Tēnā koutou katoa
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
Get Unrestricted Access to NZ’s Specialist ECE NEWSROOM
National and local stories, expert analysis, commentary, and more.
Education Bulletin and Sector Notices
Free to sign-up and receive
Membership Services and Support for:
Teacher Member Posts
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
Pikler and Gerber Theories in Practice
A close look at how well the theories of Pikler and Gerber can be merged with Te Whariki and the models of infant care and education in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Concepts such as ‘self-soothing’ (allowing babies to settle by themselves) and leaving babies to develop in their own time rather than pushing them to meet milestones cause much debate among parents and early childhood educators.
These debates include such things as whether babies should be allowed to cry it out and whether parents or educators should help children to achieve milestones such as sitting by propping them up.
One proponent of allowing a child to develop at their own pace is Emmi Pikler, a Hungarian paediatrician who worked with children aged from birth to six in her role as Director of the Loczy Orphanage from 1946 until her death in 1979.
Pikler believed that infants’ emotional well-being was paramount, and she restructured then entire staff to ensure that all those working at the orphanage not only met the children’s physical needs, but also would ‘love’ these unwanted children and attend to them with consistent and thoughtful care.
The Education of Young Gifted Children and Resource Issues
Gifted Children Identification and Resource Issues. Research Report by Valerie Margrain & Sarah Alexander.
An online survey was conducted on the education of young gifted children. The purpose of the survey was to gather information and sector views to help inform policy and practices for young gifted children and those who work with them.
Controlled Crying or Training Children to Settle Themselves to Sleep
Controlled Crying.
This article discusses the Controlled Crying method. It gives clarity to conflicting opinions about whether this is a good practice and its benefits. We discuss if this method should and can be used in early childhood education (ECE) settings and in our teaching practice. Suggestions are included for other ways of support
Service Provider Member Posts
Kindergarten Girl on Slide Nearly Died From Strangulation
Slide safety.
UPDATE: Another case of strangulation showing that lessons have not yet been learnt. A child died in 2016 at Angels Childcare in Auckland due to strangulation on a slide.
An Opinion article on Slide Safety
By Dr Sarah Alexander September 1, 2010.
The mother of a young girl nearly strangled after being caught in a rope
Responding to a Child’s Disclosure of Abuse
Getting Help for an Abused Child. By Eric Hollis.
When a child discloses sexual abuse, it will always be distressing. It is natural for adults to feel at a loss to know how best to respond.
The information provided here covers how to listen and respond to a child who tells you, or hints in even a vague way, that she/he or someone they know
Complying with the Food Act
Complying with the Food Act.
All ECE services to whom the Food Act applies must apply for registration (under national programme 2) and be registered before they can provide food to children.
Exempt early childhood services
An early childhood service is not required to operate under the national programme 2 if:
It is a home-based s
Job Descriptions for Relievers
How to write a Job Description for a Reliever Position.
Many services like to use relieving staff they know, rather than going through an agency.
Below is a template for a job description that you can adapt to suit and use. If you would like more guidance and ideas go to the main article about writing JDs.
Service name or Logo
J
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
“It Made Me Argue More Confidently and I Can Stand by My Words”: Beginning Teachers’ Perspectives
FULL REFERENCE: Murphy, Caterina, & Butcher, Jenny (2015). “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. NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 18, 1 – 19.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: Mentoring and leadership are complex issues for early childhood education concerning growing as a teacher-leader professional. The period of provisional teacher registration is an important time for ongoing professional learning. This qualitative report focuses on the perspectives of five beginning teachers concerning their mentoring relationships and experiences during their journey of gaining full teacher registration. It reports on phase three of a larger multiyear study interested in teaching practice experiences (2008-2013). The research themes for phase three of the research were the effectiveness of mentoring relationships and goal-setting and teacher awareness of the Registered Teacher Criteria (RTC) (New Zealand Teachers Council, 2010) in everyday practice. One focus group interview was conducted. The results illuminate how beginning teachers use the RTC to support the attainment of registration and develop as teacher-leaders. Key themes of how their mentoring experiences as student teachers still affect their confidence as beginning teacher-leaders, their leadership aspirations and their ongoing journey of goal setting as professionals, were evident.
