Understanding Geelong's Children through the Australian Early Development Census

1. Australian Early Development Census Australian Early Development CensusCity of Greater GeelongWhat do the results tell us about how Geelong’s children are going? Frank Giggins Coordinator Family Services Planning City of Greater Geelong

2. Keeping in Mind the Objective “A society that is good to children is one with the smallest possible inequalities for children, with the vast majority of them having the same opportunities from birth for health, education, inclusion and participation.” (Stanley, Richardson & Prior, 2005)

3. State of Geelong’s Children Report Card Thirty-two selected local data indicators – key health, early development, education, family, and social measures:

4. Local Data Indicators Requiring Improvement Above average rates:

5. Influences on Children’s Early Development

6. The Australian Early Development Census The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) results provide important information about the development of Australia’s children asthey start school. The AEDC is a relative population measure of how young children are developing in different communities based on a teacher-completed checklist (the AEDC Checklist) for children at Prep-entry level.

7. What Does the AEDC Measure - Key Domains Emotional Maturity Communication and General Knowledge Language & Cognitive The 5 Domains of the AEDC Social Competence Physical Health & Wellbeing

8. What Does the AEDC Measure - Key Domains Each of these five domains is broken down into sub-domains. For example, the Language and cognitive skills (school based) domain has four sub-domains: Basic literacy Interest in literacy, numeracy and memory Advanced literacy Basic numeracy

9. Australian Early Development Census - Background • Australia is the first country in the world to collect national data on the developmental health and wellbeing of all children starting school. • Australian adaptation of the Canadian Early Development Instrument (EDI) • First national roll-out in 2009 followed by 2012 and 2015. • Comprehensive data now enables evaluation over time to identify emerging trends and critical changes.

10. Greater Geelong Support for the AEDC 2005: One of the initial pilot sites selected to trial implementation of the AEDI in Australia. Council provided local coordination, funding and project management. 2008: Represented Victorian Local Governments on Victorian AEDI Steering Committee 2009: First national data collection – local facilitation 2012: Council support for the 2nd national AEDI data collection 2015: National Engagement Survey, Community Pilot Research Profile, and 3rd national data collection Multiple Local, State, and National Workshop Presentations

11. The Benefit and Value of the AEDC • The AEDC shows how local children are doing relative to (compared to) other children surveyed both within their local community and also across Australia. • The AEDC results pinpoint where communities are doing well and where they can improveto better support children. • The AEDC also identifies what specific areas of support or interventionmaybe required. • The AEDC provides evidence that can be used to support policy, planning and actionfor health, education and community support. • With each successive AEDC data collection (2009, 2012, 2015) there is an opportunity toevaluate over time and consider emerging trends that show how children are developing in each community.

12. The Value of the AEDC for Educators and Organisations • The AEDC helps early childhood educators and services to: • Raise awareness of the importance of the early years within early childhood education services, families, schools and the broader community. • Understand and reflect on developmental vulnerability within their community and centres. • Support children before and throughout school in partnership with schools and local early years services. • Complete reporting requirements and undertake quality improvement planning. • Promote the developmental aspects of early childhood education in line with the EYLF and NQF. • Identifies key local curriculum priorities. • And reflects Children’s Readiness for School

13. How are the AEDC results measured? Developmentally vulnerable: Children who score in the lowest 10% when compared to the national AEDC population. These children demonstrate much lower than average developmental competencies as measured in that domain. Developmentally at risk: Children who score between the 10th and 25th percentile when compared to the national AEDC population. On track: Children who score above the 25th percentile (in the top 75%) when compared to the national AEDC population.

14. Australian Early Development Census Data Validation Data reports are based on where children livenot where they attend school. Data for communities with fewer than 15 children not shown but included in total data for LGA (e.g. Lovely Banks). Necessary for at least two teachers to contribute to the data collection and80% of the estimated population of children within the survey area. Extensively researched and validated - closely aligns with other data sources and surveys.

15. Understanding AEDC Data Reports and Profiles It is important to consider both the proportion of children developmentally vulnerable and the actual numberof children this represents. Ahigh proportion of developmentally vulnerable children does not necessarily mean a large number of children. Equally, a low proportion in a large community may still equate to a large number of children who may be developmentally vulnerable

16. Understanding AEDC Data – Critical Difference The critical difference is the minimum percentage point change required between collection cycles (2009, 2012 and 2015) for the results to represent a ‘significant change’ for communities of different sizes in children’s development. The critical difference calculation takes into account the number of children included in the AEDC data collections and variation between teachers in the way they assess children.

