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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
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Teacher Member Posts
Seven Tips to Ease Back into Work After the Holidays
Going Back to Work.
Here are 7 of the best tips for easing back to work after a holiday or other break away – smoothing the transition for children and others around you.
Tip 1: Don’t worry, be happy
Children need to see their teachers and carers relaxed, positive and cheerful at the start of a new day and especially at the star
Museum Visit
Museum visit with children.
You might think museums are stuffy. But, they can be interesting even for younger children particularly if there are hands-on activities.
A trip to the museum can be a great springboard for learning. It can provide inspiration and play ideas for many weeks following.
Here are some suggestions
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.
Parenting a Gifted Child – What Parents Learn
Parenting a Gifted Child. By Melanie Wong.
Someone asked me ‘how can you manage your life with children who don’t like to sleep?’
I replied that ‘it is alright when you are used to it’.
I wish I had thought quickly enough at the time to also tell her how much I enjoy being with my children, as they did not only come into m
Service Provider Member Posts
Children’s Toilets and Bathroom
Toilets are a basic thing to most of us, a place where we go to undertake an everyday task, a place that should be pleasant but possibly do not give too much thought to.
However, one thing everyone generally does like when using the toilet is privacy.
In early childhood settings, balancing privacy with the need to be able to help young children with toileting and the concept of supervision can be difficult.
Research
It could be assumed that pre-schoolers do not really mind what the layout of the toilets is, what they look like, and whether their toilets have doors or not. But research suggests children do mind.
Job Description for a Head Teacher, Room Leader, or Home-based Visiting Teacher
Job Description for a Head Teacher, Room Leader, or Home-based Visiting Teacher.
Here is a template to help guide you in preparing a job description that matches your service’s philosophy and reflects the position. This person will have additional responsibilities compared with other qualified and unqualified staff and educators.
If you wou
ECE Policies: What’s Required, What’s Optional, and What’s Just Paperwork
Learn the difference between the documentation ECE services are required to have and the policies they often write unnecessarily.
Service leaders will benefit from understanding how to reduce paperwork, meet legal requirements efficiently, and free up time for what matters most – supporting children and staff.
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
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Index for the NZ Research in ECE Journal, 2008, Vol 11
The titles, authors and abstracts for papers published in the NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, Volume 11, 2008 are shown below.
To view any paper, scroll to the end of this page for copies.
Making Choices: Contradictions and Commonalities in the Valuing of Caring and Working by Government Policy and First Time M
“Reaching the Foothills of Everest” Ethics Approval
Getting Ethics Approval. By Chris Jenkin. Published in NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 2005, pp. 103-111.
Abstract
I am currently working on my doctorate entitled ‘Enhancing the Bicultural Curriculum in Early Childhood Education’. Part of the process of this study was making an application to the Auckland University of
Building Capacity to Apply a Strengths Approach to Working with Vulnerable Families and Children
Research on ways early childhood educators can use a strengths based approach when working with vulnerable children and families and the ‘mind-shift’ and resources important. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Beyond Partnerships with Parents in ECE: A Legacy of Adult Experiential Learning in Playcentres
Research on adult learning in ECE settings and outcomes for parents of being involved. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
What We Do
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