The educator helps children to develop skills for sustaining positive relationships, including:

• how to negotiate
• ways to resolve social problems
• strategies for communicating effectively.

This approach can have a positive impact on children’s social skills and understanding of emotions.

Based on the evidence, educators should:

• support children with social problem-solving. This includes their ability to negotiate and collaborate during play, recognise and understand problems, and solve a problem together or reach a shared goal
• focus on developing children’s communication skills. This includes scripting and explicitly teaching children languageThe direct and intentional teaching of new words and their meanings. they can use to encourage others.

Educators could also consider:

• engaging parents in their efforts to help children sustain positive relationships. This may make the approach more effective
• strengthening their understanding of children’s behaviour through professional development. This can improve

In studies that showed positive effects, educators used puppets or stories to illustrate positive social skills. They also focused on supporting children’s communication skills and interactions with one another. Practices educators used to do this include:

• Scripting: providing a sentence stem or dialogue prompt. For example, teaching children to say ​“Stop, I don’t like that” when in conflict with a peer
• Explaining and showing: providing extra information to support children’s understanding. For example, the educator uses puppets to demonstrate conflict over a toy and talk through how to resolve it.

In other successful studies, educators supported children’s social problem-solving through problem-solving tasks, role-play or turn-taking games.

Practices educators might use to do this include:

• Recalling: using language to describe a previous event or experience. For example, the educator reminds children of a possible solution. They say, ​‘we did have a problem sharing in the mud kitchen last week. I remember that you decided to have one big tin and one muffin tray each, so that it was fair’. Or the educator asks children to recall a similar situation and how they resolved it
• Modelling problem-solving strategies: demonstrating and explaining different ways to solve a problem. For example, the educator notices two children who need support with taking turns while playing with the cars. The educator demonstrates a possible solution, and talks the children through it, ​‘First, it’s Jamila’s turn’, while pointing to Jamila and her car. They add, ​‘then, it’s Ben’s turn’, gesturing for Ben to take his turn.

Some activities described in this evidence might also support children’s self-regulationHow children monitor their emotions and thoughts, and adapt their actions in different circumstances. and executive functionCognitive skills that enable children to adapt their thinking and actions to achieve a ​‘goal’. This goal may be self-chosen (e.g. to build a tower) or adult-led (e.g. respond to a question about a story).. To find out more, review the Creating a Community of Collaborative Learners approach.