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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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National and local stories, expert analysis, commentary, and more.
Education Bulletin and Sector Notices
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Membership Services and Support for:
Teacher Member Posts
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
Learning Languages in ECE from a Young Age
Learning languages in early childhood education is important – whether it is connecting with parts of our own kiwi culture or embracing other languages.
With families coming to New Zealand from all over the world it is also important to recognise that English and/ or Māori may not be the main language/s in the home of some families.
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Children with Coughs and Colds
Coughs and Colds – Administration of Medicine and Communication with Parents about Best / Safe Practices.
Health authorities warn against the use of cough and cold medicines for children under the age of 6 years- except for those containing only bromhexine or intra-nasal decongestants (such as oxymetazoline and xylometazoline) and the
Active Supervision: Four Skills Every Adult Teaching in ECE Should Know
Active supervision is the single most effective way to prevent harm – this article explains what active supervision is and the four essential skills adults should demonstrate when working in early childhood settings.
Service Provider Member Posts
Dismissal Letter
EXAMPLE LETTER OF DISMISSAL.
Below is a general draft letter of dismissal to assist you in learning how a letter can be constructed, and what things you need to consider including in it,
Private and Confidential
DATE:
Dear <Insert Name>
Termination of your employment
This letter is to formally advise you of the termi
Charging Parents for Late Pick-ups and Early Drop-offs
Late Fee.
Should you charge a late fee for late collection of children? Or charge the parents of children who arrive early?
Some early childhood services ‘fine’ parents to try to deter them from leaving their child outside of hours that are booked. Other services charge late and early drop-off fees to generate extra reven
Managing Staff Drug and Alcohol Impairment
Ensuring that staff are not impaired by drugs or alcohol is a fundamental responsibility for every ECE service.
Staff whose behaviour or ability to function is affected by illicit drugs, controlled substances, or alcohol present a serious safety risk.
Illness and Infectious Disease Policy: Covering Children and Adults
Illness and infectious‑disease management is under closer scrutiny than ever, and every ECE service must have a policy that reflects current regulations and best practice. A weak or outdated policy can put children at risk, expose staff to preventable illness, and leave your service vulnerable during a licensing inspection, ERO review, or complaint.
This article shows you how to write a strong, compliant illness and infectious diseases policy for your centre or home‑based service – and provides a practical template you can use to update your current procedures immediately.
Log in with your member details to access the full guidance and template. If your service’s membership has lapsed or you’d like to join, get in touch and we’ll help you get set up quickly.
Centres and home‑based services play a vital role in safeguarding children’s health. Clear, well‑informed procedures are essential for preventing exposure to infectious illnesses and reducing the risk of outbreaks.
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Progressing Play
How to teach and not what to teach is the focus of ‘Progressing Play’.
The authors detail, discuss and throughout the book provide real-examples of children’s play and teacher action and responses – to support and inspire the reader to think about and extend the quality of her or his teaching in many different areas
Supporting Teaching Practices to Foster Toddlers’ Emotional Literacy
FULL REFERENCE: Clarke, L.R., McLaughlin, T. W., Aspden, K. & Riley, T. (2021). Supporting teaching practices to foster toddlers’ emotional literacy. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 23(1), 52-58
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: Most teachers of toddlers will be familiar with the challenges toddlers face as they negotiate the social and emotional landscape of an early childhood setting. Toddlers’ emotional literacy skills—including the abilities to recognise, understand, and appropriately express emotions—are just beginning to develop. To manage their emotional wellbeing, toddlers need support from their teachers, however, teachers may also need help to effectively foster toddlers’ wellbeing and their developing emotional literacy. In this research note, we describe a structured observation and feedback professional development project focused on teaching practices to foster toddlers’ emotional literacy. The approach to observation and feedback may be useful in helping teachers develop a repertoire of teaching practices to foster toddlers’ emotional learning.
Key words: Professional development, feedback, emotion, social-emotional learning, wellbeing.
The Act and Art of Noticing, Wondering, Searching for Meaning, And Remaining Open to Beauty
FULL REFERENCE: Füss, M. (2026). The act and art of noticing, wondering, searching for meaning, and remaining open to beauty. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 28(1), 1-5.
ABSTRACT: This commentary explores aesthetic education as a way of being within contemporary early childhood education. Drawing on Maxine Greene’s philosophy of aesthetic education and reflections from Priscilla, an experienced artist-educator, it considers how attentiveness, curiosity, imagination, and creative expression might sustain educators within professional contexts increasingly shaped by standards, accountability, and measurement. Priscilla’s stories illuminate aesthetics not simply as engagement with the Arts, but as an ongoing openness to experience, possibility, relationship, and becoming. The commentary argues that aesthetic education begins with educators themselves: with cultivating the capacity to notice, wonder, search for meaning, and remain open to beauty within everyday life. Rather than calling for dramatic transformation, it invites educators to attend to what may have grown quiet within their own lives and practices.
In doing so, aesthetic education offers a way of reconnecting with the curiosity, expression, and sense of possibility that educators seek to nurture in children.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
KEY WORDS: Arts, aesthetic education, teaching practice, creativity.
INTRODUCTION:
When was the last time you danced? Not for an audience or an event, but simply because the pulsating rhythms welled up within you and compelled you to move. Perhaps it was yesterday. Perhaps you have not truly let loose on a dance floor in years.
Early childhood educators are known for their pedagogical skills in nurturing children’s creativity, imagination, and capacity for expression within their early childhood programmes (Giamminuti, 2013; Karaolis & Little). Through carefully chosen phrases, glances, and expressions, educators can encourage the children in their care to dance as if no one is watching. Yet I wonder, as you read these words, whether you genuinely consider the place of such experiences or expressions in your daily life as professional practice?
Brooke’s Day: One Child’s Experience in ECE
What is a child’s everyday experience of attending a fulltime early childhood education and care centre? This case study focuses upon one child’s experience within a centre in New Zealand and proposes that meaningful learning can occur when a child attends an early childcare programme. The methods used to gather data were videotaping, an observ
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