Partnering with Parents is an evidence-informed practice support system developed by the Parenting Research Centre to strengthen early childhood educators' confidence and capability to build effective partnerships with parents. Designed with early childhood experts, it provides practical tools, strategies and resources that fit within the realities of busy early learning environments and support educators to engage confidently with families on everyday interactions as well as more complex concerns.

The program comprises three components:

Making Moments Matter: resources and strategies that support positive everyday interactions with parents, children and colleagues across the whole service.

More than Moments: guidance for raising and responding to concerns about a child, featuring interactive videos that model effective conversations with parents in common and sensitive situations.

Working on Concerns with Parents: a structured consultation model that provides step-by-step guidance for educators supporting families with more complex or ongoing concerns.

Partnering with Parents promotes collaborative relationships between educators and families, helping services build a culture of respectful communication, shared decision-making and early intervention. By strengthening educator-parent partnerships, the program supports children's learning, development and wellbeing while enhancing family engagement and inclusion.

Expected outcomes include:

- improved educator confidence and skills to build effective partnerships with parents, including when discussing child development or concerns

- strengthened family engagement, inclusion and collaboration through a whole-of-service approach to working with parents

- improved parent confidence and involvement in supporting children's learning, development and wellbeing at home

- improved child social, emotional and communication development, supporting school readiness

Partnering with Parents is delivered through a structured 10-12 week implementation process that builds educators' confidence and capability to work effectively with parents and families. The program uses a blended learning approach combining self-paced learning, facilitated training and ongoing coaching. Implementation includes:

- Initial consultation and planning with service leadership to establish goals, prepare for implementation and identify Practice Coaches.

- Practice Coach training (approximately 20 hours), including self-paced online learning, a half-day workshop, three 1-hour webinars and five coaching and consultation sessions delivered by the Parenting Research Centre.

- Whole-of-service implementation, where Practice Coaches support educators to apply the approach in everyday practice through team discussions, reflective activities, modelling, coaching and guided use of program resources.

- Ongoing coaching and sustainability support, including implementation coaching from the Parenting Research Centre and a final consultation with service leadership to embed practices and support continuous improvement.

The program can be delivered face-to-face, online or through a blended model, making it suitable for metropolitan, regional and remote ECEC services. Resources are designed to fit within everyday practice and support consistent, sustainable implementation across the service.

Cost (GST exclusive): $7,080 per implementation package. Includes implementation planning, leadership consultations, Practice Coach eLearning support, one half-day workshop (online), three webinars, up to five coaching sessions, and a sustainability consultation. Based on FY2026-27 rates. Additional coaching, tailored support or in person delivery available by quotation.