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.
On this page
- Respectful Relationships training
- About the training
- Register
- Claiming Backfill and Additional Hours
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 2026. 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.
Register
The 2025 Respectful Relationships professional learning for early childhood educators is now complete.
Additional workshops will be scheduled in 2026.
If you would like to be advised when new dates are advertised, 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:
- Submit a completed Backfill Claim Form (DOCX, 94KB) and Tax Invoice to respectful.relationships@education.vic.gov.au
- Please note that (a) you are eligible to claim backfill after you have attended the full-day workshop and (b) you have 2 weeks to submit your claim.
- Click here for a Sample tax invoice.
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.
Updated 9 April 2026
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