User roles during the National Pilot

This article will give information about the following topics:

• About the pilot
• User roles during the pilot
• Children who require accommodations to participate
• Plain Language Statements
• Protecting data and privacy

About the pilot

The pilot provides teachers and educators with an opportunity to use a version of the Preschool Outcomes Measure (POM) National Tool that has been further developed and refined in response to findings and feedback from a 2025 National Applied Trial (NAT).

The pilot is an opportunity for teachers and educators to further test the useability of the POM National Tool in practice and to give feedback to help the ACER team make further improvements. Teachers and educators will also engage with the national learning progressions and other professional learning and support materials related to the POM National Tool. Feedback from the pilot will help us further refine and expand those materials.

While dates vary between states and territories, the pilot will occur during Terms 3 and 4 of 2026.

In 2027, the pilot will run from Term 1 to Term 4 (dates for each state and territory to be confirmed) and will include the opportunity to assess children more than once using the POM National Tool to measure their progress over the year before full-time school. 

During the pilot, teachers and educators will use a digital tool suitable for use on a tablet to engage in reflections and observations about children’s learning. They may also invite and support children to interact with the tablet to observe what children can do. For those services without sufficient internet access, offline delivery options are available.

User roles during the pilot

Site leaders

The site leader is the nominated key contact for each service participating in the pilot. 

Site leaders may be directors, principals, educational leaders or administrative staff. They are responsible for overseeing the pilot at their service, including managing administrative requirements. They may also be teachers and educators participating in the pilot. If so, the site leader should also follow the steps for participating teachers and educators.

What site leaders will do

• Prepare for the pilot by inviting participating teachers and educators to join ACER’s online system and supporting them to access the system if needed. When teachers and educators join the system, they will be prompted to access a Plain Language Statement about the pilot and statements about data and privacy and will indicate their consent to participate.
• Check devices (e.g. tablets already available at the service) that teachers and educators will use to assess children during the pilot. Check the internet connection. 
• Communicate with parents and carers about the pilot using the materials provided by ACER. These include a Plain Language Statement and an ‘Opt-out’ form for parents and carers. If parents and carers consent for their child to participate, they do not need to do anything. If they wish to ‘opt out’, they return the signed form to their child’s teacher or educator, or to the service to indicate that they do not consent for their child to participate. If a child’s parents or carers complete the opt-out form, make sure that no data is collected for that child.
• Make sure that teachers and educators register for a required professional learning workshop, which will prepare them to use the POM National Tool during the pilot. Information will be provided about options for engaging in professional learning in your state or territory and how to register for workshops.  Note that there are two different options for professional learning workshops in 2026, and these may be available in online and/or face-to-face modes:
  • A 1-day refresher workshop for teachers and educators who participated in the 2025 National Applied Trial
  • A 2-day workshop for teachers and educators who are new to the POM National Tool.  
• Make sure that teachers and educators can access both accounts they need for the pilot. They can use the same email address for both accounts. These are:
  • An account to access the digital POM National Tool
  • A separate account to access the online POM Professional Learning Hub 
• Add details into the system for participating children.
• Contact the Preschool support team to assist you with any issues with registration or throughout the trial.

Related articles: For site leaders

Teachers and educators

Teachers and educators are the practitioners who work directly with children and families. 

