Narrator

The AEDC is a nationwide census of early childhood development in Australia, and the sixth AEDC data collection will take place in your school in Term 2, 2024, between the 1st of May to the 5th of July. The AEDC collects data about 5 key areas of child development known as domains, including physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, school-based, communication skills, and general knowledge. This video provides a general overview of the 6 key stages in data collection.

Stage one, review the information. A pack will be posted to all primary school principals in March 2024. The pack will contain a welcome letter with the activation code, the AEDC 2024 calendar, a summary of the key steps for participation, and a fact sheet about the AEDC. The AEDC welcome letter contains information to activate the collection for your school. If your school has not received your welcome letter and activation code by the end of March 2024, please contact the AEDC help desk on 1800-092-548 or call your local New South Wales AEDC State Coordinator on 02-7814-3083 to organise access to your letter and activation code.

Stage 2, activate your school. Your principal will be provided with an activation code in the welcome letter. To activate your school, you'll be required to visit the data collection website and enter your 8-digit activation code provided. Activation should take no longer than 5 minutes. Ensure that you activate your school by the 1st of May 2024 so that your school coordinator and Kindergarten teachers have enough time to complete the census.

Stage 3, nominate a staff member as your AEDC school coordinator. As part of your school activation, you'll need to enter information about your school and nominate an AEDC school coordinator. The AEDC school coordinator will assist with gathering the relevant information for teachers to complete the census from the data collection system. The school coordinator will have access to the system to oversee and facilitate the smooth running of the data collection in your school. The school principal can choose to coordinate the AEDC collection, or nominate a staff member to support this process.

Stage 4, complete the census. In New South Wales, the period for data collection is between the 1st of May 2024 to the 5th of July 2024. Teachers need to undertake the data collection within this time and, if possible, in one block. The AEDC school coordinator can follow the onscreen prompts to monitor teachers' progress with data collection activities. There are professional learning courses in the system and on the AEDC New South Wales webpage to support you in the data collection.

Stage 5, finalise your school. After the AEDC school coordinator confirms that participating teachers have completed the collection, the AEDC school coordinator will then finalise the school's involvement in the AEDC collection. Finalising your involvement includes making sure that all students have had their instrument completed, or it has been recorded in the system why they aren't participating. Your invoice and school profile will be automatically generated as the final step. Most of the invoicing information will be pre-populated based on the number of children and teachers involved. Invoices are to be completed by the 30th of August 2024. To help us improve the data collection process and system, you'll be prompted to provide feedback by completing the post-participation feedback survey.

Stage 6, engage with your AEDC school profile. The school coordinator should download the school profile and share results with your director educational leadership, school leaders, and teachers, especially those that completed the collection. We strongly encourage your school to review the data and facilitate engagement and reflection on the AEDC outcomes for children enrolled in your school. The data collected does not provide information about a school's performance, but provides a snapshot of how children in your school and community are developing. The information can be used to support school planning and situational analysis towards meeting the learning and wellbeing needs of children. The New South Wales government and the Australian government use the AEDC data to inform allocation of resources, practice, and policy decisions. More information and resources about the AEDC and how the data is used can be accessed on the New South Wales AEDC Department of Education website and the AEDC National website. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact New South Wales AEDC State Coordinator on aedc@det.nsw.edu.au.

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