2026 Teaching Standards: 5 – Create and Maintain Supportive and Safe Learning Environments.

Support your team to confidently meet Teaching Standard 5 – Create and Maintain Supportive and Safe Learning Environments.

This editable Word document shows how kaiako can create environments where learners feel safe, included, and ready to engage in meaningful learning.

Designed for busy kaiako, it provides clear, real-world examples of how relationships, environments, routines, and teaching strategies work together to support wellbeing, behaviour, and learning.

What’s included:

• A clear breakdown of what Standard 5 looks like in practice
• Strong alignment to Te Whāriki and everyday centre practice
• Realistic, usable examples of evidence for Professional Growth Cycle conversations

This one-pager supports you to:

• Build strong, respectful relationships that support children to feel safe and confident
• Create inclusive environments where identity, language, and culture are visible and valued
• Design spaces and routines that support engagement, wellbeing, and participation
• Use positive guidance strategies such as modelling, prompting, redirection, and encouragement
• Support children to develop self-regulation, social competence, and independence
• Adapt environments and teaching to support diverse learners
• Show how environments and teaching approaches support behaviour, wellbeing, and learning