What teachers and educators will do

• Join ACER’s online system with support from the site leader. When teachers and educators join the system, they will be prompted to access a Plain Language Statement about the pilot and statements about data and privacy and will indicate their consent to participate. 
• Address questions about the pilot from parents and carers and provide more information if needed. Collect any signed opt-out forms from parents and carers who do not want their child to participate in the pilot. If a child’s parents or carers complete the opt-out form, make sure that no data is collected for that child. 
• Work with the site leader to make sure that information about any accessibility requirements for individual children is entered correctly into the system. This will ensure that each child is assigned formative assessment experiences that are a good match for their needs.
• Register for and attend professional learning workshops, which must be completed to gain access to the POM National Tool. Note that there are two different options for professional learning workshops in 2026, and these may be available in online and/or face-to-face modes:
  • A 1-day refresher workshop for teachers and educators who participated in the 2025 National Applied Trial
  • A 2-day workshop for teachers and educators who are new to the POM National Tool.  
• Use the POM National Tool to engage children in formative assessment of their oral language and literacy and executive function capabilities during the pilot period. This involves engaging children in a series of playful learning experiences and completing a set of observations and reflections called ‘tiles’ that are within the POM National Tool. Some of these tiles might involve supporting children to engage with tablet-based experiences. Each assessment for a child can be completed over a 2-week period, so that you don’t have to complete the whole assessment at once. In total, an assessment for a child may take about 30 minutes. 
• After completing an assessment, access findings for each child, which are shown as an estimated location along the learning progression. At this location, you will find descriptions and examples of what children can typically do at that point along the learning progressions. The descriptions and examples could be used to support conversations with parents or carers about a child’s current capabilities and next steps in learning. 
• In 2026, you will complete one assessment per domain for each child. In 2027, you will have the option of assessing the child’s learning at two different points (at least six months apart) to measure their progress during the year before full-time school.
• Explore the learning progressions and practice prompts (evidence-informed ideas for planning and teaching) within the digital POM National Tool and the self-paced online modules and resources through the POM Professional Learning Hub. These are optional but highly recommended to help teachers and educators use the POM National Tool to support practice, and so that we can gather feedback to improve the support materials. 
• Support children’s participation and engagement with formative assessment activities. Remember that children can choose to stop participating at any time, so be alert to any signs of discomfort through children’s body language or spoken requests to take a break or stop the assessment. 
• Provide feedback to our development team so that we can make improvements, including through online questionnaires following the professional learning workshops and at the end of the pilot. 
• During the onboarding process and professional learning workshops, you will find out more about what is involved and how to access assistance. You will also learn about any specific requirements for participation in your state or territory, such as the number of formative assessments you are expected to complete within the pilot period. ACER will provide information and resources to guide you with all aspects of the POM National Tool and the pilot, including how to support participation for a diverse range of children. You will have an opportunity for guided practice using the formative assessment during the professional learning workshops so that you feel confident and supported. 
• Contact ACER's Preschool support team for any questions or help needed during the pilot.

Related articles: For teachers and educators
 

Child

Children in the year before full-time school who attend a preschool program in any participating service and whose parents or carers do not opt-out of the pilot may be included. The number of children who participate in a formative assessment using the POM National Tool may depend on various factors including jurisdiction-specific guidelines.  

What children will do

• Participate in everyday activities that feel like regular play and learning but are part of the pilot.
• Interact with the tablet when invited to do so by teachers and educators as part of the formative assessment.
• Choose to stop participating at any time. Participation is voluntary, and it is important that children maintain a sense of agency about their learning. 

Talking with children about the POM National Tool

It is important that teachers and educators establish a safe, playful and engaging assessment environment for children. Some of the ways you could do this include:

• Model curiosity and a sense of playfulness when engaging children in the formative assessment experience. Children will take this cue from you. The formative assessment experiences are designed to feel like familiar play and interactions, and most children will enjoy the opportunity to engage with you during the assessment.
• Use encouraging language that acknowledges children’s efforts (e.g. ‘I really liked the way you took your time to think before answering that question’, or ‘I like the way you had a go at that one even though it was tricky’) without giving an indication of whether children’s responses are ‘right’ or ‘wrong.’
• Pay close attention to children’s verbal and non-verbal cues to help you monitor their level of engagement. If a child is becoming distracted or frustrated after one or two formative assessment experiences, you might ask whether they would like to take a break and come back to it later. You don’t have to complete the whole assessment for a child at once. If a child prefers to engage in shorter interactions, they can do so. Children can also withdraw at any time if they choose not to participate.
• When introducing formative assessment experiences to children (especially those involving one-on-one interactions with children or the use of the tablet), you might say something like:
• ‘I would like to try some games and activities with you to help me find out more about what you already know and what you can already do. These will be like things we usually do at [preschool], but some things might be new to you. How do you feel about having a go at these games and activities with me so that you can show me what you can do?’ Or,
• ‘These next activities are a bit like a game that we can look at together on the tablet. Some might be a bit tricky if they ask things you haven’t learned yet. That’s okay –just have a go if you want to or say “I don’t know” if you haven’t learned it yet. Remember, if you want to take a break or you don’t want to do any more activities, you can just tell me and that’s okay. Would you like to start?’ 

