The Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) is a validated population-level measure of wellbeing in middle childhood. The MDI was designed in Canada, to provide schools and communities with pragmatic data to inform policies and practice. It gives children a voice, an opportunity to communicate to adults about what their experiences are inside and outside of school, and has great potential to provide educators, parents, researchers and policy makers with much needed information about the psychological and social worlds of children.

The MDI project is a collaboration between researchers from the Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australian, Menzies School of Health Research, the University of British Columbia, and policy makers from the South Australian Department for Education and the Department of Education in Western Australia.

Researchers completed a pilot project in 2013 measuring the wellbeing of approximately 6000 children across South Australia and Victoria in the middle years of school in order to provide summary information back to policy makers, schools and communities about the health and wellbeing of their children. In 2014, the Department for Education and Child Development completed a second round of data collection involving almost 18,000 children, including those who participated in the 2013 research trial, allowing the accuracy of data to be explored further and to provide these schools with two data points.

Participating schools have now received their school report containing data on students' self-reported wellbeing. In 2013 the MDI received additional financial support through an ARC Linkage grant to establish the validity of the MDI in Australia, explore the international comparability of the instrument between Australia and Canada, and culturally adapt the MDI for Australian Aboriginal children, by leveraging off the MDI data collected.

In 2014, the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) program became the Australian Early Development Census . The census is undertaken once every 3 years by the Department of Education, Canberra as a progress measure of future human capital for the Council of Australian Governments.

The AEDI was been completed in 2009 and 2012 across South Australia and the results reveal patterns of child development across the state. Although simple descriptive statistics have been produced, and mapped data for communities are available via the data explorer on the census website ,  – the AEDI results have not been critically analysed for SA.

Specifically, the project aimed to determine if there were specific population groups that improved or not, and if so explore why, and to identify policy and service changes which may have impacted differently on South Australian children born in 2003 and 2004 compared to those born in 2006 and 2007.

This project helped inform the state and in particular the Department for Education and Child Development regarding the AEDI results in SA. Along with the AEDI analyses, resources to help facilitate conversations at the community through to Departmental level will be produced – aimed at supporting the use of population data.

South Australia, through the Department for Education, was tasked with leading a national project to provide a comprehensive picture of the range of specific screening and assessment tools used across health, early childhood and education sectors to consider ways in which these tools can support practice, policy development and national research priorities. An initial state-specific review was undertaken by researchers at the Fraser Mustard Centre, which provided a foundation for this project.

The overall objectives of the review were to:

• consider what developmental domains (and influencing family factors) should be screened and assessed to best respond to learning and development needs
• determine when these measures would be best implemented taking into consideration sensitive periods in development
• develop current contact points for screening and assessment in South Australia.

The findings of the review informed a national review of screening and assessment practices in early childhood.

Researchers at the Fraser Mustard Centre were requested to explore the landscape in which the early literacy skills of South Australian children are being fostered. The intervention science behind learning to read is expanding. Recent evidence posits that a child’s home learning environment is the strongest predictor of success in later reading abilities and that those children not receiving structured language and reading support at home may need greater support from the early childhood education system to be ready for school.

In the Australian schooling system, it is expected that children will be able to read simple texts in year one. However, if these early literacy skills have not yet been mastered by the time children have completed preschool, then children are arriving at school already behind where they need to be to make the most of the school environment.

This project seeks to better understand the recent literature and evidence and consider current pedagogical approaches and what pre-requisites and supports may be required to better support children’s early literacy skills. Ultimately, the work aimed to advise the Department for Education on the best pedagogical approaches to developing children’s pre-literacy and reading skills in the early childhood system.

Very young children are being increasingly exposed to mobile technology, with families having little understanding of the potential impacts on their child’s physical, social, emotional, communication and cognitive development.

This study uses innovative methods including speech recognition technology to provide the first longitudinal objective evidence investigating the relationship between exposure to screens and mobile technology on different aspects of child development during the first 5 years.

The project aims to understand, not just the amount of time children are being exposed to screens throughout a day, but the type of content they are watching and understanding whether educational content may be of benefit to children’s development.

Children’s centres were established in South Australia to reduce the impact of social inequality on children’s outcomes. They are generally located in areas of high need to enable the provision of high quality services to children and families who may not otherwise have access to these supports.

Children’s centres are based on a model of integrated practice, bringing together education, health, care, community development activities, and family support services in order to best meet the needs of vulnerable children and families.

The Fraser Mustard Centre undertook research to measure the process and impact of integrated services in children’s centres.

