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Welcome to the Office of Early Childhood Education
National and public adviser on ECE, the OECE is a sector body representing teachers and all types of licensed services driving safer, higher‑quality education 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
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Teacher Member Posts
Natural Disasters, Evacuation and Separation Effects on Children
When there is a major earthquake or a devastating natural disaster, the effects on children may continue into adolescence, adulthood and old age.
Research on children experiencing natural disasters and parental separation provides helpful information and guidance on what might help to minimise the chances of long-term negative effects an
Self Review: Working Smarter, Not Harder for Best Practice
Self-Review. By Janet Moles.
As I quietly move close to the habitat of an early childhood centre, I observe that the group is in the midst of the strange ritual known as ‘The Staff Meeting’. In this gathering, the leader communicates to the group, the tasks to be achieved, assigns duties and informs them of new requirements, rules and exp
Plane Spotting and Tracking
Plane Spotting at the ECE Service.
Going plane spotting is easy. You can do this now without leaving home or your early childhood service.
There are thousands of learning possibilities…
Technology – tracking planes, use of real timeGeography – different countriesMaths – comparing land masses, number of planes, altitude, speed, di
Making Pet Rocks
Making Pet Rocks.
This is a fun activity for ages 2 – 102 – so its highly suitable to involve parents and grandparents in doing too alongside their children.
This can be done inside or at an outside table. , to produce something that reflects the personal style of the creator.
Brilliant for building imagination and creativity, leading
Service Provider Member Posts
Internal Evaluation and How to Please ERO
Internal Evaluation and the Education Review Office.
Ongoing reflection and review of practice has always been a priority for ECE teachers to ensure that they are the best teachers they can be and are providing best outcomes for children.
From their initial teacher registration, teachers are taught to reflect on their practice and this is
Kindergarten Girl on Slide Nearly Died From Strangulation
Slide safety.
UPDATE: Another case of strangulation showing that lessons have not yet been learnt. A child died in 2016 at Angels Childcare in Auckland due to strangulation on a slide.
An Opinion article on Slide Safety
By Dr Sarah Alexander September 1, 2010.
The mother of a young girl nearly strangled after being caught in a rope
Building is Unusable But You Need to Continue Providing Care for Children
ECE Centre Temporary Relocation.
A major earthquake, a fire, or other unplanned event such as gas leak, may mean your early childhood centre building cannot be used.
Parents will continue to need childcare, and you want to continue business but what can you do?
And what arrangements can you make quickly and keep within the law?
Ways to Be the Best – Paths to Quality
Five Paths to Quality Improvement.
Do you want to grow and develop a service that is unique?
Would you like to see parents shouting from the rooftops about how great your service is?
Would you like to future-proof your service to help it continue to be one of the best in your local community, or even in the whole of NZ?
Aim for
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Early Childhood Educators’ Workplace Well-being
FULL REFERENCE: Jones, C., Hadley, F., Waniganayake, M. & Johnstone, M. (2019). Early childhood educators’ workplace well-being: A case for using self-determination theory to understand and support workplace well-being in early childhood services. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal. 22(2), pp. 9 – 17.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: Current conceptualisations of Early Childhood (EC) educator workplace well-being are problematic due to large gaps in the workplace well-being literature. Gaps include a dearth of research examining healthy well-being, limited qualitative studies to understand the complexity of workplace well-being and a focus on hedonic well-being (happiness at work) without the inclusion of eudaimonic well-being (meaningful work). Moreover, attention in the literature is mainly given to external conditions influencing well-being such as poor pay and working conditions. This article begins with a critique of EC workplace well-being literature and then provides an argument that asserts Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has the potential to provide a more suitable conceptualisation of EC educator well-being. Key principles of both SDT and Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) are provided to highlight the suitability of using SDT to understand and also support the healthy well-being of those working in prior to school settings in the Australian ECEC context.
KEY WORDS: Self-determination theory, well-being, work-place stress, job satisfaction.
INTRODUCTION: Defining early childhood workplace well-being
Defining Early Childhood (EC) Educator workplace well-being is problematic. Well-being is a broad and complex concept and hence difficult to define. The need for a clearer definition of well-being and a greater understanding of how stressors emerge and why certain conditions act as buffers to poor well-being is needed (Corr, Davis, LaMontagne, Waters, & Steele, 2014; Cumming, 2017; Hall-Kenyon, Bullough, MacKay, & Marshall, 2014) to support EC educator wellbeing.
