Strengthen your approach to engaging families experiencing financial adversity

With practical strategies to build trust, navigate sensitive conversations and support children’s learning and wellbeing.

What you'll learn

This course explores strategies for building partnerships with families, with a particular focus on engaging families in high-poverty contexts using effective communication.

By completing this course, you will be able to:

  • Appreciate that engaging families, particularly those struggling financially, is an ongoing process that requires a repertoire of interpersonal communication skills.
  • Understand the barriers that can impede engagement with families, especially for those experiencing financial adversity.
  • Apply effective interpersonal communication principles and practices in your work with families.
  • Approach sensitive conversations with purpose and care.
  • Incorporate learnings from your interpersonal communication with families into your teaching practice.
  • Critically reflect on your own and your service's current and potential approaches to engaging families.
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Course curriculum

    1. 1.1 Introduction

    2. 1.2 About the research project

    3. 1.3 About this course

    4. 1.4 What will you learn?

    5. 1.5 About your presenters

    6. 1.6 About Community Early Learning Australia (CELA)

    1. 2.1 Welcome and introduction

    2. 2.2 ‘Hard to reach’ families or services?

    1. 3.1 Critical reflection

    2. 3.2 Scenario: Initial engagement

    1. 4.1 Pillars of engagement 

    2. 4.2 Scenario

    1. 5.1 Activity

    2. 5.2 Barriers and enablers of effective interpersonal communication 

    3. 5.3 Scenario

    4. 5.4 Check your knowledge  - Reflecting on the scenario, match the relevant enabler to the excerpt that it most closely matches

    5. 5.5 Activity

    1. 6.1 Sensitive conversations

    2. 6.2 Digital story

    3. 6.3 Asking questions that encourage dialogue 

    4. 6.4 Activity 

About this course

  • 26 lessons
  • 0.5 hours of video content