17. Critical Difference - Children Classified On-Track

18. Critical Difference - Children Classified At Risk

19. Critical Difference - Children Classified As Vulnerable

20. How Results for Greater Geelong Compares In Victoria 19.9% of children developmentally vulnerable on one or more domain, and 8.7%are developmentally vulnerable on two or more domains Results for City of Greater Geelong in general compare favourably against both the National and Victorian benchmarks. Locally, 17.8%children are identified as developmentally vulnerable on one or more domains, and 8.7%of children developmentally vulnerable on two or more domains.

21. Demographic Profile – Greater Geelong AEDC

22. Demographic Profile – Greater Geelong AEDC *Not official kindergarten participation data used for the purpose of reporting kindergarten participation rates in Victoria.

23. Emerging Trends - Proportion of Children Vulnerable

24. Physical Health and Wellbeing Domain • This domain looks at whether a child is healthy, independent, ready each day. This includes: • Gross and fine motor skills • Holding a pencil • Running in the playground • Motor coordination • Adequate energy levels for classroom activities • Independence in looking after own needs • Daily living skills

25. Emerging Trends - Proportion of Children Vulnerable Physical Health and Wellbeing Sub-domains

26. Social Competence Domain • This area looks at how a child plays, gets along with others and shares, is self-confident. This includes: • Curiosity about the world • Eagerness to try new experiences • Knowledge of standards and acceptable behaviour in a public place • Ability to control own behaviour • Appropriate respect for adult authority • Cooperation with others • Following rules • Ability to play and work with other children

27. Emotional Maturity Domain • This area looks at whether a child is able to concentrate, help others, is patient, not aggressive or angry. This includes: • Ability to reflect before acting • Balance between being too fearful and too impulsive • Ability to deal with feelings at an age-appropriate level • Empathetic response to other people's feelings

28. Language and Cognitive Skills Domain • This area looks at whether a child is interested in reading and writing, can count and recognise numbers and shapes. This includes: • Reading awareness • Age-appropriate reading and writing skills • Age-appropriate numeracy skills • Board games • Ability to understand similarities and differences • Ability to recite back specific pieces of information from memory

29. Communication Skills and General Knowledge Domain • This area looks at whether a child can tell a story, communicate with adults and children, articulate themselves. This includes: • Skills to communicate needs and wants in socially appropriate ways • Symbolic use of language • Story telling • Age-appropriate knowledge about life and the world around

30. Developmentally Vulnerable on One or more Domain

31. Developmentally Vulnerable on Two or more Domains

32. Suburbs Above Average Local, State and National AEDC Benchmarks

33. Comparative Rates of Change 2009-2015 by Suburb Vulnerable on One or More Domain

34. Comparative Rates of Change 2009-2015 by Suburb Vulnerable on Two or More Domain

35. Actual Population of Children by Suburb Vulnerable on One or More Domain

36. Linking AEDC Data – Longitudinal Trajectory Research Research evidence identifies that students who are classified as developmentally vulnerable on the AEDC language and cognitive domain, or on the communication and general knowledge domain, have lower NAPLAN numeracy and reading test scores in year 3 and generally do not catch up by year 7. Telethon Kids Institute 2015

37. Building Evidence for Early Childhood Educators • The AEDC provides evidence to support all priorities and activities that work towards the National Early Childhood Development Strategy, including: • National Quality Framework • Early Years Learning Framework • Quality Improvement Plans • Strategic Plans • Curriculum Planning • Funding Applications (e.g. mandatory criteria Children’s Capital Grants)

38. Alignment with EYLF and National Quality Standards (NQS) Requirements

39. Questions for Reflection and Discussion • How will you use the AEDC results for your community in relation to current program planning and practice? • What would high rates of developmental vulnerability in children’s physical health and wellbeing mean for your program planning and practice? • Apply the same question to social competence? • Have you discussed the AEDC results for your community with your educators and/or local schools? • What feedback do you receive from your local schools about children’s readiness?

40. More Information visit AEDC Data Explorer Many resources are available on the AEDC website: www.aedc.gov.au