• Children's centre evaluation report: a report on the measurement of process and impacts (PDF 804KB)
• Children's centre impact evaluation: overall three-year evaluation plan (PDF 601KB)

The Royal Commission into child protection in South Australia called for government and non-government agencies to focus on preventative or early intervention strategies, starting in the antenatal period, in order to better support families to safely care for their children. Early intervention was called for to reduce later child protection involvement.

The Child and Family Assessment and Referral Network (CFARN) pilot program was established in response to these recommendations. CFARN connects with at-risk families, assess their context, strengths and risks and facilitates access to support services outside the child protection system (through other government departments and the non-government service sector).

Researchers from the Telethon Kids Institute in partnership with the BetterStart Group at the University of Adelaide were engaged to conduct an evaluation of the CFARN pilot sites.

The evaluation found early evidence that the program improved the experience of families at risk of child protection involvement and contributed to reduced risk for children.

The issue of child abuse and neglect has been increasingly recognised and approached as a public health issue in Australia, with South Australian research having demonstrated that close to 1 in 4 children will have had a notification to child protection by age 10, with 80% of these children receiving no statutory response from child protection services. Schools are a key source of notifications to the child protection agencies, as well as a touch point for reaching children and families with timely support when concerns become apparent.

The Child Wellbeing Practitioner (CWP) program was conceived as an education workforce development program designed to better connect education and child protection staff to improve the outcomes for vulnerable children and families before reaching the level of concern that necessitates a child protection response.

In October 2016, the Department for Education (formerly the Department for Education and Child Development) engaged the Australian Centre for Child Protection and the Telethon Kids Institute to undertake a 2.5 year evaluation of the CWP. The evaluation took a mixed methods approach to assess program implementation and identify impacts on schools and students.

Learning+ is a new online mathematics tutoring initiative being piloted by the South Australian Department for Education to accelerate student learning of the mathematics curriculum. Qualified teachers receive training, resources, and professional support to build their knowledge and skills to tutor students in the Australian Mathematics Curriculum. Students receive two 30-minute one-on-one tutoring sessions per week for 10 weeks, via an online platform, tailored to their individual learning needs.

The program is being piloted with year 6 and 8 students in South Australian government schools. Through Social Ventures Australia, the South Australian Department for Education has contracted the Telethon Kids Institute to conduct an independent evaluation of the Learning+ pilot initiative.

Many families experience challenges in raising children, particularly when they also face issues such as family and domestic violence, parental mental illness, social isolation and stress and when children have special needs such as disability, mental health and behavioural difficulties. To support families at risk of experiencing child abuse and neglect, the South Australian government have implemented a raft of initiatives that support parents to raise their children with confidence and skill.

In 2015 the State Government purchased a parenting training and resource package for use with families with the objective of increasing parenting skills in an attempt to reduce child protection involvement of vulnerable families in South Australia (SA). The program was the Positive Parenting Program (known as Triple P), which can be delivered to families in a variety of formats and intensities.

In 2016, the Australian Centre for Child Protection (ACCP) and the Telethon Kids Institute (TKI) were engaged to evaluate the implementation and impact of Triple P in South Australia. In SA, Triple P seminars were made available to any family who would like to attend and these were advertised through schools, community centres and libraries.

The evaluation identified the value of the program for families who were experiencing routine parenting challenges. For families facing additional challenges, they told us that while the information they received was good, implementing the strategies wasn’t always possible, and that they required other supports and services.

For children impacted by complex trauma, their experience at school can be punctuated by behavioural incidences, fearfulness and anxiousness, inability to concentrate, difficulty developing and maintaining relationships with peers and adults, struggles with emotional regulation, high rates of absenteeism, and school exclusion.

In South Australia, the Department for Education has made available a range of training options to support schools to improve their capacity to work with children who have been impacted by trauma.

The Telethon Kids Institute has been contracted to evaluate this initiative in partnership with the department. The research team’s focus is to explore schools’ experiences of implementing trauma-informed practice and develop an understanding of how principles are applied, barriers to implementing practices, and factors that facilitate schools' adoption of the approaches.

The Fraser Mustard Centre reviewed the Women’s and Children’s Health Network Infant Therapeutic Reunification Service, assessing what services are currently provided to Families SA and if value for money is being achieved.

The review was conducted to support the development of a contract for subsequent service delivery for infants and families in the child protection system. The review included a proposed model of evaluation for future service delivery to measure appropriateness and impact of the program.

