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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
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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
Pikler and Gerber Theories in Practice
A close look at how well the theories of Pikler and Gerber can be merged with Te Whariki and the models of infant care and education in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Concepts such as ‘self-soothing’ (allowing babies to settle by themselves) and leaving babies to develop in their own time rather than pushing them to meet milestones cause much debate among parents and early childhood educators.
These debates include such things as whether babies should be allowed to cry it out and whether parents or educators should help children to achieve milestones such as sitting by propping them up.
One proponent of allowing a child to develop at their own pace is Emmi Pikler, a Hungarian paediatrician who worked with children aged from birth to six in her role as Director of the Loczy Orphanage from 1946 until her death in 1979.
Pikler believed that infants’ emotional well-being was paramount, and she restructured then entire staff to ensure that all those working at the orphanage not only met the children’s physical needs, but also would ‘love’ these unwanted children and attend to them with consistent and thoughtful care.
Supporting the Language of Aotearoa. Mauri Ora, Mauri Rere – Striving to Thrive
Supporting the Language of Aotearoa.
Let’s review current teaching practices and see where we go from here. Despite substantial work involving kaupapa Māori over the last two decades our early childhood sector has not been as active as it could have been in reinforcing the speaking of te reo Māori and bicultural practices.
Ngā Wero – The
Assessing Reading Readiness
Assessing Reading Readiness – 7 Signs a Child is Ready to Go from Listening to Reading.
How can you tell if a child is ready to go from listening to stories to reading stories? The best way to know is to look at the behaviours, skills, and interests which indicate that a child is ready for reading. The checklist can be useful also as
All Together Now – Providing Family Learning Sessions
Family learning sessions highlight how much parents shape their children’s development and how early childhood teachers can strengthen that impact by meaningfully engaging families. This article is essential reading for New Zealand ECE teachers because it shows why adopting these approaches can deepen partnerships with parents and enrich learning beyond the ECE setting.
Service Provider Member Posts
SUDI – Death of an Infant when Sleeping
Sleep in ECE and Reducing the Risk of (SUDI): Learnings and What’s Legally Required versus Best Practice.
For years, the OECE’s chief advisor Dr Sarah Alexander has feared that a child would die from sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) in an early childhood education (ECE) setting. Now that has happened: An infant died from SUDI while
Sandpit Design
A good sandpit design for an ECE service sees it being large enough to accommodate half or more of the children attending. It should provide enough room for each child to stand or sit and dig without touching or getting sand on another child.
In home-based settings, the sandpit design should make sure it is of sufficient size to accommodate
Social Media Policy: Essential and Effective Guidelines and Template for Early Childhood Services
We provide a policy template as well as highlighting the main issues for your team to discuss and ensure your policy is practical, protective and aligned with the realities of social media use in New Zealand early childhood settings.
Make time to think through the key considerations, risks and decisions involved.
At the end of this article, you will find a Social Media Policy template that you can adapt and use to create a policy that suits your service’s needs, values and social media practices.
When used well, social media can strengthen communication, build community and serve as a powerful marketing tool. When used poorly, it can compromise privacy, blur professional boundaries and damage trust.
Social media refers to Internet based tools that allow users to publish information, opinions, images and other content. In New Zealand early childhood settings, the most commonly used platforms include
Building Members Enthusiasm and Commitment
Committee Member Commitment.
For their investment of time what do your board or committee members get back?
It’s rare that someone will keep contributing if he/she is not benefiting from participating.
And those with the most to offer are often those with the least amount of time available and the greatest number of other c
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Te Whāriki: Curriculum or Philosophy
Early childhood teachers continue to struggle to implement content within Te Whāriki. This article draws on literature and data to investigate whether the lack of specific content within Te Whāriki means it should be considered a philosophy rather than a curriculum. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Contents – NZ International Research in ECE Journal, 2017, Vol 20, No. 1
This issue explores diverse curriculum perspectives, from debates about Te Whāriki’s role to Indigenous Fijian knowledge pathways, Bangladeshi curriculum development, multi‑dimensional pedagogical growth, inclusive practice, and children’s creative meaning‑making through photography.
Contents – NZ Research in ECE Journal, 2014, Vol 17
This issue brings together international perspectives on early childhood policy, from country‑specific analyses in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland to research on disaster‑risk‑reduction curriculum, parental childcare choices, trust and quality in ECE, leadership expectations, early intervention, Indigenous family participation, and bilingual children’s school‑entry outcomes.
From a Good Idea to a Robust Research Design: A Discussion of Challenges in Designing Early Childhood Research
Designing an ECE Research Study. By Claire McLachlan.
Abstract: Designing and carrying out research in the area of early childhood education is one that is attempted by many, including experienced and beginning researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students as well as by people working in a range of different early childhood servi
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