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Family Partnerships Toolkit

Emerging Minds

The Family Partnerships Toolkit is a self-guided training package for leadership teams in primary schools. It helps implement the Family Partnerships Practice Model to enhance family involvement and support children's mental health and wellbeing.

  • Online

Pricing: Free

Origin: Developed in Australia for Australian schooling contexts

Affiliations: NESA and TQI accredited

Product type: Professional learning; Whole school approach or initiative

Contact details

Emerging Minds
ABN: 87 093 479 022

https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/toolkits/family-partnerships-for-educators-toolkit/

info@emergingminds.com.au

Focus areas

  • Positive relationships

  • Belonging and inclusion

  • Mental health literacy and life skills

  • Self-regulation and engagement

Curriculum alignment

Prospective users

Audience: Whole school universal (Tier 1), Whole class universal (Tier 1), Targeted small group early intervention (Tier 2), Intensive individualised approach (Tier 3)

Context: School or centre-based

Main beneficiaries: Early learning, Foundation/Prep, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6

Delivery style: Student, self-directed

Aims & approach

The toolkit aims to improve staff capacity for holding sensitive and respectful conversations with families about children's mental health and wellbeing. It includes:

  • The Family Partnerships Practice Model
  • Advice for leaders to implement the model across your whole setting
  • Free online courses for individual educators that explore the skills and approaches that support successful partnerships
  • A Family Partnerships Guide
  • A suite of implementation tools

Implementation support

  • Implementation training webinars or modules

Evidence

The Family Partnerships Practice Model is based on a national and international evidence review capturing best practice in family partnerships in schools and early learning services.

It provides a simple way to implement the most recent findings showing that a partnership approach between families and educators (characterised by reciprocal communication and an open and positive relationship) can help to improve children's wellbeing, including their mental health, learning and development. This is what is known as a 'family partnership' approach (Barton, Ershadi and Winthrop, 2021).

The toolkit is evidence based and with an evaluation of the pilot in progress during 2025.