Positive relationships, interactions and behaviour support policy

Children are shaped by their relationships. This includes ideas about who they are and where they belong.

Early Learning Victoria educators help children to build positive relationships. They nurture and respect children, responding to them in positive ways. These relationships in turn help children to interact well with others.

Positive relationships help children to think of themselves as capable and respected. They also help children develop ‘executive functioning’ skills. These skills benefit children’s learning, growth and life outcomes.

1. Scope

This policy applies to children, families, staff, management and visitors of Early Learning Victoria centres. This includes volunteers, students on placement and contractors or labour hire employees of Early Learning Victoria.

2. Policy statement

This policy guides educators on how to build positive, respectful and reciprocal relationships with children. This includes when offering behaviour support strategies.

This policy is in line with the Early Years Learning Framework, Victorian Early Years Learning Framework, National Quality Standards, the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 (the National Law) and Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011 (the Regulations).

2.1 Requirements

Under the National Law and Regulations, all centre staff need to:

guide children’s behaviour in positive ways
consider each child and their family values, culture, age and abilities
encourage children to have a voice and express themselves and their opinions
enable children to have experiences that develop their independence and self-esteem
maintain the dignity and rights of each child
give children opportunities to interact and build respectful and positive relationships, with each other and with staff.

2.2 Background and information

Research shows that relationships help children develop their identity, self-esteem and ‘executive functioning’ skills. These skills contribute to positive learning and positive outcomes in life.

Interactions need to be warm, caring and responsive. It is important to not only build but maintain relationships. This way, children are more likely to feel a sense of security, wellbeing and belonging.

To build and maintain positive relationships, children need to develop social skills. These help children understand others and their feelings, to control their reactions, and to negotiate.

When children feel respected and valued, they are much more likely to speak up about anything that is worrying them. Child Safe Standard 3 ‘Child and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.’ This means services must have strategies to support children to take part and feel empowered.

Guiding children’s behaviour is an important part of caring for and educating children. Educators role-model appropriate behaviour and language. They show children how to interact well with staff and other children, and with their environment.

Educators also encourage children to socialise with others, including children of different ages, genders and backgrounds.

Any behaviour support strategies should be right for the child’s age and level of development.

Educators should encourage children to make their own decisions. They should give children chances to be independent and to regulate (control) their reactions. They should also allow children to sometimes experience the consequences of their choices (as long as there is no risk of physical or emotional harm to the child or anyone else).

Children should be acknowledged when they make good choices and offered support when they are struggling.

Positive behaviour support focuses on:

children’s strengths
knowledge of the child’s learning and development
mutually respectful relationships between adults and children
understanding and addressing the underlying causes of challenging behaviours
teaching new skills through intentional teaching and strengths-based goals
using a variety of communication strategies, including verbal and non-verbal cues
modifying spaces for different learning and development needs
reinforcing appropriate behaviour
long-term improvements benefiting children, educators and families.

3. Actions and procedures

3.1 Responsibilities of families

Families need to:

read this policy
talk openly with educators about their child
tell educators about anything that may be affecting their child’s behaviour (e.g. illness, moving house, relationship issues or a new sibling)
tell educators if they’re worried about their child’s behaviour, or about the effects of other children’s behaviour
work with educators and other professionals to develop or review a behaviour support plan, where appropriate.

