MyChild

Australian Early Development Index

What is the Australian Early Development Index?

The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) is a population based measure of young children's development. Teachers complete a checklist, for children in their first year of full-time school, which measures five key areas of early childhood development:

• Physical health and wellbeing - whether a child is healthy, independent, ready for school each day;
• Social competence - whether a child is self-confident, gets along with others and shares, how a child plays;
• Emotional maturity - whether a child is able to concentrate, help others, is patient, not aggressive or angry;
• Language and cognitive skills - whether a child is interested in reading and writing, can count and recognise numbers and shapes; and
• Communication skills and general knowledge - whether a child can tell a story, communicate with adults and children, articulate themselves.

As a population measure the AEDI examines early childhood development across the whole community, providing a snapshot of how children in the local area have developed by the time they start school. Together with other socio-demographic and community information the AEDI results are a powerful tool for influencing planning and policy around early childhood development. They can help governments and communities understand what's working well and what needs to be improved or developed to better support children and their families.

How is the AEDI being used?

Since the AEDI results first became available in December 2009, Governments (at all levels) and community organisations have been using the data to inform early childhood development policy and practice. The partnerships that have developed, right across education, health and community services, highlight AEDI's potential to help improve the wellbeing of young children in a way that we haven't been able to do before.

The Australian Government is examining the results to better understand the needs of young children across Australia and determine what changes need to take place so we can give kids the start to life they deserve. State and territory governments are also working collaboratively with local government agencies, services and welfare groups to engage communities, help them understand what's working well and what needs to be improved or developed in their community to better support children and their families.

The AEDI can:

• Provide a common language for the community to discuss the needs of young children;
• Provide communities with a tool to help understand what seems to be working well and what may need to change in their community to support families;
• Strengthen links between schools, kindergartens, preschools, playgroups, local government agencies, health centres, libraries and other local organisations and encourage them to explore new ways of working together;
• Provide schools with the opportunity to reflect on the development of children entering school and to work with other early childhood services to optimise school transitions;
• Inform early childhood policy development and practice across education, health and community services; and
• Raise awareness about the importance of the early years.

More information?

The AEDI website provides comprehensive information on the AEDI, including:

• Background information on the AEDI and national implementation;
• A Snapshot of Early Childhood Development in Australia - AEDI National Report 2009, that provides a national summary of the AEDI results;
• Online maps that show AEDI results geographically;
• Community Profiles that provide contextual information and more detail about the community and its AEDI results to support the online maps; and
• A range of online training and resources to help people understand the AEDI and how to work with the results.