres for nine to 20 hours per week, but there was no relationship between communication outcomes and hours per week in relative care.

Early education and care services attended by 4 to 5 year-old children

Almost all 4 to 5 year olds (96.3 per cent) were attending some type of child care or early education service each week, with the vast majority (95.1 per cent) receiving a formal centre or school-based early childhood program. Most of the children (54.6 per cent) attended preschool, one-half of which were provided in a school and one-half in settings outside the school system. Just under one-quarter (23.9 per cent) attended a long day care centre and 16.5 per cent were in their first year (pre-Year 1) of formal school.
Children who did not attend formal early childhood programs were more likely to be younger or growing up in families who were more disadvantaged; that is, mothers were less well educated, not employed, and reported higher psychological distress and poorer parenting; families had a lower income, more financial stress and more children in the household; families were lone parent, Indigenous, non–English speaking, or from a more economically-disadvantaged area.
The type of early childhood service attended by the child was associated with some family demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial factors. School-based pre-Year 1 and preschool programs were more likely to be attended by children whose mothers were younger (<25 years) and less well educated, and whose families had more children, were Indigenous or from families speaking a language other than English at home.
A substantial proportion (37.2 per cent) of LSAC children attended child care/early education services additional to their main early childhood program. Within this group, most families (24.4 per cent) used informal care arrangements, such as relatives, to supplement their main care/education; 12.8 per cent used additional formal care/education settings. The number of settings attended each week ranged from two (28.7 per cent), to three (6.0 per cent), to four or more (1.1 per cent).
Most of the parents who used additional child care (81.8 per cent) did so to enable them to meet their employment responsibilities (69.7 per cent) or personal needs (12.1 per cent). Fewer parents (16.3 per cent) gave reasons related to benefits for the child including social interaction with peers or establishing relationships with grandparents/relatives.
Weekly hours attended were shortest for children attending preschool only (average of 13 hours a week), followed by long day care centre only (average of 22 hours a week), preschool plus other care (average of 26 hours a week), and longest in pre-Year 1 only or with other care (32 hours a week) and long day care plus other care (34 hours a week).
Longer hours a week of overall care/education were more common when children were older, mothers were employed and more highly educated, and families had a higher income, fewer children, were lone-parent families or spoke a language other than English in the home.

Quality of early childhood education

Information on quality of early education was based on a significant return of questionnaires from teachers (n=3,242; 62.8 per cent).
Teachers’ ratings of their approach to teaching and learning differed by type of early childhood service: pre-Year 1 classes spent the most time in teacher-directed activities and the least time in child-initiated activities. Only marginal differences were noted between teaching and learning in preschool and long day care programs.
Teachers differed markedly by type of service. Teachers in long day care centres were younger (average of 36 years) than teachers in preschool and school settings (average of between 40 and 42 years) and were least likely to hold a university qualification (42.7 per cent versus 56.8 per cent for preschool not in a school; 73.9 to 77.8 per cent for school-based programs). On the other hand, teacher-to-child ratios were significantly higher in long day care centres (51.6 per cent had 1 adult to <8 children) than in preschools (56.7 to 60.4 per cent had one adult to eight to 15 children) and pre-Year 1 classrooms (53.8 per cent had one adult to >15 children).

Child social development

Pro-social and problem behaviour outcomes were rated by parents and teachers. Child outcomes were strongly associated with child and family demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial factors, but only weakly linked to early education/child care factors. Teacher ratings of social development were lower for children who attended more child care settings each week.
Quality indices also contributed to social outcomes. Mother-rated pro-social behaviour was higher and problem behaviours were lower when teachers were university qualified and offered more teacher-supported small group activities. Teacher/carer-rated social development was higher when teachers were more experienced. Lower ratios of qualified staff to children, particularly for pre-Year 1 classrooms, were associated with higher scores for social outcomes.

Child cognitive achievement

Cognitive achievement was indexed by tests of receptive vocabulary and early literacy and numeracy skills. Child and family demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial factors were identified in regression analyses as the major predictors of child language outcomes, but early education and child care effects were also noted.
Children who did not attend a formal early childhood program had lower scores for receptive vocabulary than children in pre-Year 1 and preschool programs (whether this was in a single setting or with other additional care), and comparable scores to children in long day care. Children who attended long day care plus other additional care had the lowest scores. The relationship between child care factors and children’s receptive vocabulary appeared to be a function of the amount of time in care rather than type of early childhood setting, as shown by a significant drop in test scores as weekly hours of care/education approached 30 or more hours a week.
For achievement in early literacy and numeracy, child and family demographic, socioeconomic and psychosocial factors were the major predictors as well as attendance at pre-Year 1. Not attending a formal early childhood program had less of an impact on children’s achievement in early literacy and numeracy than on receptive vocabulary. Apart from the enhancing effect of being in pre-Year 1, there were only minimal differences in test scores across the six types of early care/education settings children attended and these did not differ from scores for children not attending an education program.
Quality indices were also associated with literacy/numeracy outcomes, particularly for children in pre-Year 1. Language outcomes were higher when teachers held an early childhood qualification and ratios of qualified staff to children were lower. Literacy and numeracy outcomes were higher when teacher-supported small group activities occurred often and child-initiated activities occurred only occasionally. Quality indices made a minimal contribution to children’s cognitive outcomes in preschool and long day care settings, but suggested that literacy and numeracy skills were enhanced in settings with more teacher-directed whole group activities.

[ top ]