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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
Children’s Clothing and Keeping them Warm and Dry – Clothing Advice, Not Losing Socks and Hats, and Solutions to Other Problems
Cooler weather means more layers of clothing, for us and children. The cooler weather also comes hand in hand with more wet weather, and in the interests of minimising the spread of winter ills and chills, here’s some practical advice around keeping everyone warm and dry, as well as how to keep track of the extra clothing-particularly things like socks and hats which are easily removed by tamariki and can end up being found in the most unexpected of places around the environment!
Would you give marbles to a 1-year-old?
Would you give marbles to a 1-year-old? Is it a breach of regulations or licensing expectations? The answer might surprise you.
You know what a young child is like. They can pick up marbles. They may put a marble/s in their mouth or even their nose. This poses a significant risk to children.
Yet, the action of not putting marbles out of rea
Daylight Saving is here – what you need to know to support tamariki over this period
Losing an hour of sleep can be hard on your body clock.
So it’s no surprise that young children can seem particularly grumpy and out of sorts at the start of the daylight saving period.
In Aotearoa, daylight saving begins on the last Sunday of September, when 2am becomes 3am.
Pet Lamb – What You Need to Know
TITLE: Pet Lamb – fostering agreements, day-to-care care, benefits for children’s play and learning, and regulatory requirements
Some lambs are sadly orphaned at birth or there may be another reason why a farmer may decide the lamb would be better off to be hand-reared (such as in the case of multiple births and the mum having only one teat).
Your service could offer to help to hand-rear the lamb.
A lamb gives children a new responsibility.
A lamb is a new playmate and a friend that will love them unconditionally.
A lamb is gentle. It delights in playing but also at times needs to stop and drink or sit down and rest.
This is a pet that is dependent on care for survival and that will teach children to nurture.
Introducing a pet lamb to your early childhood service is an excellent way to naturally support children to spend more time outdoors running, jumping and skipping and enjoying the spring weather.
Below we cover aspects of
– How to get a lamb
– Agreements with the farmer and with your children for fostering the lamb
– Preparing for the lamb and what you need
Service Provider Member Posts
Overtime – Paying Staff for Work Outside Normal Hours
Employers’ obligations and rights on paying staff overtime and when they work outside of normal hours. This article covers what constitutes work outside of normal work hours that an employee must be paid for. NZ employment law that cannot be negotiated out of with an employee. Legal requirements for waged and salaried staff. It also tells you
Power Cut – No Electricity
A power cut – oh no! What do you do? Should you send children home?
If the power goes off again, what can you do to be better prepared?
How can you make the best out of a nuisance situation?
Here are some answers.
When there is no danger to children and adults there is no need to evacuate.
A power cut is not norma
No-Cost Ways to Find Teaching Staff Before Other Employers Do
Finding teaching staff.
Are you having difficulty finding staff who are suitable for your early childhood centre or home-based service?
Do you have no or very little money to spend on advertising?
Here are strategies that are simple, take little time, and are often overlooked – but have proven very effective for getting the
Disciplinary Process
There may be a time that you find an employee is underperforming or an employee is engaging in misconduct or serious misconduct.
You may not want to, but you will need to begin a disciplinary process with that employee. Here is information to assist you in learning about disciplinary processes as an employer or manager of early childhood s
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
“It is a Risk, But it is a Risk Worth Taking”: Early Childhood Teachers’ Reflections on Review of Practice Using an Approach of Practical Philosophy
“It is a risk, but it is a risk worth taking”: Early childhood teachers’ reflections on review of practice using an approach of practical philosophy.
Anne Grey. AUT University, NZ.
Full reference: Grey, A. (2015). “It is a risk, but it is a risk worth taking”: Early childhood teachers’ reflections on review of practice usin
Supporting Participation of Indigenous Families in Early Childhood Education
Supporting Participation of Indigenous Families in Early Childhood Education.
Elizabeth Corridore. Australia.
Full Reference: Corridore, E. (2014). Supporting participation of indigenous families in early childhood education. NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal. Special Issue: Early Childhood Policy,17, 147-160.
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
Three-year-old Children’s Visual Art Experiences
Three-year-old Children’s Visual Art Experiences.
Julie Plows. University of Auckland, NZ.
Full reference: Plows, J (2015). Three-year-old children’s visual art experiences. NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 18, 37 – 51.
Original Research
Abstract
This art-based study investigated the verbal and
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