Best start to life
Ensuring children get the best start in life is a key determinant to ensuring their wellbeing into the future.
Children who are developmentally on track
This measure shows the proportion of ACT kindergarten children who are developmentally on track.
The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) enables us to reflect on what is working well and where we need to improve to better support Canberra’s children and families.
This is important because development in early years helps prepare children for school and supports whole of life outcomes.
In 2021, 47.3% of ACT kindergarten children were assessed as being developmentally on track across all five domains of the census. This is a decrease from 2018 (48.7%) and much lower than the Australian average (54.8%).
Many ACT children are doing well. However, the ACT now has the second lowest proportion of children developmentally on track across Australia.
Over time, these results show a trend of a growing number of children in the ACT starting school with challenges in one or more areas of their development.
Data source
Chart description
Line graph of ACT children who are developmentally on track, at 3-year intervals from 2015 to 2021. In 2021, 47.3% of children were on track compared to 48.7% in 2018.
Technical notes
The AEDC measures child development across physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills (school-based), communication skills and general knowledge.
Children ‘not on track’ in the AEDC include children that are ‘developmentally vulnerable’, ‘developmentally at risk’ or missing a domain score in one or more of the five AEDC domains.
