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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
Death of a Pet
The death of a pet, especially a first pet, can be more traumatic for a child than it is for an adult.
Often the child has grown up with the pet and considers it to be as much a member of the family as the people in their family.
Or if it is an early childhood service pet, a child may have grown very fond of it and rely on it bein
Bullying by Children as Young as 2 Years
Bullying by Children as Young as Two.
Children bullying another child is not uncommon, and it happens in early childhood centres and homes. Around one in ten children experience being bullied or picked on as a consistent experience from age two years, according to findings of a longitudinal study.
Here we will look at: Should a child be called a bully? What is bullying? Examples of bullying. What’s normal and how adults can stop bullying from developing in the first place
Immigrant Children and Families
Immigrant Children in ECE. By Angel Chan.
As New Zealand has opened its doors more to immigrants from all over the world, early childhood services are experiencing significant growth in the enrolment of immigrant children.
Many immigrant children and parents have learning and parenting styles different from ‘New Zealanders’, posing ch
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
Service Provider Member Posts
Privacy Policy: Compliant, Caring Protection for All
A strong, up‑to‑date Privacy Policy is essential for every early childhood service because it protects the personal information of children, families, and staff while ensuring full compliance with the Privacy Act 2020.
With new sector‑specific guidance now in place, services must be confident that their policies reflect current legal expectations and best practice.
Our comprehensive policy template and procedures give services a clear, reliable framework to stay compliant, safeguard trust, and respond effectively to any privacy concerns.
Curriculum Policy
Use and adapt the following curriculum policy to suit your service and meet regulatory requirements.
Your curriculum policy must be consistent with the curriculum framework and be informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation (documented and undocumented) that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whānau, and life contexts.
As well as providing a curriculum policy template for you, we’ve included the questions the Ministry of Education commonly asks and focuses on when it is checking an ECE service’s curriculum policy and implementation.
RATIONALE:
To ensure the process of planning, evaluating and delivering a localised curriculum is consistent with
Mentoring New People to Come onto the Committee
Mentoring new people.
Are you finding that you have to twist the arm of an unwilling parent or person to be on the board or committee?
Here are some tips so you never have to do this again.
Most organisations, early childhood services included, wait until the president or chair, secretary, treasurer and other members announce individuall
Food Allergy Management
Food Allergy Management.
Sharing a sweet treat on your birthday is great fun, but in an early childhood setting it can be more complicated than simply working out how many pieces you need to cut the cake into.
If your centre or home-based service has children who have food allergies or intolerances, what seems like some harmless baking coul
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Contents – NZ International Research in ECE Journal, 2021, Vol 23, No. 1
This issue brings together research on critical reflection, emotional labour in early years practice, SENCo influences, equity‑focused policy work, toddlers’ emotional literacy, and teacher education during COVID‑19.
Supporting Parents to Use Schema Theory to Understand and Manage Challenging Behaviour in the Home
Research on how teachers can share schema theory with parents for managing the challenging behaviour of children with special needs and with disabilities. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Contents – NZ International Research in ECE Journal, 2019, Vol 22, No. 2
This issue explores the affordability of quality ECE, educator wellbeing, young children’s digital technology use, refugee children’s learning needs, and the role of spirituality in early childhood settings.
Early childhood teacher engagement with place-based education
The study followed ECE teachers who were learning to use an outdoor centre – a nature-based education space. The experience, who their beliefs, values and understandings of the pedagogical approaches that underpin learning in nature and the importance of place-based learning for tamariki and kaiako alike were affirmed. Login to view the full article. Or you can order a pdf copy of the article, go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
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