LiLO is a longitudinal research study funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

The project aims to investigate the quality and quantity of language in the home environment during the early years. Through this research we aim to provide baseline data within an Australian context about the optimal amount of parent talk needed in order to support all domains of development during the first 5 years of life. This will help inform future interventions to improve language development and in turn, child health and overall development for Australian children.

In order to do this our research uses a small digital language recorder called Language Environment Analysis (LENA). LENA records the audio in the environment around the child and through specially designed software counts the number of words a child hears or speaks over the day.

Our research will involve approximately 450 families located across Adelaide and Port Pirie, South Australia, Bunbury, Western Australia and Gold Coast, Queensland. Data collection began when children were 6 months old, and they will be followed up once every six months until they start school.

Visit LiLO (Telethon Kids Institute) to find out more about the study and our latest published findings.

Reseach snapshot: the word gap emerges by 18 months of age (PDF 2.3MB)

As of December 2015, student wellbeing data had been collected from approximately 52,000 South Australian students in grades 6, 7, 8 and 9. Over 700 school reports had been completed and delivered to schools. Conducting a census of student’s wellbeing rather than completing small scale surveys provides information on students from every school, community, and region.

Given the important work that has been done to date, and the momentum within the education system to continue to collect student wellbeing data, it is imperative to review whether we are measuring the right aspects of student wellbeing and whether the scales that we are using are working effectively. The department commissioned this review from the Fraser Mustard Centre for the purpose of informing future decisions around which aspects of wellbeing should be measured at scale within schools and the quality of the tools available to do this.

Research report: measuring the key aspects of social and emotional wellbeing during middle childhood (PDF 1.9MB)

It is widely known how important it is for children to be supported as they transition to school. To do this well requires information about children’s learning and development and knowing when to give extra help.

The Department for Education is committed to use the best available evidence to aid students and put information in the hands of teachers.

Building on the learnings from the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) , this year an 'on-entry to school' tool will be field-tested in selected preschools and schools. Based on the findings of the field testing, a larger trial across sites is intended for 2017.

The aim is to put evidence about every child’s learning into the hands of families and educators. This will help to tell us which children are on track and are travelling fine and help us to follow up on additional learning needs in a consistent way across the transition to school. It is anticipated that this information will assist schools to create educational plans for children as they progress through school.

We are leading work with sites to develop the on-entry to school measures based on current evidence about:

• children’s physical development
• social and emotional skills
• executive functioning
• numeracy and literacy.

If you have comments or feedback, contact the centre on (08) 8207 2079 or at sally.brinkman@telethonkids.org.au.

As part of the consultation process around this work, feedback will be sought more broadly across the department over the coming months.

Language enables literacy, education, and employment and is one of the major pathways that support human capability formation. Variation in parental talkativeness has shown to be a plausible mechanism for social inequalities in children’s language acquisition.

A process evaluation was conducted using novel speech recognition technology (LENA) to unobtrusively measure the language environment of the child in the home. Through this study, we aimed to provide the preliminary data and experience to guide future research using LENA software to quantify the audio and social environment of children in South Australia.

Research report: Language Environment Analysis (LENA) Trial: investigating the home language environment in the early years (PDF 877KB)

The Telethon Kids Institute was contracted to work with the South Australian Department for Education to develop a suite of resources to support schools to identify and respond to underlying causes of challenging behaviours using evidence-based approaches and drawing on available data at whole of school, targeted, and intensive levels.

A comprehensive literature review was undertaken and evidence across a broad range of behaviours and age categories was synthesised into a matrix format with consideration for accessibility of information to the intended audience of school staff and families.

With a focus on supporting practice and applied value, the resource suite included a guide to support teachers to reflect on practice and develop appropriate support strategies for children.

Learning Together, developed by the South Australian Department for Education, aims to create enriched learning environments that can be transferred to the home to support positive changes for children and families. The program is comprised of a number of levels of support, ranging from universal playgroups in areas with high levels of disadvantage, to home visiting designed to engage families who may find it more difficult to participate in centre-based programs.

At the request of the department, researchers at the Fraser Mustard Centre undertook a program model review of 'Learning Together' and 'Learning Together at Home'.

The review employed a mixed-methods research design with a focus on exploring the evidence base for similar programs and understanding the way in which Learning Together and Learning Together at Home programs currently operate to inform the development of an evidence-based program logic to guide ongoing program implementation.

Let’s Read has been funded by the Department for Education to provide early literacy support to families by providing training to staff in Children’s Centres. The Fraser Mustard Centre reviewed the evidence base for the program and conducted an audit of the available early literacy supports in SA.

