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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
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
Integrated Early Childhood Services for Children and Families
Integrated Early Childhood Services. Joanne M. Alderson.
Two buzz words in early childhood education today are ‘collaboration’ and ‘partnership’. They roll off the tip of the tongues of professionals in our field. But what exactly do these words mean in practice?
This article by Joanne Alderson seeks to answer this question based o
Grief and Preparing a Child For Loss
Supporting a grieving child can be distressing for a teacher. However it is important that teachers do not try to avoid dealing with a child’s grief, or with their own grief. Teachers can support children’s grief in a sensitive and caring manner.
This article covers:
1. Preparing for grief and loss2. What does grief look
Children Attending Multiple Early Childhood Services
Attending Multiple Early Childhood Services in NZ.
Children can attend more than one ECE service. But this was not always recommended.
When a child attends kindergarten, he should not, except in special circumstances, also attend playcentre. This is an overlapping of services and is contrary to the policy of nursery playcentres generally. It
Telling Parents Only What We Think They Want to Hear About Their Child
Lying to Parents About their Child in Early Childhood Education and Childcare.
As early childhood teachers, how often and why are we lying to parents about their child?
We are constantly making judgements on what information to give parents about their children and what information to withhold. But in whose best interests are we acting
Service Provider Member Posts
CCTV and Security Camera Policy
The Office of ECE provides this CCTV policy template and guidance to help services that use indoor and outdoor CCTV and security cameras meet their legal obligations under the Privacy Act, the Children’s Act, and other relevant legislation.
Login and view the full policy template and information here.
Every service that operates cameras in areas where children or staff may be present needs clear, transparent procedures to ensure lawful and ethical use.
Ministry of Education Audits: Funding Audit and Record Keeping Audits
Preparing for a Funding Claim Audit.
The purpose of a visiting audit from the Ministry of Education is to:
Verify that the service is claiming and receiving the correct amount of MoE funding,
Verify that a service is meeting the record keeping requirements for the grants, and to
Provide advice and assistance to services about record
Playground Risk Assessment
When the Health and Safety at Work Act was brought in concerns were expressed by the education sector. For example, does the Act mean children can’t climb trees in ECE anymore?
Then there’s NZS 5828: Playground Equipment and Surfacing to think about.
Well the good news is that it’s pretty much all good news.
In this article we’ll look at how risk assessment, the HSW Act and NZS 5828 can combine to develop safety approaches that recognise the goal of Te Whariki: To grow up as competent, confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit.
Advice on Responding to a Parent Who Does Not Want Child to Have a Male Teacher
Parent does not want Male Teacher.
An early childhood centre manager asks:
After informing our parents that 2 new teachers had been appointed for the start of term, a mother said she did not want one of these teachers, a man, to have any contact with her daughter and that she must never be in the same group with him. We agreed to her
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Visible Difference: Photostory as Capacity Building, Research and Evaluation Method
This paper presents research on the use of visual documentation – photo stories – to support reflective teaching practice, disrupt traditional power relations between educators and families, and enable teacher and researcher co-construction of knowledge. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Early Childhood Educators’ and Parents’ Perspectives of Literacy for Children Under Three
Research on literacy practices for infants and toddlers (children under 3 years) in early childhood education and parent and educator understandings. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
“It is a Risk, But it is a Risk Worth Taking”: Early Childhood Teachers’ Reflections on Review of Practice Using an Approach of Practical Philosophy
“It is a risk, but it is a risk worth taking”: Early childhood teachers’ reflections on review of practice using an approach of practical philosophy.
Anne Grey. AUT University, NZ.
Full reference: Grey, A. (2015). “It is a risk, but it is a risk worth taking”: Early childhood teachers’ reflections on review of practice usin
Constructing Teacher Identities across Different Learning Paradigms
Abstract:
This article discusses one key finding from a qualitative study that investigated the experiences of overseas-born, ethnic minority early childhood pre-service teachers in New Zealand. Data were collected through interviews with recently graduated Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) teachers and early childhood lecturers
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