The majority of studies on EC educator well-being have focused on a deficit model of physical and psychological health that has concentrated predominantly on stress and burnout (Cumming, 2017; Hall-Kenyon et.al., 2014). However, there is evidence in the EC well-being literature of the potential benefits of a more positive focus on well-being (through the lens of positive psychology theorists) in terms of understanding and supporting workplace well-being (Hur & Buettner, 2016; Nislin et al., 2015; Nislin et al., 2016).
Delineating and Reconciling Perspectives on Quality in NZ Early Childhood Services
Research on differences in perspectives on quality and evaluation held by managers, teachers and parents at early childhood centres.
FULL REFERENCE: Zhang, Q. (2018). Delineating and reconciling various perspectives on quality in New Zealand early childhood services. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 21(1), 76 – 87.
ABSTRACT: In the context of evaluation of the quality of an early childhood service, tension can be created when internal stakeholders (e.g., manager, teachers, and parents) have a different perspective on what constitutes quality compared to an external evaluation authority. This study aims to delineate such perspectival differences and explore approaches to mediating the tensions. Data is comprised of individual interviews with 27 participants from nine early childhood services (one manager, one teacher, and one parent from each service) in a North Island city of New Zealand as well as the relevant Education Review Office documents. A combination of theoretical thematic analysis and deductive qualitative analysis captures three areas of difference in perspective between the sampled early childhood services and Education Review Office documents: level of compliance, appropriateness of practice, and robustness of evaluation. In an attempt to exemplify a multiple-lens approach to addressing the three areas of difference, three theoretical lenses are considered: the self-review framework, practical hermeneutics, and critical pragmatism.
Key words: Early childhood, quality, evaluation, multiple perspectives.
INTRODUCTION
Quality early childhood education has become a priority policy area for many jurisdictions in the world (Fenech, 2011; Jackson, 2015; Logan, Press, & Sumsion, 2012). Although quality of an early childhood service is traditionally viewed to be measurable against a set of universally applicable standards (e.g., Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005), more recent literature highlights its value-laden and contextual nature (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 2007; Dalli, et al., 2011). Researchers recognise that different stakeholders may have different perspectives on quality of early childhood services, as vividly expressed in the parody ‘quality is in the eye of the beholder’ (Farquhar, 1993; Pence & Moss, 1994). In the context of quality evaluation of early childhood services, this can create tensions for both teaching practice and quality evaluation, particularly when a consensus cannot be reached. The present study explores ways to ‘deal with’ the tensions.
Quality and quality evaluation of early childhood services in international contexts
Generic or Specific? Deciphering the New Zealand Approach to Professional Standards for Early Childhood
Research exploring why NZ has taken the approach to professional standards for early childhood teachers that it has – generic to the primary and secondary sectors. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Advocating for a Comprehensive Approach to Assessment in NZ Early Childhood Education
FULL REFERENCE: Zhang, Q. (2015). Advocating for a comprehensive approach to assessment in New Zealand early childhood education. NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 18, 67 – 79.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: The Learning Story approach to assessing and reporting children’s learning is the dominant approach to assessment in New Zealand early childhood education largely due to endorsement by the Ministry Education and advocacy by academics and educational authorities. This article argues that regardless of the appeal of Learning Stories this approach should not be promoted as the only or best assessment practice. Educators, parents and children should be provided with choices, and a more multi-method or comprehensive approach taken to assessment. Two key rationales for a comprehensive approach presented in this paper are: (1) assessment has multiple purposes that require multiple tools rather than a one-size-fits-all approach; and (2) the effectiveness of assessment tools is contextually determined.
Key words: Assessment; Learning Stories; multi-method; comprehensive approach.
Introduction
Assessment in early childhood education is important for raising children’s learning outcomes. Internationally, there is debate and no consensus on what assessment practices constitute ‘best practices’; but in NZ over the past ten years, Learning Stories has gained dominancy largely due to endorsement by the Ministry of Education and advocacy by academics and educational authorities. The publication and circulation of Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars, a series of books featuring sample Learning Stories (Ministry of Education, 2004, 2007, 2009), along with funded nation-wide professional development for teachers, helped to secure the place of Learning Story methodology in NZ early childhood education. Assessment in early childhood education is generally seen to mean Learning Stories and the possibility is not considered that there exist other methods that could be used instead of or in conjunction with Learning Stories. This article argues that, regardless of the appeal of Learning Story methodology, this approach should not dominate or monopolise the early childhood education assessment practices, as is the case currently in New Zealand.
Conceptualising assessment in early childhood settings
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