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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
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
View the Code of Conduct for ECE Services
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Teacher Member Posts
Giving Children Choices – Strategies for the Best Outcomes
Giving young children choices and empowering them to make their own decisions will help prepare them for life.
The early years are the best time for children to begin to learn about making choices and consequences.
The ability to choose is the essence of being human.
Consider how many choices you make each year, month, week, da
Grief and Preparing a Child For Loss
Supporting a grieving child can be distressing for a teacher. However it is important that teachers do not try to avoid dealing with a child’s grief, or with their own grief. Teachers can support children’s grief in a sensitive and caring manner.
This article covers:
1. Preparing for grief and loss2. What does grief look
Helping Parents Make the Transition to ECE
Parents Leaving their Child For the First Time in Care – An anxious time.
“A heart wrenching moment for all parents is when we leave our child for the first time in the care of someone else who is not well-known to us or at early childhood service or school. A child may become a lot quieter than usual or kick up a fuss. Either way as parents we
Woodwork Tables, Tools, Gender Issues, and Rules
This article covers many topics and gives advice and tips on:
– What carpentry tools (age appropriate) and wood to get and from where.
– How to set it up.
– Rules to set for children’s safety.
– What can be made – what to make.
– Extending children’s learning.
– Female teachers can do it too.
Happy reading!
Share your experiences with us.
Service Provider Member Posts
Arrears in Fees: Managing the WINZ Childcare Subsidy
Managing arrears in fees can be a headache for service providers, and especially when parents are on the WINZ subsidy. Several centre and home-based service providers have mentioned a problem they have when parents who are receiving a WINZ subsidy do not inform them that their income has lifted and so they are no longer eligible for the subsidy.&nb
Emergency Management Policy, Procedures, and Supplies
Here is a sample emergency management policy template, covering different emergencies such as fire, flooding, terrorist or armed offender, and natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, and tsunamis.
We also show you what you might put in a sample emergency plan, emergency procedures (including drills), and an emergency sup
Fee Bargaining – When Parents From Other Cultures Want to Bargain
Parents Wishing to Bargain Over Childcare Fees.
Do you find some parents who are used to bargaining in their own countries are less accepting of price increases and accepting set prices?
Are you cautious when increasing fees or other charges because of how parents from different cultures may react?
New Zealand is a nation with around
Home-based Service Start-Up Story and What’s Worked Well
Home-based Service Start-Up.
We profile a successful private Home-based Early Childhood Education Service based from Christchurch, and talk with the co-owner about the ins and outs of a home-based service start-up.
Veronica Kidd is the co-owner of a Home-based Early Childhood Education service.
She has a Diploma of Teaching (ECE) and i
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
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
Whiteness Scholarship in Early Childhood Education
Research on how racism and ‘whiteness’ operates within the early childhood research site and research processes. It shows ways that researchers and educators reinforce, rather than reduce the impacts of whiteness and racism, despite the best of intentions. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Researching Pedagogies for Sustainability in Australian Bush Kinder
Research on sustainability and children spending more time in natural settings and Bush Kindergarten. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Is There an Optimum Age for Starting School in New Zealand?
Research that uncovers what the best age for children to start school is at the national level. Considers cognitive development, age and school readiness. 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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