Australian five-year olds are developing better than they were three years ago and have improved in four of the five key development indicators, according to the latest round of data from the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI).
The data showed a decrease of 1.6% in the number of children who were developmentally vulnerable in one or more areas compared to the results from the first AEDI in 2009.
Minister for School Education and Early Childhood, Peter Garrett, said the data showed that Australian children were showing development improvements in social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication and general knowledge skills. Results in physical health and well-being have remained steady.
Data was collected in May 2012 from nearly 290,000 children, representing 96.5% of children in their first year of formal full-time school.
“Research shows that investing time, effort and resources in children’s early years, when their brains are developing rapidly, benefits them and the whole community,” Mr Garrett said.
Indigenous children are showing significant signs of progress. In 2012, 43.2% of children were developmentally vulnerable, down from 47.4% in 2009.
“While this figure is still far too high, it is a strong improvement in just three years.”
Amongst the states, Queensland and the Northern Territory showed the most improvement.
“Australia is the only country in the world that collects this level of information about health, well-being and development of our children before they enter school. Communities have been able to use this data to develop new programs for children and their families, and deliver extra, targeted help to children at risk.
“The overall national improvement means that over the next five years as they hit school age, we can expect 24,000 more children to start their school life better prepared.”
Mr Garrett said the improved result was a reflection on the emphasis of the Government on early childhood education and care.
“More children are getting the early support they need in the years before they start school – and as a result, are doing better in their development.
“We also know that this improvement will have long-term benefits for our children. For example, we’ve seen steady improvement in Year 3 NAPLAN results over the past four years, since Labor’s focus on early childhood education and care first began.
Mr Garrett said there is still more work to do as a government and as a community.
“More than one in five children are still at risk of being behind when they enter school - around 60,000 children in 2012 and that’s not good enough.”
The Government has committed to investing $23.2 billion in early childhood over the next four years.
* * *
You can see the full report here.
__small.png)
