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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
View our positions
- 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
View the Code of Conduct for ECE Services
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Education Bulletin and Sector Notices
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Teacher Member Posts
Sandpit Play Variations and Learning Extension
Extending play in the sandpit and ways of turning the sandpit into an amazing social hub for learning.
Below are practical tips and guidance for teachers and parents on
variations to basic sandpit play equipment and changes you can introduce daily or weekly to maintain and invigorate children’s interest and participation,ways to get ch
Parent-Child Attachment
Supporting Parent-Child Attachment.
A strong attachment with an adult is as essential to a child as air, food and water. Healthy child development is unlikely without it.
The Ministry of Health reports that mental health and behavioural problems are rising across all socio-economic groups.
What effect could stronger pa
What is Research? Methodological Practices and New Approaches
What is Research? Methodological Practices and New Approaches by Jeanette Rhedding-Jones.
What is Research? Articulating a clear-cut answer to this question that everyone will agree on is just not possible.
As Jeanette Rhedding-Jones shows in her splendidly plain-spoken book by addressing this question one becomes aware that there is so muc
Suffer the Little Children by David Smith
“Suffer the Little Children” might seem a depressing title but you will find this first book by Wainuiomata teacher David Smith to be a most absorbing read.
It is part autobiographical and part political/social commentary on the state of early childhood education as it is experienced by children today.
Smith reflects on over 30 years
Service Provider Member Posts
Financial Sustainability
Early Childhood Service Financial Sustainability.
Unless as much or more money is coming in than is going out, your service could come to be at risk. Here are some strategies for financial sustainability and increasing your revenue stream when necessary. What strategies you agree with and disagree with will depend on your values and the reasons
Electrical Testing
The importance of electrical testing.
Is your early childhood education service compliant for electrical safety? It needs to be:
Failure of electrical wiring or appliances is one of the most common causes of house and building fires – which could be devastating financially for your service, personally for everyone affected, and eve
Annual Holiday Leave Use
Unused holiday leave. We have a teacher who chose to take carry over her leave from last year to this year. Does she need to use up all of this leave before the end of the year or can she roll it over to next year? We would prefer she take the time this year before Christmas.Service provider.
All employees: part time, full time, fixed
Playground Risk Assessment
When the Health and Safety at Work Act was brought in concerns were expressed by the education sector. For example, does the Act mean children can’t climb trees in ECE anymore?
Then there’s NZS 5828: Playground Equipment and Surfacing to think about.
Well the good news is that it’s pretty much all good news.
In this article we’ll look at how risk assessment, the HSW Act and NZS 5828 can combine to develop safety approaches that recognise the goal of Te Whariki: To grow up as competent, confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit.
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Airplane Grows in the Tummy of Clouds: Living Through Relations in the Early Years of Life
Using a child’s expression that illustrates his mental image of constituted relations of living things, the author conceptualizes relationality, an interrelated view of being, and its importance for early childhood education. The difference between relation and interaction, and the significance of inter-human relationship are discussed as signifi
Satisfaction with Autism NZ’s early support programme, EarlySteps
Reporting on a practitioner-led evaluation of an autism specific NZ early support (formerly known as ‘early intervention) programme, the findings, and recommendations. Login to view the full article. Or you can 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
Interviewing Young Children: A Socio-Cultural Approach
Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax – Taking a Sociocultural Approach to Interviewing Young Children. By Jill Robbins. Published in NZ Research in ECE Journal, 2002, Vol. 5, pp. 13 – 30
Abstract
When conventional interviewing methodology is employed with young children there appears to be a tendency to overlook or avoid the ‘talk of man
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