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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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Teacher Member Posts

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Puddle jumping after the rain
Child Health, Attachment, and Wellbeing

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!

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asthma spacer
Disability, Health & Learning Needs

Asthma

Asthma is quite common among children but many of them will grow out of it as they get older. Around one in four New Zealand children show signs of asthma at some time.

This article tells you about the known causes of asthma, treatments, when a child may or may not have asthma, and practical ways of improving the home and early childhood centre

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boys play friends achievement
Transitions between Home, ECE Service and School

Starting School – What Helps According to Parents

Parents On Children Starting School.

Starting school is a major milestone in any child’s life but it can be stressful, and the success or otherwise of the transition period between childcare or preschool can set the tone for a child’s academic career.

However while the focus is often on getting the child ready to start school, it can al

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child hands puzzle piece to adult
Employer Guides and Staff Management

Non-Contact Time Needs and Your Entitlement

Early Childhood Teacher Non-Contact Time.

At centres and home-based services, teachers or educators have a wide range of responsibilities in their roles and finding time to do everything can especially be a challenge depending on things like the number of other teachers, how many hours your service operates and the demands/ needs of caring of

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Service Provider Member Posts

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Over stimulation. Screaming child
Health and Safety Management

Children Screaming – Risk to Adult and Child Hearing

How a child screaming can hurt adult ears

What did you say? I can’t hear you. I’m cuddling a circular saw!

By James Lochead-Macmillan.

Most research into screaming children focuses on the production of the stress hormone Cortisol.

What is significantly less reported is how dangerous that screaming child is to their car

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child swinging high on swing in playground of NZ early childhood centre
Advertising and Marketing / Promotion

No-Cost Advertising and Service Promotion

Marketing and Promotion.

Competition from other service providers in your area should not result in your service closing its doors. If you provide a quality service, do your home-work and develop a plan to keep children and attract new families.

The standard marketing and advertising advice is: 

1. Develop a plan.

2. Consider c

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sandpit toys and health and safety
Health and Safety Management

Sandpit – Safety, Hygiene and Health

Sandpit safety and hygiene.

There are many potential safety problems and hazards in regard to sandpits.

Sandpit Safety.

Ensure that active supervision of children in the sandpit is provided at all times.

When the wind makes playing in the sandpit uncomfortable and poses a risk to children’s eyes withdraw children to other acti

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Young children making music at kindergarten.
Health and Safety Management

Noise Control and Reduction Methods

How to Reduce Noise Levels in an Early Childhood Environment. 

Ways to assist adults and children reduce noise levels

Practical, low cost, solutions to making building and furniture changes to reduce and prevent noise.

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Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles

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NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education journal
2019 NZIRECE Journal, No. 1

Supporting Parents to Use Schema Theory to Understand and Manage Challenging Behaviour in the Home

Research on how teachers can share schema theory with parents for managing the challenging behaviour of children with special needs and with disabilities. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.

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early childhood research journal online
2012 NZRECE Journal Articles

“It Pushes You Beyond the Boundaries”: The Paradox of Setting Teaching Goals in a Field-based Early Childhood Teacher Education Programme

This paper reports on a section of a research study into the teaching practice experiences of early childhood student teachers in a field-based teacher education programme. Goal setting was one of the four research themes of that study and is the focus of this paper. Eleven student teachers were initially interviewed in 2008 with ten of the origina

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Adults talking about early childhood education and childcare.
How-to-do Research

An Ethical Guide to Doing, Writing and Disseminating Research

The Ethics of Doing, Writing and Disseminating Research.

By Joy Cullen, Helen Hedges and Jane Bone. Republished by the Office of Early Childhood Education First Published in our NZ Research in ECE Journal, Volume 12, pp. 109-118.

This statement is intended to guide academic researchers, teachers, postgraduate students, managers, licensees

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What We Do

The Office of ECE drives high-quality care, learning and teaching for all infants and young children and high-quality working environments for teachers and service providers.
Teacher supervising infant and young child playing in playground at ECE centre.

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