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AEDC for schools and early childhood services – using Australian Early Development Census data for service planning

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Schools and early childhood services can use results from the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) to gain a better understanding of how well children have developed by the time they start school. This can help them tailor their efforts and planning to meet the needs of children and families.

Children who are thriving when they start school are likely to continue doing well. If children fall behind in their learning, they’re more likely to stay behind.

About the AEDC

The AEDC offers a snapshot of children’s development by the time they start school and serves as a reliable predictor of children’s wellbeing and education outcomes. It looks at 5 developmental domains and results are reported at a national, state, community and school level.

Find SA results and resources on this website or access national AEDC data.

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Learn more about the AEDC, including the 5 domains of early childhood development, what they measure and how to understand the data.

About the AEDC

School results

You can access a school profile if:

  • your school has participated in the data collection and
  • data was collected for 6 or more children (without special needs).

The school profile provides in-depth information about the cohort of children captured in the AEDC data collection at the school, including:

  • child demographic characteristics
  • transition to school information
  • school’s AEDC domain and summary indicator results over time, including the latest collection year
  • state and national results for comparison
  • information about how to use your school’s results
  • links to other AEDC resources.

How to access your school profile

If your school has participated, you can access your AEDC school profile by:

  • downloading it from the data collection system during the collection period
  • using a secure link emailed to principals at the time of national data release
  • contacting the national AEDC helpdesk on 1800 092 548 or helpdesk@aedc.gov.au for a copy of your report.

Department schools can find more information on how to access your school profile (staff login required).

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Sharing your school’s results

School profiles are not published publicly. Principals may choose to share and discuss AEDC results with key stakeholder in the school community including:

  • school staff
  • early years teachers
  • early years partnerships
  • early childhood service providers
  • local secondary schools
  • local government
  • school community (for example, a school council)
  • school principal networks/clusters.

Find out more about the important role schools play in the early years.

Community results

Results from all participating schools are summarised into community profiles. These profiles provide valuable insight about the communities where children live.

Community profiles present AEDC results for child populations across suburbs and geographic areas usually equivalent to a local government area. They include:

  • demographics and characteristics of children in the area, to provide context for the results
  • similar information to a School Profile but for children living in the community, regardless of where they attend school
  • data on the proportion of children developmentally on track, developmentally at risk or developmentally vulnerable in each domain - physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills (school-based) and communication and general knowledge
  • data showing the proportion of children developmentally on track on all 5 AEDC domains, developmentally vulnerable on 1 or more and 2 or more domains.

You can review community profiles relevant to where your enrolled children live, alongside other data. This can help understand the children’s contexts for informed planning.

Search for community profiles on the AEDC Community data explorer.

For more information read:

Guidance for using AEDC results

Education and care facilities are using AEDC results alongside other data for informed planning leading to positive outcomes for children.

The reporting, publication or analysis of AEDC data and results must be in accordance with the AEDC data guidelines.

The following resources can help understand and use AEDC results in everyday practice.

User guide for schools and early childhood services

Enhancing your planning

Domain guides and curriculum connections

AEDC domain guides were developed in collaboration with The Kids Research Institute, Western Australia and New South Wales Departments of Education.

Domain guides and key curriculum connections fact sheets link to the National Quality Standards , Early Years Learning Framework , Australian Curriculum and Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and Principals to help plan within local community contexts.

Supporting early childhood development fact sheets are designed to help support parent engagement in children's early development and learning.

Professional learning

Improvement tools and guidance

Practical examples

AEDC stories from schools and communities show practical examples:

You can watch one of the video stories below.

Video: Lower Mid North education partnership story (4:13)

Video transcript – Lower Mid North education partnership story

Got a story to share?

If you have an AEDC story to share, we'd love to hear from you.

Email us at education.AEDCTeam@sa.gov.au

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How the AEDC team can help

We're here to help! Contact our team for help with:

  • understanding your community results
  • understanding demographic factors that may be making a difference
  • using the AEDC data.

Resources for schools and early childhood services

For educators to support health and wellbeing:

  • Be You – information, resources and strategies for educators about helping children and young people achieve their best possible mental health
  • Gowrie SA – supports professional learning, inclusion and parenting
  • Nature Play South Australia support supports educators in outdoor learning

For families from our department:

  • Early Years SA app – trusted information about child health, learning, development and wellbeing from birth to 5 years
  • GreatStart – activities for learning with the child
  • Our Learning SA – activities for learning from home

From the Australian Government:

Parenting resources and services:

Data and research:

SA AEDC State Coordinator

Email: education.AEDCTeam [at] sa.gov.au