AUSTRALIAN EARLY DEVELOPMENT INDEX
CONTACT
Centre for Community Child Health
The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Parkville Vic 3052
Telephone 1300 558 422
Email: australian.edi@rch.org.au
Website www.aedi.org.au
DESCRIPTION
The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) measures how young children are developing in defined Australian 'communities'. It provides a population measure of children's development at the time they start primary school. The primary aim of the AEDI is to provide data to help communities in the development and reorientation of services and systems to enable them to improve the health and wellbeing of young children.
The AEDI is based on the scores from a teacher-completed checklist, with over 100 questions covering five developmental domains: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. AEDI results relate to the children's area of residence. It is designed for use with whole populations of children within a geographic area. The AEDI is analysed at the local community level (i.e. suburb or small area locality).
Scope
The AEDI population is all children in the first year of full-time primary schooling within a community or a geographic area.
Reference Period
May to July of each year (the second school term).
Frequency of Collection
Triennial national collection, commencing 2009.
Method of Collection
Each child in the class is assessed against a checklist by a teacher who has known that child for at least one month. Children are not required to be present during the assessment. Data are input by the teacher, using a secure online system.
DISSEMINATION
Release schedule
Results are published late in the reference year.
Publications
Community profiles (tables or maps)
Interactive on-line mapping
Geography
Information is available for defined 'communities', such as a suburb, and for individual schools.
Data Service
Data in other forms may be available on request.
DATA ITEMS
Number of children
Sexes of children (number of boys, of girls)
Children with English as a second language
Indigenous children
For each of the five domains:
- Developmentally vulnerable children (number and proportion)
- Children performing well (number and proportion)
Summaries across the domains:
- Children vulnerable on one or more domains (number and proportion)
- Children performing well on one or more domains (number and proportion)
Historical Data
The AEDI is being implemented nationally, commencing in 2009. Some data for the period 2004–07 are available on the AEDI website, relating to selected localities in all states and the ACT.
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