Navigating the NQS #10: Standard 5.1 - Relationships between educators and children

Welcome back to the Navigating the NQS podcast mini-series with host Simone Brand! In this episode, Simone dives straight into the absolute heart of daily early childhood practice - Quality Area 5, Standard 5.1. 

Simone unpacks the deep intentionality needed to maintain respectful and equitable relationships with each child, showing how an Exceeding-level service transforms ordinary routines into powerful rituals of safety and belonging.

This epsiode explores Element 5.1.1 (Positive interactions) and Element 5.1.2 (Dignity and rights of the child), illustrating how quality practices reject a "one-size-fits-all" behaviour management. Instead, she highlights the power of deeply attuned, individualised connection rituals and progressive care routines that respect children's bodily autonomy. Through her own inspiring centre stories, Simone demonstrates how viewing children as active citizens with genuine agency can completely transform challenging moments and transitions.

Listeners will walk away with an actionable toolkit, including three targeted critical reflection questions designed to spark deep conversation at your next team meeting. Tune in to discover how slowing down and prioritising authentic, rights-based connections hardwires young brains for lifelong resilience!

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Transcript

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Welcome to Learn Play Thrive the podcast, the ultimate early learning podcast for educators and leaders in the sector. Let's learn, play, and thrive together.

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The Learn Play Thrive podcast was recorded on the land with the Dark and Jung people. We pay our respects to the traditional custodians, past, present, and emerging. Hands up, hands down, we're on Dark and Jung land.

