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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

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Teacher Member Posts

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the importance of touch as part of caregiving and teaching children
Putting Theory into Practice

Teaching Literacy – An Early Childhood Educator’s Guide

Guide to Teaching Literacy. By Dr Sarah Alexander.

From their earliest speech experiences through to contact with written language and technologies, what happens in children’s homes and communities shapes their early literacy learning.  How, and whether this early learning is taken up and extended through early childhood educational practic

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coming back to NZ from overseas and seeking a teaching position
Outside‑the‑Box Play Ideas

Plane Spotting and Tracking

Plane Spotting at the ECE Service.

Going plane spotting is easy. You can do this now without leaving home or your early childhood service.

There are thousands of learning possibilities…

Technology – tracking planes, use of real timeGeography – different countriesMaths – comparing land masses, number of planes, altitude, speed, di

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Teacher preparing to talk children for a walk at an early childhood centre.
Job Guidance

Relieving Work – Relief Teaching

Working as a Reliever in ECE.

Most permanent early childhood teachers will have experienced relievers within their services, either from an agency or permanent relievers employed by their service and they may be interested in pursuing relieving themselves. If you are a reliever and for teachers who are considering moving from a permanent role

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rugby world cup
Outside‑the‑Box Play Ideas

Under-5s Rugby

Teaching Rugby to Children in Early Childhood Education. This fosters a sense of belonging, pride, and achievement.

Rugby is part of NZ’s culture and central to our cultural identity.  (See another article on following and celebrating the Rugby World Cup with children

It is a great sport to introduce to children from about 2 years of a

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Service Provider Member Posts

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sand play
Premises, Facilities, Layout & Space

Sandpit Design

A good sandpit design for an ECE service sees it being large enough to accommodate half or more of the children attending. It should provide enough room for each child to stand or sit and dig without touching or getting sand on another child. 

In home-based settings, the sandpit design should make sure it is of sufficient size to accommodate

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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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electricity power electrical
Health and Safety Management

Electrical Testing

The importance of electrical testing.

Is your early childhood education service compliant for electrical safety?  It needs to be:

Failure of electrical wiring or appliances is one of the most common causes of house and building fires – which could be devastating financially for your service, personally for everyone affected, and eve

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Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles

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Young children making music at kindergarten.
How-to-do Research Articles and Thesis Library

How to do Action-Based Research or an Inquiry, and Writing Your Report

What is Action Research?

Action research is defined in the glossary as:  

A hands-on approach to research for change in a setting and/or to one’s own practices, thinking and knowledge. Action research can be a collaborative endeavour or carried out by an individual.

When action research is being undertaken to bring about change in a se

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early childhood research journal online
2013 NZRECE Journal Articles

Omissions and Presuppositions in Kei Tua o te Pae: A Critical Discourse Analysis

This research note describes some of the findings from an analysis of three introductory booklets of “Kei Tua o te Pae”, an early childhood assessment practice resource produced by the New Zealand Ministry of Education.

Analysis involved taking a critical discourse perspective to identify ways in which text was likely to persuade readers to

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names research early childhood
About the Journal and Making a Submission

Call for Papers for the NZIRECE Journal

You are warmly invited to submit a paper to the NZIRECE Journal for consideration for publication. The NZIRECE Journal is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes research results, critiques, methodological papers and theoretical articles relating to children’s education, well-being and care in the early years (from birth and up to six or seven years of age).  

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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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