RCH > Clinical Support Services > Centre for Community Child Health > Australian EDI

Frequently Asked Questions for media

What is the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI)?

The AEDI is a nation-wide program that looks at the development of young children.

It is a tool communities can use in planning to help support young children in their community.

Results from the AEDI will give each community in Australia an overall snapshot of how local children have developed in the years before they begin school.

The AEDI is like a census. It involves compiling information on groups of children around Australia who are in their first year of school. To do this, teachers from schools around Australia will complete a checklist - like a survey or questionnaire - for every child in their class.

The checklist includes more than 100 questions that look at five areas of child development:

Physical health and wellbeing
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and cognitive skills
Communication skills and general knowledge

When is the AEDI happening?

Schools around the country (both government and non-government) will complete the AEDI Checklists between May and July this year.

Findings from the AEDI will be released in stages - the first release in late 2009.

Who is running the AEDI?

The AEDI is being conducted by the Centre for Community Child Health (at The Royal Children's Hospital - Melbourne, and a key research centre at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute) in partnership with the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth.

The Australian Government has provided $15.9 million for the national implementation of the AEDI.

What will the AEDI show us?

The AEDI results will provide essential information about early childhood development. Communities will have a snapshot of how children in their local area have developed in the years before they begin school.

The findings will show communities areas where children on the whole are performing well and where they are developmentally vulnerable in each of the five key areas (physical health and wellbeing; social competence; emotional maturity; language and cognitive development; and communication skills and general knowledge).

This will help communities understand what's working well and what needs to be improved, developed or changed to better support children and families. This will then help communities plan for services, supports and programs that will best respond to the needs of children in their local area.

How are the findings of the AEDI reported?

Findings from the AEDI are released at a community level based on the local community where the child lives. The findings give communities a snapshot of how children have developed in the years before they begin school.

Results of the AEDI will be presented through interactive, online maps and community profiles. Each community's profile will provide information about the development of children as a whole through maps and tables.

The first release of information will be through interactive, online maps in late 2009.

How does the AEDI help children, families and communities?

The AEDI provides essential information about early childhood development. It gives communities a snapshot of how children in their local area are developing in the years before they begin school. This means that communities will have a tool that helps them understand what's working well and what needs to be improved, developed or changed in their community to support children and their families.

It will help communities strengthen links between schools, kindergartens, playgroups, health centres, libraries and other local organisations to support children and their families.

The findings from the AEDI will also be a powerful tool for influencing planning and policy around early childhood development.

Click here to view examples of how findings from the AEDI have been used in communities around Australia.

Why are the early years in a child's life so important?

Research has shown that both genes and environment play a role in children's development. During a child's first few years in life, their brain develops at a rapid rate and these first few years provide a window of opportunity to support their development.

The experiences a child has in these early years has a major impact on their course in life and in shaping the adults they will become. Building a solid foundation for a child in these early years provides the best chances for their health, wellbeing and success at school and beyond.

How is the AEDI Checklist completed?

The AEDI Checklist is like a survey or questionnaire. A checklist is completed for each child in their first year of school. Teachers complete the AEDI Checklist for each child in their class, based on their knowledge and observations of the child in class.

Children will not be taken out of class and do not need to be present while the teacher completes the checklist.

Teachers complete checklists online through a secure, web-based program (developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research). This online program protects the privacy of all personal information. This means that no one will be able to identify individual children.

Each checklist will take around 20 minutes to complete.

What kind of questions does the checklist ask?

The AEDI Checklist includes more than 100 questions across five areas of child development:

Physical health and wellbeing
Social competence
Emotional maturity
Language and cognitive skills
Communication skills and general knowledge

Is the AEDI a test?

The AEDI is not a test or an assessment of a child's performance in class.

Like a national census, it gathers information to help create a snapshot of the development of groups of children in each community. This information can then be used to help schools, communities and government improve services and programs for families with young children to ensure that children get the best start in life.

How are children involved in the AEDI?

Between May and July this year, schools (both government and non-government) around Australia will complete the AEDI Checklists for children in their first year of full time school. Children, and their parents, do not need to provide any new or extra information to teachers or schools for the AEDI.

Teachers will complete the checklist on each child based on their knowledge and observations of the child in class. Children will not be taken out of class and do not need to be present while the teacher completes the checklist.

Do children have to participate in the AEDI?

Participation in the AEDI is not compulsory, however, each child's school will assume the parent is happy for information to be collected on your child unless they let the school know otherwise.

Has the AEDI been done before?

Yes. Between 2004 and 2008, 62 communities across Australia took part in the AEDI. During this time, the AEDI checklist was completed for more than 56,000 children (from government and non-government schools) in their first year of full-time school.

For the first time, all communities across every state and territory of Australia will participate in the AEDI in 2009.

The AEDI is based on the Canadian Early Development Instrument (EDI). As of 2008, the EDI has been completed on more than 520,000 Canadian children.

Media Enquries

Last Updated 27-Mar-2009. Authorised by: June McLoughlin. Enquiries: Mary Sayers.