AEDC – Grants
The AEDC Tasmanian Grants provide funding for local initiatives that support children and families during the vital early years of development.
These grants are designed to build on what’s already working well in communities but also meet the needs of children with ‘developmental vulnerability’ within the local community.
Funded programs help turn AEDC data into meaningful action by:
- Supporting children’s learning, health and wellbeing
- Strengthening community‑based early years responses
- Raising awareness of the AEDC among early years professionals
- Increasing the use of AEDC data to inform planning and practice
Who can apply?
Organisations working with children from conception to eight years can apply, including:
- Schools
- Early Childhood Education and Care providers
- Libraries
- Local Government
- Health organisations
- Community‑based organisations
- Child and Family Learning Centres (CFLCs)
Congratulations to Our 2026-27 AEDC Grant Recipients!
The 2026-27 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) Grants Program received 31 applications from organisations supporting children and families across Tasmania.
We are pleased to announce the following nine grant recipients:
- Emerge Allied Health
- Windermere Primary School
- Clarendon Vale Primary School
- Siblings Australia
- Carlton Street Child Care
- Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre
- Swansea Primary School
- JRLF Herdsmans Cove Primary School
- Tasmanian Catholic Education Office
Over the next 12 months, these organisations will deliver projects that support children, families and communities using AEDC data.
Congratulations to all successful recipients. We look forward to sharing updates on their projects throughout 2026-27.
Thank you to everyone who applied. The applications were of a high standard, and we appreciate the time and effort that went into preparing them.
Congratulations to all grant recipients and thank you for your work supporting Tasmania’s children and families.
AEDC – 2024 National Report and Data
AEDC – What is it?
The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) is a national collection of information.
This measures how children are developing in their first year of full-time school.
The 2024 AEDC is the sixth national collection since 2009.
The next collection will be in 2027.
Teachers in Tasmania completed comprehensive questionnaires for more than 6,400 Prep students across the state.
The AEDC assesses children as being developmentally ‘on track’, ‘at risk’ or ‘vulnerable’ across five key developmental domains:
- physical health and wellbeing
- social competence
- emotional maturity
- language and cognitive skills
- communication skills and general knowledge.
Introduction to the AEDC
Introduction to the AEDC – video transcript
Understanding the Data
AEDC – For Teachers and Schools
The AEDC is the most comprehensive data collection of its kind in the world and Australia’s only census of children in their early years.
The AEDC data can help schools to:
- plan and support children’s successful transition to school
- raise awareness of the importance of children’s early years
- implement programs and services for children in the community to support early child development
- act as a platform to forge collaborative community partnerships
Resources
- Watch a short video about the value of completing the AEDC for teachers.
- Watch a short video about how a school used the AEDC to inform their planning – Using the AEDC – Why Bother?
AEDC – For Early Childhood Educators
The AEDC provides educators across sectors with a common language to understand and discuss what is working well in their community and where families may need support to ensure that their children are on-track during the early years.
Evidence from the AEDC can be used to support policy and practice in early childhood education.
The five AEDC domains provide an insight at a community level into the learning and development needs of young children.
The AEDC is also a useful predictor of future development and learning, indicating how well early childhood education programs have prepared them for future learning experiences.
- The value for early childhood educators
- Resource for early childhood educators
- Linking the AEDC with the NAQ
- Linking the AEDC with the NQS and EYLF
- FAQ’s for Early Childhood Educators
Video explaining how the AEDC links with NQS and EYLF
Video explaining how the AEDC can inform your planning.
Supporting your children’s development using the AEDC domains
- Supporting children to develop language and cognitive skills (school-based) (aedc.gov.au, PDF)
AEDC – Video – Language and Cognitive skills. (eq.edu.au) - Supporting children to develop communication skills and general knowledge (aedc.gov.au, PDF)
AEDC – Video – Communication Skills and General Knowledge (eq.edu.au) - Supporting children to develop emotional maturity (aedc.gov.au, PDF)
AEDC – Video – Emotional Maturity - Supporting children to develop physical health and wellbeing (aedc.gov.au, PDF)
AEDC – Video – Physical Health and Wellbeing. (eq.edu.au) - Supporting children to develop social competence (aedc.gov.au, PDF)
AEDC – Video – Social Competence (eq.edu.au) - User Guide: Early Childhood Sector (aedc.gov.au, PDF)
Below is an example of how the AEDC has been used by Early Childcare Educators
AEDC – Resources
Michael Dempsey and Jodi Upton talk about the positive results from the 2018 AEDC collection for Tasmania, also the programs and initiatives that families and community members can engage in to support children’s learning and development. (ABC Drive, Thursday 28 March, 2019, 11:55 mins)
- Hear a pre-recorded webinar for schools – ‘AEDC Webinar for Schools – An inward look – reflecting on your schools data’
- AEDC Infographic – Tasmanian results from 2021 (PDF, 77KB)
- Australian Early Development Census
- Talk, Read and Play Resources – The Department of Education Tasmania
- The B4 Coalition
- AEDC 2024 Report – Tasmania (PDF, 5.5MB)
- AEDC 2021 Report – Tasmania (PDF, 2.2MB)
- AEDC 2018 Report – Tasmania (PDF, 68.0KB)
- AEDC Reseach Papers