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Welcome to the Office of Early Childhood Education
The OECE is a national organisation for the ECE sector and public adviser, championing high-quality education and care for every child
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- Provides membership support to ECE services, teachers, researchers, and community partners
- Actively contributes to sector analysis, research, and policy development
- Advances evidence-based best practices that prioritise children’s interests and wellbeing
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Teacher Member Posts
Mums Expressing Breastmilk and Managing Other People’s Reactions
Mums Expressing Breastmilk in ECE. By Dr Sarah Alexander.
Early childhood services can be places that support breastfeeding, and the attitude of staff and teachers and what they do makes a big difference as to whether a mother continues with breastfeeding.
Often there is not time enough time to discuss questions such what to do if anothe
Heuristic Play and Treasure Baskets
Heuristic Play.
In the modern world where many toys are made of shiny coloured plastic and have buttons to press with flashing lights and noises, it is often easy to forget that simple things can interest and stimulate young children.
In fact these simple things can often be better for them as they have a wider range of textures an
Running a Transition to School Programme
The strands in the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki underpin the objective of providing a base for children to be able to build on their learning and become confident and competent in school. The New Zealand Curriculum explains that supporting of the transition process from early childhood requires fostering of a child’s relationships within their social environment, building and recognising all their experiences and collaborating with family and whanau.
Multiple factors affect a child’s transition from early childhood to school, and some of the main factors are:
– Whether there is a collaborative approach and effective communication between school, early childhood service and the family during the transition process;
– Early childhood and primary teachers understanding of both the early childhood and the NZ schools curricula;
– Children’s understanding of the different curriculum of the school, and the school’s social and physical environment; and
– Children’s preparedness for the academic challenges of the school curriculum.
I’ll discuss each of these factors and share examples with you.
Teachers have different approaches to managing the transition processes.
As early childhood teachers, we need to understand that each child develops differently; hence we need to adapt the pace of the transition programme accordingly.
Playdough Recipes and Play Variations
Here we’ve got an all-time favourite recipe of early childhood teachers for cooked playdough.
We also include recipes for:
– uncooked playdough
– special playdough suitable for shaping into Christmas tree ornaments and gifts to be painted later when hardened.
Playdough is great fun but when the novelty wears off children can become bored and their creativity declines. So we give you some ideas to keep the playdough fun alive, and invite you to contribute your favourite recipes and ideas too.
First, you may wish to consider cultural concerns on the use of food ingredients and how you may mitigate these concerns.
Service Provider Member Posts
Indoor-Outdoor Spaces and Room Layout
Early Childhood Centre Design Ideas.
We show, with photographs, a different design and approach to using space for supporting small group and project work. The design comes from a bilingual kindergarten, called a ‘Kita’ in Hamburg, Germany.
The photographs were taken, by Sarah Alexander, during a guided tour of the facility for
The Risks of Implicitly Endorsing Third Party Schemes to Parents
Endorsing Third Party Schemes and Products.
What happens when parents see flyers / pamphlets and posters displayed in the entrance way of ECE services or when advertising material is sent home in children’s bags?
These might be from the Ministry of Education to promote the choices that it wants parents to make, or a new government scheme
Optimal Outdoor Environments
By Cheryl Greenfield.
Young children have the right to inhabit optimal early childhood outdoor environments.
Optimal outdoor environments have the potential or power to promote and sustain meaningful relationships.
The location of spaces and equipment, and how welcoming the outdoor area is for adults, along with the aesthetics are highly influential on what children do. Poorly designed and maintained environments can be detrimental to children’s development.
This article focuses on the characteristics of optimal outdoor environments within a New Zealand context.
It is based on the findings of the qualitative research I have done over the years on early childhood outdoor environments.
Staff Meetings – Agenda and How to Conduct a Meeting
Staff meetings can work really well with the right Agenda and planning. Here’s how to achieve and cover what is important and make sure no meeting is a waste of valuable time.
Scroll to near the end of this page for a sample Agenda and sample planning docs.
There is no specific regulatory requirement to hold staff meetings. But services fi
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Index for the NZ Research in ECE Journal, 2009, Vol 12
The titles, authors and abstracts for papers published in the NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, Volume 12, 2009 are shown below.
To view any paper, scroll to the end of this page for copies.
Reviewing the Reviewers: Commentary on the Education Review Office’s Evaluation of Assessment
Ken E. BlaiklockUnitec
Building a Shared Language of Coping: Dynamics of Communication between Parents and Preschool Children
This paper extends the current literature on social emotional development in the early years by providing an understanding of how young children comprehend and talk about everyday challenging situations and the way they cope with these. The paper also provides examples of how visual images in the form of Early Years Coping Cards may be used by the
Advanced Empathy in the Early Years – A Risky Strength?
Research showing an emotional cost to practitioners who work in early childcare and education and difficulties of finding a work-life balance. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
How to Search and Find Readings on Early Childhood Topics
Researching for Information on a Particular Topic.
We receive requests from many people seeking to know what research is available on a particular topic.
First do a thorough word and article search of our website.
Take a look at all the articles published in the NZ-International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal
Then check
What We Do
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