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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
View the Code of Conduct for ECE Services
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Teacher Member Posts
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.
Earthquake Drills, the Turtle Drop and Best Practice
Earthquake Drills and the Turtle Drop
OPINIONBy Warwick Marshall
A big earthquake shakes while you’re in the kitchen at your house. What do you do?
Of course you throw yourself to the floor and drop like a turtle. Yeah right! Adults are known to wait to see if an earthquake is going to get stronger seemingly with
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
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
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
Transforming Difficult Relationships with Senior Staff or Committee Members
Strong relationships are essential in ECE, especially when someone in a senior role begins to dominate, micromanage or undermine others. This piece helps leaders shift their focus to building healthy, respectful working relationships through clear boundaries, trust and effective communication.
Safety Checking of Staff and Others under the Children’s Act
Safety checking is required of every person who has or may have access to children as part of their work, such as cleaners and cooks at early childhood services, must be safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014 before being allowed to start work. The fine to the early childhood service of failing to do this is up to $10,000 upon c
Supervision Basics: Four Skills Every Adult Working With Children Must Demonstrate
Active supervision is the single most effective way to prevent harm – this article shows teachers, services, and regulators the essential skills needed to keep children truly safe, not just watched.
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Can Early Years’ Practitioners Facilitate Social Development During Conflicts Between Young Children?
Research on social competence, mediation strategies and how teachers can better manage conflicts between children aged 3 to 5 years in early childhood settings. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Neoliberalism and Post-Colonialism in Conflict: Hybridisation in Early Childhood in the South Pacific
Research on the understandings of early childhood professionals on colonisation and ECE policies and systems post-colonisation. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Ideas for Play: Literacy by Emma Smoldon and Megan Howell
Literacy ideas is a NZ book written for families at home, parent educators in playcentres, and early childhood teachers.
Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Mentoring Relationships in Field-based Early Childhood Teacher Education
Abstract:
The focus of this paper is on the relationships and experiences of third-year field-based early childhood student teachers with their mentoring teachers in their usual centre of work and with their Associate Teachers whilst on practicum. It reports on data from the second phase of a larger multi-year study (which commenced in 2008),
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