The review supported the department to address gaps in the provision of early literacy programs to ensure these meet the needs of children and families in South Australia.

In South Australia, the Inclusive Preschool Program (IPP) provides a preschool education option for children with disability who require extensive adjustments to their learning environment and program. The IPP is staffed by educators and support staff who have specialised education, knowledge, and expertise.

The Telethon Kids Institute has been contracted to review the program in line with best practice guidance for inclusive education and to explore the experience of families in South Australia accessing this preschool option. The review examines how the program supports children, their families, and preschool staff.

In recent years, there has been an increased focus from teachers, schools and education systems on helping to build and nurture student’s social and emotional skills, as well as their literacy, numeracy and communication skills. The first step is to understand the current level of social and emotional skills in SA children, and the second step is to understand the programs that schools can use to help develop children’s social and emotional skills.

Significant progress has been made towards this goal in the past five years in SA with the collection of the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) in 2012 and 2015, and the Wellbeing and Engagement Census (WEC) in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 providing information about the social and emotional skills of SA students in reception and during the middle years of schooling (years 6 to 9). This data provides a wealth of information that can be used to track the population over time and to explore differences between children based on their demographic characteristics and geographical location in the state.

The focus of this project was on the second step – understanding the interventions and programs that schools can implement to help build these skills. This project aims to provide some tools and guidelines for schools and the Department for Education to use to help select evidence-based programs that can be implemented within a preschool or school setting to help nurture children’s social and emotional skills.

• Reseach snapshot: reviewing evidence for school-based programs to support social and emotional learning: a guide for preschool and school leaders (PDF 1.9MB)
• Research report: preschool and school based programs for social and emotional skills (PDF 1.1MB)

The prevalence of disability among children and adolescents in Australia, as well as trends in prevalence, are difficult to discern. Disability prevalence varies across data sources, presenting a challenge to the planning and allocation of resources and supports. This is a difficulty faced by the education sector in particular, tasked with providing ongoing, high quality support for children and adolescents with a disability, despite limited evidence regarding levels of need.

The aim of the project was to provide the South Australian Department for Education with a synthesis of high-quality evidence on the population prevalence of various disabilities among school-aged children. Trends in prevalence over time were described according to available evidence, both in Australia and internationally. Information regarding common comorbidities and help seeking behaviours were also explored to better understand complex needs and service use among children and adolescents. Finally, factors that may be driving trends in prevalence were explored.

Findings from this project helped to identify how disability prevalence as reported in the scientific literature aligns with that of internal department data sources. Additionally, investigation of trends in the factors associated with disability prevalence highlight potential drivers that may lead to shifts in prevalence in future. Together, findings will help to inform the department’s future planning and provision of supports for students with disability.

Research report: review of trends in disabilities among children and adolescents (PDF 1.4MB)

In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children experience high rates of otitis media (middle ear infection), with impacts of chronic infections on development and wellbeing.

The Universal Access funded Aboriginal Children with Hearing Impairment Support Program is a small program providing speech pathology input into the early literacy program for Aboriginal children in preschools located in areas with high incidence of otitis media. The program seeks to enrich preschool programs for all children to prevent children at risk of later hearing loss falling behind their peers in the early years of schooling.

The Telethon Kids Institute has been contracted to review the program model and the experience of preschools delivering the program in South Australia.

Adolescence is a critical transition period, during which youth are at increased risk of experiencing high levels of sadness and/or depression.

Without effective interventions, depressed mood can worsen over time as youth transition into late adolescence and early adulthood. As such, there is a need to understand the different patterns of depressed mood and sadness seen in adolescents to help inform early intervention and prevention programs. It is also important the value of different sources of social support for boys and girls (such as family, school, friendships) in protecting against feelings of sadness and depressed mood.

This research utilised data from 4450 grade 6 students from public schools who participated in the Wellbeing and Engagement Collection (WEC) in 2014. These students were followed up in 2015, 2016 and 2017 to explore trajectories of depressed mood from grade 6 to 9.

This research was lead by Ms Danica Gregory for her Masters of Clinical Psychology thesis, and supervised by Dr Tess Gregory from the Fraser Mustard Centre and Professor Deborah Turnbull from the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide.

• Research snapshot: social support helps protects against depressed mood in adolescence (PDF 738KB)
• Research article: the role of social support in differentiating trajectories of adolescent depressed mood (ScienceDirect)

While the research is clear that giving all children the best possible start in life is one of the most effective ways to the improve health and wellbeing of societies, over one quarter of children in South Australia start school with developmental vulnerabilities. In South Australia, there has been a push for improving the early years’ system for over a decade, with eminent early childhood researchers contributing to reviews and recommendations, and inquiries highlighting deficiencies within the early years system.

