Abstract
Engaging with families is a core responsibility of ECEC services and staff. By building positive, personal relationships with families, ECEC staff are able to share concerns or queries about the children in their care in a sensitive way.
One of the more sensitive topics that can come up is food – what they are eating, how much they are eating, their eating behaviours and skills, and everything in between. Through quick conversations at drop-off or via formal communication platforms, services can share a range of information about a child’s eating patterns and behaviours, and also gather information from families to better understand the child as they grow.
This Staff and Family Engagement (SFE) module aims to:
Support ECEC services to confidently discuss mealtimes, the menu, and other food-related topics with families.
Provide practical strategies to gather knowledge and wisdom from families, to better support their children.
Strengthen the use of feedback from families to review and improve menus and meals.
Be the catalyst for critical reflection regarding staff and family engagement, providing support for an inclusive approach to communication.
Keywords
family engagement, early childhood education, practical strategies
Document Type
Other
Date of Publication
2026
Type of File
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
Version
1
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Copyright
© Edith Cowan University 2026
Content Type
Full object
First Page
1
Last Page
76
Recommended Citation
Staff and Family Engagement Consortium. (2026). The best practice guide for early childhood education and care food environment: Module 4: Staff and family engagement (Version 1.0). Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia. https://doi.org/10.25958/6b29-2w56