Children who require accommodations to participate

The POM National Tool is designed for all children in the year before full-time school. This includes children with diverse capabilities and learning requirements. It also includes children who speak a home language other than Standard Australian English, including children who speak Aboriginal English.

Features of the POM National Tool that support accessibility for all children include: 

• Formative assessment tiles have been designed according to universal design principles to address a broad range of capabilities and ways of engaging.
• An adaptive component adjusts the level of challenge based on each child’s responses to an initial set of formative assessment tiles.
• Assignment of tiles is customised based on a child’s specific accessibility requirements. These requirements are entered by the site leader (in consultation with teachers and educators and parents and carers who know the child best) when adding participating children to the account. For example, site leaders can indicate whether the child has a vision or hearing impairment, mobility needs, speech and language delay or known developmental concerns.  
• The site leader can also indicate whether the child does not speak English, and whether they speak Aboriginal English (acknowledging this as a valid form of English). This information acts as a filter to ensure that the tiles assigned to the child for the formative assessment are a good fit for their accessibility and language requirements. If the teacher or educator and the child share a language other than English, the assessment can be administered in the shared language.      
• Some assessment tasks include possible variations that can be made to standard administration, to accommodate children’s accessibility requirements and constraints of the environment.  

During the professional learning workshops and in the resources on the POM Professional Learning Hub, teachers and educators will learn more about how a diverse range of children can be fully included in the formative assessment. Our goal is to develop a fully accessible formative assessment tool that enables all children to participate. The pilot is an important opportunity to try out some of these accessibility features and give feedback to help us make improvements. 

Parent or carer

Parents and carers are adults with legal or primary responsibility for a child’s care and wellbeing. They will be informed about the pilot and choose whether they consent for their child to participate.

What parents and carers will do

• Receive and read the Plain Language Statement provided by their child’s service provider, which includes information about the pilot.
• Contact their child’s teacher or preschool director to ask questions or seek clarification about their child’s participation in the pilot. Parents and carers can also contact ACER directly to ask questions or find out more.
• Return a signed opt-out form to the service provider if they DO NOT want their child to participate in the pilot.
• Choose to opt-out for their child at any time during the pilot.
• Parents and carers might receive information about their child’s assessment outcomes from the pilot, communicated through a conversation with their child’s teacher or educator. This is not compulsory in the pilot and is at the discretion of each service. 

Plain Language Statements

Please read the Plain Language Statement relevant to your role as part of the pilot.

Protecting data and privacy

The privacy and security of all data collected during the pilot is a priority. 

ACER will only collect and use data to refine and improve the POM National Tool. The data will not be used to compare or rank service providers, teachers and educators, or children.  

Information that identifies children or teachers and educators will only be shared where needed for the pilot. This may include sharing with authorised preschool staff and authorised ACER researchers who are providing support to services. Following the pilot, data will be stored in de-identified form only. Any information or reporting shared outside ACER will be for research purposes and will not include the names of children or staff. 

Information will be collected and managed according to ACER’s privacy policy: www.acer.org/privacy.

Participation is voluntary. Services, teachers and educators and facilitators can withdraw from the pilot at any time by lodging a ‘submit a request’ contact form (https://preschoolsupport.acer.org/hc/en-au/requests/new). 

Children can choose to stop participating and parents or carers can choose to ‘opt-out’ for their children at any time by returning the opt-out form or notifying the teacher or service that they no longer wish to participate.

If you need to withdraw a child at any stage during the pilot, notify the Preschool support team so that we can remove any data relating to the child from the system.