3.2 Responsibilities of staff

All centre staff need to:
- provide a welcoming, safe, inclusive environment where children’s interests and concerns are always responded to
- create a flexible environment that responds to the strengths, culture, languages, interests and capabilities of each child
- respect children’s physical space and only use touch when needed and appropriate, and with a child’s consent
- use children’s names and make eye contact as appropriate
- support children’s consent by respecting their right to give, withhold or withdraw consent, verbally or non-verbally (for example, by using body language)
- respect each child’s uniqueness, showing appreciation and respect for children as individuals
- always use a positive and encouraging voice when interacting with children
- ensure mealtimes are relaxed and unhurried (part of ‘slow pedagogy’)
- sit with children during mealtimes, having meaningful conversations
- never force a child to do something. This includes resting, eating or taking part in group activities
- role-model respect in everyday interactions with adults and children
- recognise each child’s culture, values and opinions and respond appropriately
- respect and value diversity and not tolerate any type of discrimination
- encourage children to start conversations about their experiences at home
- encourage children to ask for help when taking on new challenges (promoting children’s independence and confidence)
- regularly reflect on their relationships and interactions with children and how these can be improved
- use a variety of communication strategies, including verbal and non-verbal cues
- empower children to speak up and talk about any worries
- build secure attachments by working with families on decisions about their child
- encourage children to develop confidence in their ability to express themselves
- encourage children to work through differences in a positive way, with help if needed
- undertake training about Child Safe Standards
- understand and implement the Child Safe Standards.
All centre staff should inspire, encourage and accept each child, and encourage them to do the same with other children. They can do this by:
- helping children build a confident self-identity
- helping children try to understand how other people might be feeling
- supporting children to interact with a range of people
- nurturing critical thinking about bias
- supporting children to stand up for themselves and others in the face of bias
- responding respectfully and appropriately to children
- engaging in sustained shared thinking with children about their interests
- putting in place a predictable routine. This includes intentional learning activities and opportunities for self-selection (where children choose to take part in activities that interest them).
In relation to behaviour support, staff are responsible for implementing positive behaviour support strategies such as:
- visual supports
- gestural cues
- verbal prompting
- redirection
- regulation techniques
- sensory adjustments (such as providing quiet spaces, weighted blankets or ‘heavy work’)
- developing logical consequences
- helping children name their emotions
- completing an Individual Support Plan (ISP)
- setting up learning environments and supervision plans. These respond to triggers and/or sources of challenging behaviour
- working to understanding the child in the context of the family, culture and community
- staying calm and consistent
- using positive reinforcement and positive behaviour supports (as mentioned above)
- using clear, simple words that suit the child’s level of development
- working with other staff to ensure strategies are used consistently
- making notes and reflecting on behaviours and strategies.
Note that children must only ever be physically restrained in emergency situations, such as when a child is:
- in a clearly unsafe situation (e.g. attempting to climb over a fence or run onto a road)
- risking the safety, health or wellbeing of themselves, other children or staff.
Staff must not use corporal (physical) punishment or unreasonable discipline. This is a serious breach of the National Law and Regulations and the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005. Examples of unreasonable discipline include:
- hitting, slapping or pinching a child
- force-feeding a child
- isolating a child
- yelling at a child
- humiliating or belittling a child
- dragging a child
- depriving a child of food or drink
- using negative consequences (e.g. putting a child in ‘time out’).
When a child may be in immediate danger of being hurt or hurting others, an educator may then need to take the child to another space and support them to calm down and/or self-regulate. This can also be part of an individual support plan.
In these situations, the educator must:
- stay with the child
- offer reassurance, comfort and support
- give the child space and time to calm themselves, while keeping them within sight or hearing.
The educator can later help the child think about their emotions and what happened, and what they might have done differently. (Note that in the middle of highly emotional moments, it can be very hard for children to think or talk about how they’re feeling.) The educator can use photos, visual cues and social stories to support these chats.
Nominated supervisors and the approved provider have extra responsibilities.
They must:
- ensure obligations under the National Law and Regulations are met
- ensure there are child safe environments at each centre
- ensure minimum staff requirements are met, including educator-to-child ratios and staff qualifications requirements
- ensure all staff, educators and volunteers have completed safeguarding children training, including mandatory reporting requirements
- ensure no child faces any form of corporal (physical) punishment or inappropriate discipline
- ensure that the Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework (MARAM) is understood and followed
- ensure that Child Safe Standards are understood and followed
- ensure that the Department of Education’s Conduct and Integrity Division is notified as soon as possible after becoming aware of an allegation of reportable conduct against an adult engaged by an Early Learning Victoria centre.

4. Resources

Legislation and standards

Relevant legislation and standards include:

Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010
Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011
Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005
Child Safe Standards
Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004
Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017
Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014
Privacy Act 1988
Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008
Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019

Administering medications procedure
Anti-bias approach policy
Protecting children policy
Child safety and wellbeing policy
Child safety code of conduct
Handling complaints and feedback policy
Educational program policy
Child and family violence information sharing policy
Management of medical conditions policy
Nappy changing and toileting policy
Electronic devices and photograph policy
Privacy policy

Definitions

Challenging behaviour: Behaviour that:

disrupts others or causes disputes between children
infringes on the rights of others
harms or presents a risk to the child, other children, adults or other living things
is physically destructive
inhibits the child’s learning or relationship with others
is inappropriate for the child’s age, level of development and background.

Child Safe Standards: The Child Safe Standards are compulsory minimum standards for all organisations that provide services to children. Their aim is to ensure organisations are well prepared to protect children from abuse and neglect.

Individual behaviour support plan: This gives educators strategies to use with children with diagnosed behavioural difficulties or challenging behaviours. The strategies focus on supporting the child to self-manage. The plan is developed with the centre director and/or inclusion support professionals, teachers, educators and families, and other professional support agencies as needed.

Education

Updated 19 December 2025

On this page

1. Scope

2. Policy statement

2.1 Requirements

2.2 Background and information

3. Actions and procedures

3.1 Responsibilities of families

3.2 Responsibilities of staff

4. Resources

Legislation and standards

Links

Definitions

Positive relationships, interactions and behaviour support policy

On this page

1. Scope

2. Policy statement

2.1 Requirements

2.2 Background and information

3. Actions and procedures

3.1 Responsibilities of families

3.2 Responsibilities of staff

4. Resources

Legislation and standards

Related policies

Links

Definitions