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Hello listeners and welcome back to Navigating the NQS, the national quality standards for licensed early childhood education and care settings in Australia. I'm your host, Simone Brand, and today we are moving into the absolute heart of our daily practice as we explore Quality Area 5, Standard 5.1, Relationships Between Educators and Children. Standard 5.1 is respectful and equitable relationships are maintained with each child. While some see this area as second nature, under the NQS it requires deep intentionality. It is vital for a young child's sense of belonging. When children feel safe and respected, they possess the emotional security needed to learn, play, and thrive. First, let's look at element 5.1.1, positive educator-to-child interactions. This element explicitly requires that responsive and meaningful interactions build trusting relationships, which engage and support each child to feel secure, confident, and included. In an exceeding service, these interactions aren't just polite or supervisory. They are deeply attuned and individualized. For example, educators don't just react to big emotions. They understand each individual child's unique sensory and emotional triggers, adjusting their tone, body language, and physical proximity to meet the child where they are. Instead of rushed routines, transitions are viewed as key pedagogical moments, rituals of belonging. You will see educators using predictable, personalized connection rituals, like a shared song or a quiet moment on a couch, to support children moving from one space or routine to another. In practice, this means moving away from a one size fits all approach to behavior instead asking ourselves, what is the specific child communicating to me right now? And how can my response build their trust? For example, there has had the experience where coming into a surface with some sort of separation anxiety, a child may have big emotions. These emotions may look like drop-off where a parent may want to hand you their child and say goodbye quickly. In response to this, an educator may try to distract the child. However, if you know them intentionally and personally, what this may look like is actually sitting with the child from a distance and allowing them time and space for their own body to regulate in their own timing and being there to interact with them when they're ready to come to you. An example of this would be I had a child come to me in that exact example, and people were trying to engage the child and it was heightening their emotions even further. When we removed the educators from that space and we simply sat down alongside the child having big emotions, we carefully waited for the right moment to watch their body relax and then started to engage with them alongside in parallel play. This looked like talking about an object that we had in front of us. So for instance, I was working with a block at that time, and I was describing the block. So basically, when you're talking about grounding techniques, looking at what's around you, smelling, seeing, feeling, and talking about those aspects. So I was talking about the block and what it looked like, what it felt like, the colours of it. And one of the aspects and understanding a child where they are and regulating their emotions is understanding where their nurse's system is at. So for instance, if they have flipped their lid and their emotional control is flooded with the hormones that stops their ability to think rationally. So having that connection from the amygdala to the frontal cortex, what this looks like in practice is they are unable sometimes to hear and process what you're saying. A child in this state is possibly going to be more heightened if you try to interact with them. But a child that is no longer in that state, however, has learnt that this behavior or they're in a sense of state that they feel like this is a continued thing, they don't know how to bring their body out of it, will be able to hear you. And this is almost a guiding mindfulness practice for this child. So in this circumstance, what I was describing was this block. And at one time I had said, oh geez, it's it's so smooth and circular. And instantly that child had stopped and gained their attention to myself. This indicated to me that this child was now in able to interact. There were a couple more different ways that I had expressed this block after that, where the child started to then engage with me to say, that's not a red block, that's green. And then this way I've been able to communicate, I've been able to touch way in a way that suited their personal needs. Moving to element 5.1.2, dignity and rights of the child. This element ensures that the dignity and rights of every child are maintained at all times. At an exceeding level, children are viewed as active citizens with genuine agency, not passive participants in a routine. You will see this quality practice in action through collaborative routine planning, so children are consulted about when they eat, where they rest and how they play. Progressive meal times and flexible rest schedules are managed smoothly because educators generally trust children's bodily autonomy. Privacy and respect during personal care. Educators speak to children during nappy changes or toileting, explaining what is happening and seeking their cooperation, rather than talking over them to a colleague or treating the routine as a clinical task to rush through. You will also see a culture where children's voices are genuinely shaped by physical environment. Resources are accessible, and children are actively involved in assessing risk and setting their own boundaries during play. What this looks like is for educators to ensure that they are getting down to the children's level and ensuring that the space is adequate for the children and not an adult coming into the children's space. What this also may look like is having a children's committee to talk about policies and procedures and bringing out the children's voice and the children's partake in that process and what they would like to see or what they think about the different processes that are involved. For instance, we have had a children's committee where we have discussed emergency evacuations and we've been able to talk through that with children and what they think it is and what the process would be. They are very quick to tell us that all you need to do when the educator tells you that you need to evacuate is hold someone's hand and walk out the door to the sign that it says emergency assembly point, which is very straightforward and very clear to children. Having their perspective and having their voices within the policies and procedures respect the dignity and agency of the child. To help your team move forward toward an exceeding rating for standard 5.1, I encourage you to take these three questions back to your next critical reflection session or team meeting. For element 5.1.1, how do we ensure our interactions are uniquely responsive to each individual child? Rather than relying on a blanket management strategy for the whole group? How do we evaluate if our transitions are generally building security? For element 5.1.2, in what ways do we actively protect the dignity and privacy of children during routine times like toileting, dressing, and resting? If a child says no to a routine, how do we respond by balancing safety and respect for their agency? For the whole standard, how does your service philosophy manifest the tone, language, and physical level we use when communicating with children? Are our relationships equitable or do adult agendas consistently override children's rights? In conclusion, standard 5.1 is about the emotional climate of your early childhood education and care service. It's about fostering a deeply respectful, rights-based community. When educators slow down and prioritize authentic connection, they aren't just keeping children happy. They are hardwiring their brains for resilience, confidence, and lifelong learning. When a child knows their voice matters and their dignity is safe in your hands, that is where quality, early childhood, and education and care begins. Join me next time as we continue our journey through Quality Area 5, exploring peer relationships. Until then, keep playing, keep reflecting, and keep striving for exceeding. I'm Simone Brand and this has been Navigating the NQS. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Learn Playthrive the podcast. We hope you found inspiration and valuable insights to fuel your journey in early childhood education. Remember the key to fostering learning, promoting play, and empowering young minds lies with your dedication and creativity. Stay connected between episodes by following us on Instagram at learnplaythrive underscore and join the conversation on Facebook at LearnPlaythrive Australia. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please like, subscribe, rate or review our podcast on your favourite platform. Your feedback helps us to continue to deliver content that resonates with you. And don't forget to visit us at our website at learnplaythrive.com.au for additional resources, blog posts, and professional development opportunities. Until next time, keep learning, keep playing, and keep thriving. We'll see you in the next episode of Learn Playthrive the podcast.