Model positive interactions (Early Childhood)

teaching practice

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For student year

Early Childhood

Helps students to

build social-awareness

interact with others

Helps teachers to

model interactions

strengthen relationships

Summary

For the primary school version of this practice, go to:
Model positive interactions

As an educator, you are enormously influential in setting the tone in your learning environment. Young children will often follow your lead when it comes to behavioural and social interactions. High quality educator-child relationships are characterised by responsiveness, sensitivity, warmth, and emotional tone and support. Modelling responsive interactions can support learners in developing social-emotional skills and positive behaviour.

Modelling involves the repeated demonstration of a desired interaction or behaviour to learners and:

includes strategies such as using a calm voice; responding to children when they are upset, angry or hurt with empathy; waiting for children to finish what their saying before responding etc.
can be embedded within structured and unstructured activities, routines and transitions
is easy to implement
does not require additional staff or resources.

Modelling positive interactions with peers and adults can foster social-emotional and behavioural learning including:

joint attention
turn-taking and sharing
communication skills
social skills such as initiating play with peers or managing conflict
school-readiness
engagement in ECEC
academic skills.

Modelling reinforces and embeds positive social behaviours in your learning environment for all children. Modelling should incorporate a learners' preferred method of communication (i.e., if the learner requires a communication device or other forms of technology).

How the practice works

Watch this video to learn more about this practice.

Duration 2:46

Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) National Quality Standards (NQS) related to this practice

Element 1.2.2: Responsive teaching and scaffolding.

Educators respond to children’s ideas and play and extend children’s learning through open-ended questions, interactions and feedback.

Element 5.1.1: Positive educator to child interactions

Responsive and meaningful interactions build trusting relationships which engage and support each child to feel secure, confident and included

For further information, see ACEQA’s National Quality Standard page

Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) outcomes related to this practice

Outcome 2: Children are connected and contribute to their world

Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners

Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators

For further information, see ACEQA’s Approved learning frameworks page

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Preparing to teach

Knowing your learner/s means that you can identify their strengths and the social skills required by one or more learners within the group. These skills might also be highlighted by parents/carers, educator, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, psychologist, or other specialists. These skills could include:

joint attention with a peer or adult
communicating good morning/good-bye
seeking help
giving/sharing toys or equipment
taking turns with peers or adults
initiating interactions
answering to name being called
answering or initiating a question.

When using modelling you need to establish:

the what –the skill you will model (related to the child’s goal)
the why –the rationale for choosing the skill
the how –the steps of the skill.

Then plan which relevant opportunities you will use to introduce and model the skill. Plan to model the skill as often as possible. Establish when you can structure modelling into your daily program.

It works better if:

the skill being developed is agreed as a priority for that learner (e.g. their individualised goals)
the learner is paying attention to the educator when the skill is being modelled
the modelled skill will benefit the learner within the learning environment
the learner enjoys imitating the behaviour being modelled
other adults and peers model the skills or behaviour.

It doesn’t work if:

skills are only modelled once or twice – modelling must be continuous and consistent
too many skills are modelled at once
the learner does not have the pre-requisite skills (e.g. is not copying/imitating).

In the classroom

How do I do it?

When modelling:

ensure the learner is actively engaged in what is happening
model the skill as often as possible within a variety of relevant activities
highlight the steps for effective use of the skills.

To support learner success, combine modelling with:

positive reinforcement (e.g., verbal praise or non-verbal gestures such as a thumbs-up)
prompting (e.g., verbal reminders, visual cues)

Use the EYLF Planning Cycle to model positive interactions

Observe: the child’s pre-requisite skills and their current interactions (strengths and needs), who the child chooses to play with/alongside, and the educator/s the child is most comfortable with
Assess: ask parents/carers and specialists about how they model interactions at home and in other environments and what works well
Plan: individualised goals with the parents/carers and plan how to embed modelling positive interactions into learning activities based on your observations and assessment
Implement: your plan of modelling positive interactions throughout daily activities and routines with peers and adults
Evaluate: the impact on the child’s social-emotional and behavioural development and interactions with peers and adults

How will I know if it's working?

Children enjoy secure and stable relationships with educators
Children are building social and self-regulation skills through interactions with their peers and educators
Educators embed modelling positive interactions into their daily routine

Educators establish and maintain a strong partnership with parents/carers to support consistent approaches to modelling positive interactions.

Practice toolkit

Practice implementation planner template

We know it's not always easy to keep track of what's working and what isn't. So, we've created this template for you to record and reflect on what you're doing to create more inclusive classrooms. The implementation planner contains:

guidance around goal setting
a reflection section (what worked, didn’t work, what to change, and next steps)
prompting questions.

Implementation planner with examples

Download (103.38 KB)

Set your professional learning goal for:

Model positive interactions (Early Childhood)

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Benefits of goal setting

Setting, working towards, and reflecting on goals helps you grow professionally and improve your practice. You can access AITSL learning resources for teachers to learn more about:

How to set goals

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership recommends using the SMART matrix to frame your goal setting.

SMART goals refers to goals that are:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-phased

Read more about Improving teaching practices.

Resources

Related Practices

This practice is from the core research project