Parent Guide to
Parent-Educator Communication

Meetings and regular communication with your child’s educators provide an opportunity for you to share with them how your child is settling in at long day care or kindergarten and how they are progressing. You can learn more about your child’s experiences, talk about relevant strengths and areas where support may be needed, share strategies that have been effective at home and at long day care/kindergarten and work towards creating consistency across settings.

The following tips can provide a prompt and guidance when speaking with educators:

1. Be ready

Write down any areas you specifically want to talk about beforehand, and bring this list to the conversation.

2. Have a positive attitude

Your child’s educator is a partner with you in your child’s learning, development and inclusion. If you have concerns or feel upset, try to express these to the educator in a calm way. Give the educator an opportunity to share their perspective of the situation, describe your own views and work together to find positive solutions.

3. Start with the positive

Discuss your child’s strengths first. Share with the educators any strengths you feel are relevant, and ask the educators about what strengths they have identified too. Access AllPlay Learn’s Strengths and abilities checklist for a list of some of the strengths your child may have and consider completing it with your child's educators.

4. Discuss areas where support may be needed

This is an opportunity for the educators and you to share areas where your child could benefit from support and set goals accordingly. The educator may have identified opportunities for support that you were not aware of, and vice versa. It may be important to work together to explore what the priorities may be, and to share strategies that may be effective. Strategies that draw on your child’s strengths may be most effective - access AllPlay Learn’s inclusive questions for a guide to drawing on children’s strengths.

5. Discuss ways in which you can create consistency across home and school

Share ideas about caregiving, routines, activities and strategies that your child enjoys and how these can be used across settings.