Wellbeing SA and the Department for Education have contracted the Telethon Kids Institute to work with government agencies across South Australia to map programs, policies, supports, services, and environments that are available to support the health and wellbeing of children and their families in the early years. The work forms the basis for strategic planning to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for children and families, from the prenatal period to 5 years of age.

Strong Start in the North is a pilot program targeted at first time mothers experiencing numerous complex issues. The program seeks to engage pregnant women to help them prepare emotionally and practically for the arrival of their infant.

By working with mothers to develop their skills to cope with challenges, connect them to resources, and increase their parenting capacity, Strong Start seeks to support the development of children who may otherwise be at risk of adverse outcomes.

Researchers at the Fraser Mustard Centre conducted a mixed methods evaluation to examine both process (how well the program was being delivered) and early indications of likely impacts (improved outcomes for mothers and their infants) of Strong Start. Evaluation activities included interviews with program staff and clients along with an examination of the program’s administrative data.

In 2012, the Office for Strategy and Performance together with the Telethon Kids Institute commenced work to identify potential measures of young people’s wellbeing.

The department selected the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) for piloting on the basis that it had been extensively trialled and validated in the Canadian school system. The MDI measures a combination of strengths and poor wellbeing and placed students’ wellbeing in a wider context by asking them about their support and activities in the home, at school, and with their peers.

The department added survey items measuring perseverance, and then in 2015, students also responded to questions about their level of engagement (a concept relating to experience in being immersed and absorbed in positive challenges). Since this work first commenced, interest in measuring children’s wellbeing has grown and the department has recognised the need to undertake system-wide measures of students' engagement and satisfaction with their schools.

The main aim of the current project is to trial a set of student engagement items and make recommendations about which combinations of items should be included in a new module on student engagement in the department’s annual Wellbeing and Engagement Collection (WEC).

Many children and adolescents experience mental health problems during their schooling years. While schools are well placed to implement early intervention and prevention programs, they face several challenges in doing so including understanding the scale and nature of problem.

The aim of the current project is to use information from the South Australian Wellbeing and Engagement Collection (WEC) to help understand:

• what percentage of students have poor wellbeing
• how does wellbeing differ based on student’s age, gender and the community they live in
• how does wellbeing changes as children transition from primary school into high school
• how is wellbeing related to academic achievement and school completion?

The project will help inform schools and the Department for Education about how best to support to social and emotional wellbeing and mental health of their students.

This project is funded through an NHMRC Partnership Grant to Dr Tess Gregory and Professor Sally Brinkman, in partnership with Mr David Engelhardt from the South Australian Department for Education.

• Research snapshot: the wellbeing of children and adolescents in SA (PDF 3MB)
• Research article: basic epidemiology of wellbeing among children and adolescents
• Infographic: the wellbeing of children and adolescents in SA (PDF 372MB)
• Research article: electronic device use before bed among Australian children and adolescents – a cross-sectional population level study
• Infographic: electronic device use before bedtime (PDF 2.4MB)
• Research snapshot: breakfast skipping among children and adolescents in South Australia: a snapshot of recent research (PDF 2.9MB)
• Research article: breakfast skipping and cognitive and emotional engagement at school: a cross sectional population level study
• Research article: prevalence of breakfast skipping among children and adolescents: a cross sectional population level study

It has been well established that children's development at school entry is associated with their later academic achievement, but less is known about whether there is also an association with other measures of school success, such as students' social and emotional wellbeing. Given the increased focus for education systems on fostering student wellbeing, this study aimed to better understand the relationship between different aspects of children’s development and later social and emotional wellbeing.

The findings from this study will be used to help guide intervention programs that support school readiness, mental health and wellbeing in early childhood settings and schools.

This research used linked population data from the 2009 Australian Early Development Census and the 2015 Wellbeing and Engagement Collection (WEC). The AEDC captures five developmental domains of children’s development at school entry:

• physical health and wellbeing
• social competence
• emotional maturity
• language and cognitive skills
• communication skills and general knowledge.

The WEC captures a wide range of students' self-report social and emotional wellbeing, engagement with school, learning readiness and health and wellbeing out of school. This study utilised 4 domains related to social and emotional wellbeing (life satisfaction, optimism, sadness and worries) when students were in grade 6.

