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Respectful Relationships in early childhood

Respectful Relationships in early childhood is about supporting educators to create cultures of respect, positive conflict resolution and equality in their program planning.

Respectful Relationships training

Respectful Relationships is an initiative to support schools and early childhood education settings to promote respect and equality. It supports educators to teach our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence.

Free professional learning will be available for educators in Victorian Government-funded kindergarten programs, state-wide, in October and November 2025. A financial contribution toward backfill is available for those attending.

About the training

The training will focus on how to build and develop respectful relationships in alignment with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and the National Quality Standard.

It is designed to strengthen the capacity of early childhood educators to:

  • promote respectful relationships, positive attitudes and behaviours within their teaching approach, to enable children to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence
  • understand the role of gender equality in the prevention of family violence, and learn practical strategies for promoting gender equality in their teaching practice
  • recognise and respond to family violence and build support networks.

The professional learning will comprise of a two-hour self-paced online training module and a one-day online workshop.

Online workshops will be held on the following dates:

  • Monday 13 October 2025
  • Wednesday 15 October 2025
  • Tuesday 21 October 2025
  • Thursday 23 October 2025
  • Friday 24 October 2025
  • Tuesday 28 October 2025
  • Friday 31 October 2025
  • Wednesday 5 November 2025
  • Thursday 6 November 2025
  • Friday 7 November 2025

Access the Respectful Relationships professional learning flyer (PDF, 98KB).

Register

Registrations for workshops in October and November 2025 are now open. To register go to the Respectful Relationships Learning Management System, create an account by filling the required registration fields and log in.

Once you are logged in:

  1. select ‘Home’ near the top left corner of the page
  2. select the ‘Respectful Relationships Professional Learning’ course
  3. under the ‘Self enrolment (Learner)’ heading select ‘Enrol Me’
  4. open the course, read the content and follow the instructions to book a workshop.

If you have any questions about the Respectful relationships professional learning for early childhood educators, please email respectful.relationships@education.vic.gov.au.

Claiming Backfill and Additional Hours

The professional learning program is an item on the School Readiness Funding Menu. Services can use the menu to arrange for backfill or additional support or apply to the department directly for backfill reimbursement.

To claim backfill directly through the department:

To claim through School Readiness Funding (SRF) Menu:

Select the Respectful Relationships Menu Item on your SRF plan and include backfill or additional hours for that item.

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