Behaviour change skills for every role: parents, teachers, professionals and workplaces

October 1, 2026

Behaviour change skills aren't just for specialists. Every day, and in many different settings, parents, teachers, support workers, therapists and managers respond to behaviour, their own and other people's. The good news is that these skills can be learned, and when they are, everyone benefits.

For parents and carers

Parents are a child's first and most constant teachers. Evidence shows that when parents are supported with practical strategies, children do better. A meta-analysis of the Triple P Positive Parenting Program, covering more than 16,000 families, found improvements in children's social, emotional and behavioural outcomes, along with better parenting practices and higher parent confidence (Sanders et al., 2014).

Try: a Behaviour/Anxiety Scale on the fridge, or Sunlight Ink picture books at bedtime to talk about mistakes, self-worth and big feelings.

For teachers and schools

Teaching social and emotional skills doesn't take time away from learning, it adds to it. Across 213 school programs and more than 270,000 students, explicit social and emotional learning led to less disruptive behaviour, less emotional distress and an 11-percentile-point gain in academic achievement (Durlak et al., 2011). Whole-school approaches with shared expectations also significantly reduce suspensions and office referrals (Bradshaw et al., 2010).

Try: I Choose Charts for common classroom moments, such as sitting at my desk, when I make a mistake, or when other people are talking, and the voice volume and social skills posters from the Behaviour Change Posters range.

For allied health and support professionals

Behaviour support practitioners, psychologists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists know that strategies need to work outside the therapy room. Visual supports are one of 28 evidence-based practices identified for autistic children and young people after a review of 972 studies (Steinbrenner et al., 2020), and they're easy to hand over to families and schools.

Try: the Behaviour Rating Scale templates and examples, the I Choose Chart template, and Poster Booklets as a ready-made library to share with the people you support.

For businesses and workplaces

Adults communicate through behaviour too. Stress, overwhelm and conflict show up at work, and how a team responds affects wellbeing, productivity and retention. In Australia, a PwC analysis for Beyond Blue estimated that mental health conditions cost workplaces more than $10.9 billion a year, and that effective workplace mental health actions return around $2.30 for every dollar invested (PwC, 2014).

Shared, judgement-free language helps. A team that can say "I'm at Code Orange today" or use a simple stop–breathe–communicate approach has a way to name pressure early, before it turns into conflict. Our posters on intended versus interpreted messages, abstract versus concrete words, and planning and organisation are practical starting points for team training and staff rooms.

The skills that carry across every setting

Noticing: recognising the early signs in your body and in others.
Naming: having shared words or visuals for how you're feeling.
Choosing: knowing the options for what to do next.
Practising: rehearsing skills when calm, so they're there under stress.
Collaborating: using the same approach with the people around you.

Whatever your role, you don't need to change everything at once. Pick one tool, one situation and one shared phrase, and build from there. Explore our resources and use the Focus area filter to find tools for anxiety, autism, social skills, communication and more.