The Preschool Outcomes Measure (POM) is a joint initiative of the Australian and state and territory governments and is a key reform under the
Preschool Reform Agreement.
The POM involves 4 key elements:
- a new set of national learning progressions in 2 learning domains—executive function, and oral language and literacy
- a new national formative assessment tool (the national tool) for teachers and educators to measure a child's learning and development progress against these learning progressions
- professional learning supports
- an alignment process to ensure national consistency with existing learning frameworks and formative assessment tools such as the Victorian Early Years Assessment and Learning Tool (EYALT) and the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Progression Toolkit (KLPT).
While the national tool was trialled in 2025 in selected states and territories, Queensland continued to focus on further developing the KLPT and progressing alignment to demonstrate consistency with the national tool.
The Queensland Government has been working closely with the Australian Council for Educational Research and the sector since 2022 on the development of the KLPT.
More information on the
Preschool Outcomes Measure is available on the Australian Government's website.
Kindergarten Learning Progression Toolkit
The KLPT is a Queensland Government initiative that provides teachers and educators with a voluntary, formative, child-centred assessment toolkit. It supports high-quality assessment practices and informs the planning cycle.
The KLPT has been developed in response to an identified need to enrich children's holistic learning development during the early years. The toolkit is designed to support teachers and educators in planning and practice by enhancing how they gather evidence and monitor what children 'know' and can 'do' with respect to 5 core skills:
- language and literacy
- executive function
- social and emotional learning
- physicality
- mathematics and numeracy.
The KLPT is designed to complement and support existing practice. It gives teachers and educators a shared language for observation and assessment to support reflection and professional conversations. The focus is on each child's individual learning journey, and it is not designed to compare or benchmark children.
The toolkit is aligned with the Queensland kindergarten learning guideline, the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 and the newly developed national tool. The KLPT includes foundational supports, along with fact sheets, informational videos, practical implementation supports, instructional videos and validated progressions that underpin an observation support tool.
The KLPT is being developed over 2 phases.
Phase 1—due for finalisation during 2026
In line with the national agenda, the following 2 learning areas have been validated through national and state trials in 2025 and will be the first to be released.
Language and literacy
Language and literacy describe how children communicate and make meaning. It includes spoken language, sign, Augmentative and Alternative Communication and written language. Strong expressive and receptive language skills help children share their thoughts, ideas and feelings and understand others. They also lay the foundation for learning to read and write.
Executive function
Executive function refers to how children think, plan and stay focused. It helps them remember instructions, switch or move between tasks and keep trying when things get challenging or tricky. These skills include working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. While we can't see these brain processes directly, we can observe them through behaviours like persistence, adaptability and problem solving.
Phase 2—due for finalisation in 2027
The remaining 3 learning areas (social and emotional learning, physicality, and mathematics and numeracy) will go through a process of validation and trialling commencing in 2026 to provide a complete set of skills to be observed when using the KLPT tool.
For further enquiries, contact the department by emailing
KLPT@qed.qld.gov.au.