Jun 3, 2026 · 22 min · 11 segments
Understanding how children learn and develop in the early years is key to supporting strong educational outcomes and lifelong wellbeing. Last month, the OECD released findings from the 2025 Early…
Dan CloneyGuest
Rebecca VukovicHost
Thanks for listening to this podcast from Teacher Magazine, the free digital resource for K-12 educators published by ACER, the Australian Council for Educational Research.
Understanding how children learn and develop in the early years is key to supporting strong educational outcomes and lifelong wellbeing.
Last month, the OECD released findings from the 2025 Early Learning and Child Wellbeing Study, or IELTS, the first internationally comparable study designed to measure how children are learning and developing at age five.
The study looks across three key domains, foundational learning, executive function and social and emotional skills.
As we know, the early years from birth to age five are a critical period for building the foundations children need to communicate, regulate their emotions, concentrate, solve problems and engage with others.
In today's episode, I'm joined by Dr. Dan Cloney, Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research and Lead Researcher for IELTS here at ACER.
We unpack some of the key findings from the study, explore what made the assessment design unique, and discuss why it's so important to ensure every child arrives at school with the strongest possible foundations.
Dr. Dan Cloney, thanks for joining us today for this Teacher Magazine podcast.
Of course, as I just mentioned in my intro, you're the lead researcher for IELTS at ACER and the survey is exactly what we're here to talk about today.
But before we do, I know your area of expertise is in early childhood education and care and quantitative methods.
Can you tell listeners a little bit about your work in this area and some of the research programs that you've been a part of?
Read the full transcript.
Create an account to read the whole episode, search across every transcript, and follow the shows you care about.
Thanks for listening to this podcast from Teacher Magazine, the free digital resource for K-12 educators published by ACER, the Australian Council for Educational Research.
Understanding how children learn and develop in the early years is key to supporting strong educational outcomes and lifelong wellbeing.
Last month, the OECD released findings from the 2025 Early Learning and Child Wellbeing Study, or IELTS, the first internationally comparable study designed to measure how children are learning and developing at age five.
The study looks across three key domains, foundational learning, executive function and social and emotional skills.
As we know, the early years from birth to age five are a critical period for building the foundations children need to communicate, regulate their emotions, concentrate, solve problems and engage with others.
In today's episode, I'm joined by Dr. Dan Cloney, Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research and Lead Researcher for IELTS here at ACER.
We unpack some of the key findings from the study, explore what made the assessment design unique, and discuss why it's so important to ensure every child arrives at school with the strongest possible foundations.
Dr. Dan Cloney, thanks for joining us today for this Teacher Magazine podcast.
Of course, as I just mentioned in my intro, you're the lead researcher for IELTS at ACER and the survey is exactly what we're here to talk about today.
But before we do, I know your area of expertise is in early childhood education and care and quantitative methods.
Can you tell listeners a little bit about your work in this area and some of the research programs that you've been a part of?
