Summary of findings - Aboriginal Playgroups and Enrichment Program

Aboriginal Playgroups give young children below school age the opportunity to socialise and interact with other children and adults. Parents are usually involved in the children's activities. Playgroups also provide a good opportunity for parents to talk and share common experiences. Enrichment programs may provide supervised care, organised activities, homework centres and nutrition services to school age children and teenagers.

The main findings of the 2001 Census, for Aboriginal Playgroups and Enrichment Programs (APGs) are summarised below. Comparisons to the results of the 1999 Census have been included.

Services

Of the 64 APGs asked to participate in the 2001 Census, 61 (95%) responded. In the 1999 Census of 70 APGs, 56 (80%) responded.
At the national level, between 1999 and 2001, there was a decrease in the proportion of services operating for all 5 days of the reference week (from 57% in 1999 to 48% in 2001) and a similar increase in the proportion of services operating for only 3 days a week (from 18% in 1999 to 25% in 2001).
In 2001, 39% of APGs were attached to another service (including a Multifunctional Aboriginal Children's Service), compared with approximately 31% in 1999.

Children

In May 2001, an estimated 1526 children attended an APG compared to an estimated 1436 children in 1999 (both the 1999 and 2001 figures include estimates of increase for non responding services). This represents a 6% increase over the 2 year period.
The majority (79%) of APGs had less than 30 children in attendance during the reference week, with services most frequently having between 10 and 19 children attending. There was a considerable decrease in the proportion of APGs with fewer than 10 children attending, from 32% in 1999 to 15% in 2001.
Of all the children attending an APG in the reference week in 2001, 92% were indigenous.

Staff

In May 2001, an estimated 202 paid staff were involved in providing care in APGs, compared to an estimated 199 in 1999 (both the 1999 and 2001 figures include estimates for non responding services).
The state with the highest proportion of paid staff was South Australia (74%) and the state with the lowest proportion of paid staff was the Northern Territory (36%).