Key words: Beginning teachers; mentoring; registered teacher criteria; goal setting; leadership; appraisal.
INTRODUCTION
Beginning early childhood teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand are required to complete a minimum of two years provisional registration, guided by fully registered mentoring teachers during their programme of induction and mentoring (New Zealand Teachers Council (NZTC), 2010; 2011). This paper, (phase three of a multiyear qualitative study (Butcher & Murphy, 2012; Murphy & Butcher, 2009, 2011, 2013), reports on beginning teacher experiences. Research questions focused on the effectiveness of mentoring relationships, goal setting practices, and the use of the Registered Teacher Criteria (RTC) (NZTC, 2010) to support their teaching practice and professional learning.
Supporting Preschool Children’s Wellbeing through Home-based Literacy Development
FULL REFERENCE: McInnes, E., Harris, P., Neill, B., Diamond, A., Brock, C., and Camaitoga U. (2021). Supporting preschool age children’s wellbeing through home-based literacy development in three Fijian communities. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 23(2), 36 – 51.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: This paper reports wellbeing outcomes for three-to-five-year-old children, their families and communities arising from 3-year Australian-funded research into ways to develop sustainable local capacity in communities in Fiji without access to childhood services to foster their preschool children’s literacy development in home languages and English. Participants included 51 children and their 44 iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) and Indo-Fijian families in three communities. Families identified the project supported children’s sense of identity, agency, belonging and language development through improved oral expression in home languages and English, enjoyment of creating and reading books, and closer family relationships. Families and community members also said children’s confidence in learning success supported their positive attitudes to attending formal learning, and that the research process supported their collective efforts in fostering children’s literacy development along with trans-generational and cross-cultural learning.
Key words: Literacy, home language, reading, home learning, trans-generational learning, cross-cultural learning, indigenous.
Three-year-old Children’s Visual Art Experiences
FULL REFERENCE: Plows, J (2015). Three-year-old children’s visual art experiences. NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 18, 37 – 51.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: This art-based study investigated the verbal and non-verbal communication of five children, three boys and two girls. Previous New Zealand research about visual art learning in the early childhood education field focused mainly on the practices of teachers. In this study, participant observations and audio-recordings were complemented by visual data collected through video recordings and photographs for the purpose of understanding how young children speak, use gesture and action, relate to other people and interact with resources while making art. The children’s existing knowledge and cognitive processes were evident through the multiple ways they expressed themselves. Children’s communication processes during these visual art events were complex and dynamic. The main threads revealed in the data analysis were: children making art alongside peers and adults, interactions with art tools, links between the home and the early childhood setting and the way that children set their own goals. The findings suggest that teachers’ evaluations of three-year-olds’ visual art experiences are likely to be accurate when children’s actions and narratives are considered.
Key words: Visual art; arts; communication; intrapersonal; interpersonal; listening; visual art-based research; video; making meaning.
Introduction
This study looks at the visual art making of three-year-old children. It investigated how children talk to others, speak out loud to themselves, use body language, and interact with visual art equipment.
An increasing amount of literature about young children’s talk during visual art experiences links with the widely advocated pedagogy of listening (Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 1993; Rinaldi, 2001; Stephenson, 2009). Not only do children express ideas verbally during art making processes but the artifacts that they create are also seen as a mode through which they communicate cognitive processes (Ring, 2006).
Contents – NZ Research in ECE Journal, 2016, Vol. 19
This special issue examines equality and diversity in early childhood education, spanning inclusive science exploration, evolving coaching roles in early intervention, whole‑school language development, socio‑economic barriers to participation, whiteness scholarship, shared decision‑making, and photostory as a tool for capacity building.
What We Do
Resources
