This paper, and the work of the Strong Foundations Partnership in general, is designed to bring a new level of rigour to policy setting and investments in Australia’s children and young people, most particularly, by focusing not just on effectiveness for the child, but value for the community as a whole.

The Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) measures the development of children in Australia in their first year of full-time school. AEDC data is collected using an adapted version of the Early Development Instrument, which was developed in Canada.

Young children’s outdoor play mostly occurs within the home-yard space, yet the influence of the home yard on preschoolers’ outdoor play and physical activity is poorly understood. We investigated the relationships between home-yard features and home-based outdoor play and physical activity in preschoolers (2–5 years old).

The Morrison Government ignores the case for expanding access to preschool education at its peril, writes Tom Greenwell.

This inquiry looked into the case for investing more public money in early childhood (the 'first 1000 days'), rather than during teenage years, which is the current practice.