OECD releases landmark international study on early learning and development

The OECD has just released the Building Strong Foundations for Life - Results from the 2025 Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS), the first internationally comparable study designed to measure how children are developing and learning at the age of five.

The study examines children’s development across a set of domains that reflect a holistic view of early learning. These include foundational learning, executive function and social and emotional skills. Together, these areas capture academic foundations and the cognitive and social capabilities that support learning and engagement over the lifecycle.

A defining feature of IELS is its direct assessment approach, developed specifically for young children. Children participate in short, story‑based and game-like activities delivered on a tablet. The assessment is administered one‑to‑one with the child by trained assessors. This innovative design allows children to demonstrate their learning in ways that are well aligned with children’s capabilities.

The findings show that differences in children’s learning and wellbeing are already evident by age five, including associations with gender and socio‑economic background. The report also highlights the important role of home learning environments and strong partnerships between families and early learning settings, alongside access to high-quality early childhood education and care, in supporting children’s development in the early years.

IELS was delivered by an international consortium under OECD leadership, with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) serving as lead contractor.

“Measuring learning in the early years requires approaches that are both responsive to children and technically robust,” said Dan Cloney, Lead Researcher for IELS at ACER.

“ACER led the development of the assessment framework, instruments and delivery platform and undertook the psychometric modelling that underpin the study. This work reflects ACER’s deep expertise in early childhood assessment and international large‑scale assessments.”

Beyond IELS, the study forms part of ACER’s broader leadership in early childhood assessment and research. ACER has played a central role in advancing how early learning and development can be measured, including through national initiatives such as the Preschool Outcomes Measure (POM) in Australia and contributions to global work on education access and equity.

Together, this growing body of work positions ACER as a trusted authority in early learning measurement, supporting educators, policymakers and systems to translate evidence into decisions that strengthen outcomes for children from the earliest years.

“What makes IELS 2025 so powerful is that it does not just look at one piece of the puzzle. It brings together direct assessments of the cognitive, social and emotional foundations of children with insights from parents and teachers.” said Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills, OECD.

“It looks across multiple domains of development at once. In doing so, it gives us something we have long been missing: a clear and comparable picture of how children are really doing at the very start of their learning journeys.”

The OECD International Early Learning and Child Wellbeing Study provides the first internationally comparable, system‑level view of how children are learning and developing at age five, making early learning visible at a critical point. By strengthening the evidence base on what supports children’s learning and wellbeing in the early years, IELS helps policymakers, educators and systems ensure more children start school with strong foundations for life. The 2025 study represented the second cycle of IELS after the first cycle was undertaken in 2018.

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About ACER

For more than 95 years, the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) has been driven by a single purpose – to improve learning for all.

Founded in Australia in 1930, ACER began as a small team of researchers determined to bring rigour and evidence to education and assessment. Over the decades, that commitment has evolved into a global mission – combining world-class assessment and research to help learners, educators and systems understand what works in education, and why.

Today our work spans over 150 countries and reaches millions of learners from early childhood through to adulthood. Across our offices in Australia, India, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, nearly 500 dedicated people work alongside industry, governments, education systems, early learning institutes, schools, tertiary institutions, and international development agencies to turn research into action, and evidence into impact.