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National implementation

Background

All communities need to have reliable early childhood development information and data on early childhood development to inform planning of new initiatives and evaluate community efforts to improve the life chances for Australia’s children. In recognition of this the Commonwealth Government has committed to the national implementation of the AEDI.

The AEDI is based on the Canadian Early Development Instrument (EDI) and is a population measure of young children's development from a teacher-completed checklist and measures five developmental domains:

• Physical health and well-being
• Social competence
• Emotional maturity
• Language and cognitive skills
• Communication skills and general knowledge

Between 2004 and 2007, 60 geographic areas across all Australian states and territories, except the Northern Territory, have implemented the AEDI. Since 2004 2,157 teachers from 1,012 schools (both government and non-government) have completed the AEDI on 37,420 children in the first year of fulltime school.

Outcomes from the first four years of AEDI implementation have shown that:

• Overall nearly a quarter of children surveyed were developmentally vulnerable on one or more developmental areas of the AEDI; however the majority of children were performing well on one or more areas.
• The AEDI is a reliable and valid measure of early childhood development for Australia (AEDI Validity Study).
• Strong support for the AEDI from state and territory educational authorities and regional/district education offices assisted the AEDI implementation.
• Teachers found completing the AEDI was beneficial to their work in the classroom and a good use of their time.
• Schools have used the data for planning, promoting optimal transitions to school and developing partnerships with community agencies such as pre-schools and child-care centres.
• The AEDI has helped communities raise awareness of the importance of early childhood development, provided them with information which assisted in developing strategic plans and initiatives to improve outcomes for children, and facilitated improved collaboration between agencies involved with young children and their families.   

A national snapshot of Early Childhood Development

The national implementation of the AEDI will commence in 2009. This will provide a snapshot of early childhood development across Australia. This will help us to:

• Make comparisons about children's development consistently across Australia at any one time.
• Provide an anchor point or baseline for communities, policy makers and governments to measure their progress in improving early childhood development over time. 

First steps in national implementation of the AEDI

There will be a number of steps necessary to implement the AEDI. This will include:

• Consultation with the state and territory governments and other key stakeholders to obtain broad support for the national implementation of the AEDI and timing of data collection (currently in progress).
• Establishment of State/Territory AEDI coordination committees to inform and assist the implementation of the AEDI in each jurisdiction.
• Appoint State/Territory AEDI Coordinators who will provide state-wide leadership for the AEDI and support local communities and schools through the AEDI implementation process

State and Territory AEDI Coordinator Portal

The State and Territory AEDI Coordinator Portal is a password protected resource.

More information

This page will be progressively updated in the coming months, however in the meantime if there are any questions about national implementation of the AEDI please contact:

Mary Sayers
National AEDI Program Manager
Ph: 03 9345 6530
Email: mary.sayers@mcri.edu.au