Excerpts from the Background report:
This Background Report was drawn up within the framework of this project on the basis of an OECD questionnaire and provides an overview of early childhood education and care and its environment in Austria. Included in this Background Report are all programmes offered by the Austrian educational system aimed at supporting and promoting both children from birth up to the age of six (i.e. until they commence compulsory schooling) as well as their parents. This report examines early education and care provided by crèches, kindergartens, parent-child groups and child minders. While after-school day-care centres also offer Early education and care, these institutions are especially geared towards school-aged children in Austria and are not included in this report. This also applies to the Vorschule, a pre-school grade, as it accepts children who are of school age but are not yet ready to attend school, and are therefore only touched on briefly.
This report was drawn up on the basis of secondary analyses, meaning that already available data were presented and reinterpreted in new contexts. Where data were unavailable, it was only possible to point out that data were either completely lacking or were still in the process of being collected. As a result this Background Report also serves to highlight the lack of available data in certain areas.