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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
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.
The Books Children Like Best
The Type of Books Young Children Like Best.
Books are an integral part of a child’s education but getting them to sit down and look at books can be difficult when there are so many other things competing for a child’s attention.
Often books are chosen by adults, particularly for younger children and babies, but even young children
Asperger’s Syndrome
Children with Asperger’s in ECE.
Here is an overview of what every parent, educator and child carer needs to know about Asperger’s Syndrome. It answers common questions such as:
What is Asperger’s Syndrome?How do I know if a child has Asperger’s?What are the earliest signs in infancy, toddlerhood and the preschool years? W
Diabetes
What is diabetes? What does it mean for a young child to have diabetes? What does it mean for the child’s family, caregivers and preschool? How can you help support the diabetic child?
This article will answer many of the questions you may have about diabetes and caring for and teaching a young diabetic child.&n
Service Provider Member Posts
Charging Fees When Closed for a Public Holiday
Charging Fees When Closed.
We asked ECE Service providers about their practices of charging fees when closed. A selection of comments is provided below. Add your comment on this topic and reply to any of the comments posted here.
See also public information on parent reactions to services continuing to charge fees when closed on statuto
Trusted Woman ECE Centre Teacher Engaged in Sexual Exploitation of Children
Indecent pictures of children, including bathroom pics, were taken by teacher “K” at her early childhood centre, using her mobile phone and shared online.
Parents at the UK early childhood centre she worked at described her as bubbly, friendly, and competent. She was a married woman and mother, and the kind of person you would assume you could trust with your child.
The abuse went unnoticed at the centre and only an accidental discovery by a businessman, whose partner stumbled across the images on a computer, brought the abuse to light resulting in prosecution.
What can we learn from this case of a female teacher sexually abusing children? We learn that:
There is a danger for children of allowing camera phones or technology in centres that could transmit images of them.
It is commonly believed that women do not engage in paedophilia and that only men abuse young children – however there is possible under-reporting of women who abuse young children.
This article looks at issues of centre governance and management that allowed this to happen to identify how governance and management can be improved. It looks also at the importance of staff/teacher supervision and the role of students on teaching practice/placement.
The story as reported by the Plymouth Safeguard Children Board is summarised below highlighting the main concerns about the system and the centre itself including staff relationships, staff and child supervision, policies, and structure.
Keep children safe in your ECE service
1. Make sure your service meets the National Code for Early Childhood Service Conduct
Section 2(d) of the Code states: “No person while providing care and education will have a personal electronic device that can take photos or videos unless the device is authorised for essential purposes (such as for communication at a time of emergency). Only service-issued electronic devices are used when taking images or videos of children. The appropriate use of service-issued electronic devices and storing of images and videos of children is clearly outlined in our policies and procedures.”
2. Have an effective complaints policy and whistle-blowing procedures at your service, for any staff or parent to report their concerns safely (anonymously and without fear)
3. Ensure your service has a robust Child Protection Policy – learn more and review and improve your current policy.
4. Have safe recruitment procedures, including using values-based interviewing techniques and questions when interviewing job applicants.
Keep reading below to learn more about what happened at the centre.
The Centre is called “Z” and the teacher is “K”.
Successful Networking
Networking in Early Childhood Education.
Ever felt nervous getting in touch with someone in an important position, or in a room full of people knowing that you are unable to say anything or not knowing what to say?
Successful networking is an essential key to getting ahead and staying ahead.
This article covers:
what networking ispr
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
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Moving Beyond the Environment Towards a Multi-Pillared Approach: Early Childhood Teachers Understanding and Practices of Education for Sustainability in Aotearoa NZ
Full reference: Maxwell, A., Hohaia-Rollinson, F, and Woolston, D. (2025). Moving beyond the environment towards a multi-pillared approach: Early childhood teachers understanding and practices of education for sustainability in Aotearoa New Zealand. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 27, pp. 69-82.
Login to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: The future health, wellbeing and sustainability of our planet and those living upon it is in urgent need of transformational change. Early childhood education (ECE) settings in Aotearoa New Zealand are an important part of the national education infrastructure that can be transformational in bringing about this change. The early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017), provides an important bicultural and sociocultural framework that can support ECE settings increase the national consciousness when education for sustainability (EfS) knowledge, understanding and pedagogies are embedded in everyday practice and apply a place-based education approach. This article shares findings from a research project that investigated ECE teachers’ current understandings and practices of EfS in Aotearoa New Zealand and the influence of local community and context on EfS practices. The results discussed in this article contributes to the EfS discourse and critical global conversations in relation to EfS to facilitate with more urgency transformational change.
Key words: Education for sustainability (EfS), localised curriculum, environmental education (EE), kaitiakitanga/guardianship, pillars of sustainability, place-based education.
Index for the NZ Research in ECE Journal, 2004, Vol 7
The titles, authors and abstracts for papers published in the NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, Volume 7, 2004 are shown below.
To view any paper, scroll to the end of this page for copies.
Archive fragments: Infant Schools for the Youngest Settler Children in the Colony of New Zealand, 1840-50s
Helen MayVicto
Being Agreeable? A Critical Examination of Communication Among IP Groups in Early Intervention
In New Zealand each child with an inclusive early intervention programme is supported by a group of adults: the child’s parent(s), teachers, early intervention specialists, and education support worker (teacher-aide). The group’s joint task is to prepare an individual plan (IP) for the child to follow in their regular early childhood education
“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
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