Australian Early Development Census domains

The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) is a national measure of early childhood development, collected for children commencing their first year of compulsory education (Pre-Primary in Western Australia)¹. Since 2009, the AEDC has been collected every three years across public, private, and independent schools in Australia^{1, 2}.

All children included in the AEDC are scored on five domains of development that are associated with predictors of good social, health and educational outcomes into adulthood¹. These domains are (1) Physical health and wellbeing, (2) Social competence, (3) Emotional maturity, (4) Language and cognitive skills and (5) Communication skills and general knowledge^{1, 2}.  These domains of development are considered to provide a snapshot of a child’s level of school readiness, which is an important predictor of ongoing educational and occupational achievement^3,4. Children are classified as ‘developmentally vulnerable’ on a domain if they score below the 10^th percentile (based on national data)¹.

The overall number of children who are developmentally vulnerable on any one or more/2 or more of the five domains can act as an indicator of how well early childhood development is being supported generally in a region. The AEDC data on children who are developmentally vulnerable across any one or more/2 or more of five domains can therefore be used as an indicator of the health and wellbeing of children in each region and used to inform policy and planning to improve outcomes^{1, 2}.

REFERENCES

1. Department of Education and Training; Australian Early Development Census [Internet]. Australian Early Development Census National Report 2015: A snapshot of early childhood development in Australia.  Canberra ACT. 2016 [cited 2018 Jun 4]. Available from:  https://www.aedc.gov.au/resources/detail/2015-aedc-national-report
2. Department of Education and Training; Australian Early Development Census [Internet]. About the AEDC. Canberra ACT. 2018 [cited 16 May 2018]. Available from: https://www.aedc.gov.au/about-the-aedc
3. Hertzman C, Power C, Matthews S, Manor O. Using an interactive framework of society and life course to explain self-rated health in early adulthood. Social Science & Medicine, 2001; 53(12):1575-85. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00437-8  
4. Davies S, Janus M, Duku E, Gaskin A. Using the Early Development Instrument to examine cognitive and non-cognitive school readiness and elementary student achievement. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2016; 35:63-75. Available from:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.10.002

Data Source 

Compiled by Telethon Kids Institute based on Australian Early Development Census data

Numerator

Children 'developmentally vulnerable' or 'at-risk' on one or more/ two or more AEDC domain/s

Denominator 

Children with a valid AEDC score on selected domain

Unit of Measure 

Per cent (%)

Geography

SA2, SA3, LGA

Data Confidentiality

# AEDC data are not reported for locations in which three or fewer children had been assessed.

* Suppression of AEDC data occurs when one or more of the following have not been met:
 - Fewer than fifteen children in an area had valid AEDC scores;
 - Fewer than two teachers had completed AEDC instruments for children in that location;
 - AEDC instruments were completed for less than 80% of all non ‘special needs’ children

Additional minor suppressions have occurred where necessary to preserve confidentiality of related suppressed cells.