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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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- 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

Library Trip
Library Trip with Children.
Going to the library is a great activity to do either on your own with a child or small group of children, or as a group visit with your early childhood service.
Maybe you will walk there. Or take the bus? It might be something that you do weekly or monthly to take out and return books.
The most obvious thing y

Professional Growth Cycle
The Professional Growth Cycle PGC is the new requirement for registered teachers. The Teaching Council have acknowledged that it will continue to be developed and improve over time.
Contents
What does the Professional Growth Cycle (PGC) mean for ECE services? And what should ECE service managers/ leaders do?Does this mean that teachers will n

Indoor Plant and Growing Activities
Children Indoor Plant Growing Activities.
Here are 7 ideas for how to do some fun growing activities and keep children busy. Activities include an onion person, a Humpty Dumpty potato or swede, an egg shell garden, wheat people and more.
Young children will be able to do many of these growing activities themselves – they ju

Nappies – The Options and What’s Best in ECE
As professionals, teachers are often presented with situations that require them to consider what is important to the families of the children they are teaching, while ensuring that they are working in an environment where they are comfortable and where their training and experience is valued and appreciated.
In deciding how to approach the reus
Service Provider Member Posts

Associate Teacher and Centre Information on Supporting Student Kaiako & Payment
Associate Teacher and Centre Information on Supporting Student Kaiako & Payment.
If you’re a qualified, registered teacher and you’re ready to start supporting student kaiako as an Associate Teacher, we’ve got some helpful information to make the experience as rich and rewarding for everyone involved.
Practicums are a keystone of

Overtime – Paying Staff for Work Outside Normal Hours
Employers’ obligations and rights on paying staff overtime and when they work outside of normal hours. This article covers what constitutes work outside of normal work hours that an employee must be paid for. NZ employment law that cannot be negotiated out of with an employee. Legal requirements for waged and salaried staff. It also tells you

Building is Unusable But You Need to Continue Providing Care for Children
ECE Centre Temporary Relocation.
A major earthquake, a fire, or other unplanned event such as gas leak, may mean your early childhood centre building cannot be used.
Parents will continue to need childcare, and you want to continue business but what can you do?
And what arrangements can you make quickly and keep within the law?

15 Funding and Funding Rule Questions
15 Funding Questions put to the Ministry of Education.
Has the MoE considered using the school payroll model to pay teachers? If the government paid the teachers to ratio and gave each centre an ops grant, in a similar fashion to schools, this would level the playing field for teachers in general, would it not?Are kindergartens a publicly owne
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles

“It Made Me Argue More Confidently and I Can Stand by My Words”: Beginning Teachers’ Perspectives
“It made me argue more confidently and I can stand by my words”: Beginning teachers’ perspectives about mentoring, goal setting, and leadership during teacher registration.
Caterina Murphy and Jenny Butcher. Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa / NZ Childcare Association.
Full referenceMurphy, Caterina, & Butcher, Jenny (2015). “It

Embedding Literacy in an Early Childhood Education Programme: A Look into Montessori
Children begin school with a range of pre-literacy skills that serve as the foundation for later reading achievement. These skills include phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge and vocabulary. The New Zealand early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki is non-prescriptive in terms of literacy and allows for early childhood centres to develop their

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.

Becoming Cognisant of Research Informed by Kaupapa Māori in Early Childhood Education: Issues and Contexts
Abstract:
This paper outlines tensions existing within student teacher self-study action research projects undertaken as a requirement of a Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) at Te Whare Waananga o Wairaka Unitec Institute of Technology (Unitec).
Whilst student teachers in our programme are expected to engage in Kaupapa Māori
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