The Fraser Mustard Centre was funded to undertake this work through an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project.

• Research snapshot: the relationship between development at school entry and student wellbeing six years later (PDF 6.3MB)
• Research article: associations between school readiness and student wellbeing: a six-year follow up study

Socioeconomic inequalities in children's developmental and educational outcomes have been observed in Australia over many years. In communities with higher levels of socioeconomic disadvantage, children tend to have a higher level of developmental vulnerability and face more challenges at school. However, there are always exceptions to the rule and these exceptions can provide vital information and lessons that can be applied to other communities.

In the 'thriving in adversity' report, we identified communities that were doing better than expected given their socioeconomic disadvantage in order to better understand what is driving this success, and to determine if there are any lessons to be learned that may be transferable to other communities.

Research report: thriving in adversity: identification of off-diagonal SA communities using AEDC and NAPLAN data (PDF 2.4MB)

Fostering student wellbeing is increasingly seen as a central objective of education, however few education systems across the world monitor the wellbeing of their students. Our department is an exception to this rule, conducting an annual wellbeing collection referred to as the Wellbeing and Engagement Collection (WEC).

The aim of the WEC is to help teachers, school leaders and policy makers better understand and support the wellbeing and engagement of their students.

The WEC report provides a history of the WEC from an initial pilot with Grade 6 students in 2012 to 2013, to a full system wide collection with Grade 4 to 12 students in 2019. The report describes changes to the collection over time, such as the expansion to include students of different ages and participation rates in different collection cycles.

The WEC report also describes:

• the survey used to measure student wellbeing and engagement
• how it has evolved and changed over time
• the psychometric properties of the different measurement scales using the 2019 WEC data.

This information will be highly relevant to academic researchers who are using the WEC data in their research projects.

Research report: history of the WEC in the SA school system and psychometric properties of the survey (PDF 4.2MB)

There is growing international evidence about the growing gap in educational outcomes between boys and girls. This trend appears to be evident in South Australian and national data. To date, little has been undertaken to document this trend in South Australia, understand the trajectories of boys as compared with girls, identify the drivers of these developmental pathways and identify potential strategies for intervention.

The Department for Education commissioned this report to understand how such gender differences in early childhood may influence outcomes later in life.

The results of the 2009 Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) highlighted large differences between South Australian boys and girls in child development outcomes at school entry.

The report includes gender differences in education, health and social circumstances across the life-course. Knowledge of this evidence base is crucial if we are to improve outcomes for all children and young people and reduce inequity.

Research report: boys and girls in SA: a comparison of gender differences from the early years to adulthood (PDF 820 KB)

This project has created an enduring database linking education and wellbeing data from multiple databases, covering such areas as enrolment, attendance, academic achievement, and student wellbeing from South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory.

Over time, this will paint a fuller picture of the students’ journey throughout their school life. A collaborative coordinated approach will maximise the comparability and use of all these data from different states and territories.

You can download data at aggregate level or apply to access unit level data for further research.

Download aggregate level data

The data is deidentified and presented at an aggregate level licensed for open access.

Fill in this form to download the dataset:

Apply to access unit level data for further research

For access to the unit level deidentified data, fill in the research application form (DOCX 1 MB) .

1. Rapid review on instruments to measure metacognition

Metacognition has been recognized as a crucial component of effective teaching and learning and has consequently received much interest from multiple education systems.

Metacognition has been the subject of numerous studies, which have used a wide range of metrics to explore its nature and to gauge the effect of metacognitive interventions.

In this rapid review commissioned by the department, we offer a comprehensive overview of the current instruments available to measure metacognition. In doing so, we have summarized the literature for each instrument, providing details on the aspects of metacognition measured, practical considerations, and any evidenced reliability and validity.

Read the rapid review measuring metacognition in children and adolescents (PDF 1 MB) .

2. Rapid review on interventions to improve metacognition

The ability to develop metacognitive skills holds the potential to establish a strong foundation for lifelong learning.

Intervention studies have shown that children’s metacognition can be improved. Consequently, there has been a growing focus on this topic, with researchers, educators and policymakers all striving to uncover the most effective ways to best support children’s metacognitive learning.

In this rapid review commissioned by the department, we investigated the effectiveness of metacognition interventions in relation to:

• the age of the students
• contextual factors
• intervention characteristics
• delivery methods.

The new knowledge generated by this work is a comprehensive understanding of the diverse range of metacognition interventions in primary and secondary education.

Read the rapid review metacognition interventions (PDF 2 MB) .