Promoting positive relationships and behaviour in educational settings

Published 20/08/2025.  Last updated 20/08/2025

The promotion of positive relationships and behaviour in schools is essential to ensuring all children and young people develop the four capacities at the centre of Curriculum for Excellence. Research has demonstrated that investing time and resources into improving relationships in establishments leads to positive outcomes around inclusion, engagement, attainment and achievement in the short term and community safety and cohesion in the longer term.

This resource has been created as an overview of information, current understanding, resources, and professional learning currently available on relationships and behaviour.

Promoting Positive Relationships and Behaviour in Educational Settings (PDF)

Improvement questions

These reflective questions invite you to consider the impact of your own practice, and your educational setting’s approaches, to building relationships and promoting positive behaviour.

  • How effectively do I build relationships with learners?
  • How well do I look beyond behaviour to understand needs?
  • How well do I involve children and young people in planning learning that meets their needs and interests and is sufficiently challenging?
  • How well do we as an education setting recognise and plan for learners who are at risk of disengaging or being excluded?
  • To what extent do we take account of adverse experiences which may impact on behaviour and how effectively do we respond to this?
  • How well do our policies align to values around building positive relationships and children’s rights?
  • How consistent is the understanding of relational approaches across all staff? To what extent are our staff trained in these approaches?

Promoting positive relationships and behaviour in educational settings

Published 20/08/2025.  Last updated 20/08/2025

The promotion of positive relationships and behaviour in schools is essential to ensuring all children and young people develop the four capacities at the centre of Curriculum for Excellence. Research has demonstrated that investing time and resources into improving relationships in establishments leads to positive outcomes around inclusion, engagement, attainment and achievement in the short term and community safety and cohesion in the longer term.

This resource has been created as an overview of information, current understanding, resources, and professional learning currently available on relationships and behaviour.

Promoting Positive Relationships and Behaviour in Educational Settings (PDF)

Improvement questions

These reflective questions invite you to consider the impact of your own practice, and your educational setting’s approaches, to building relationships and promoting positive behaviour.

  • How effectively do I build relationships with learners?
  • How well do I look beyond behaviour to understand needs?
  • How well do I involve children and young people in planning learning that meets their needs and interests and is sufficiently challenging?
  • How well do we as an education setting recognise and plan for learners who are at risk of disengaging or being excluded?
  • To what extent do we take account of adverse experiences which may impact on behaviour and how effectively do we respond to this?
  • How well do our policies align to values around building positive relationships and children’s rights?
  • How consistent is the understanding of relational approaches across all staff? To what extent are our staff trained in these approaches?