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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
View the Code of Conduct for ECE Services
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Teacher Member Posts
Supporting and Involving Fathers
Early childhood education services in general do not do well when it comes to being inclusive of dads and supporting and involving fathers. Services could be doing better if teachers and service operators knew how.
New Zealand families are gradually changing and men are becoming more involved in raising their children.
However, public reali
Woodwork Tables, Tools, Gender Issues, and Rules
Woodworking in ECE is easier than you might think, and this guide shows you exactly what tools to get, how to set up the space and how to support children safely and confidently. Discover the huge developmental benefits of woodwork – from problem‑solving to coordination – and why even teachers with no carpentry experience can enjoy learning alongside the children.
Parent-Child Attachment
Supporting Parent-Child Attachment.
A strong attachment with an adult is as essential to a child as air, food and water. Healthy child development is unlikely without it.
The Ministry of Health reports that mental health and behavioural problems are rising across all socio-economic groups.
What effect could stronger pa
Over-Stimulating Environments Unsuitable for Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders
Dear Fellow Teachers,
I’ve recently been approached by the mother of a child with ASD and Sensory Integration Disorder.
He is 3 and a half and finds a standard ECE environment too overwhelming – noise in particular but also visual stimulation and movement affect him adversely.
We had a long discussion about the unspoken belief that all children thrive in a visual stimulating and noisy environment.
The mother has investigated
Service Provider Member Posts
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
Astroturf, Artificial Grass or Real Grass – What’s Best in ECE
There will always be differing opinions about whether artificial turf or natural grass is the better option for an early childhood service. It’s increasingly common to see artificial turf in New Zealand ECE services. But its presence often raises questions for kaiako, leaders and parents about costs, safety, maintenance, and which option truly serves children best.
Getting Men to Apply for Your Staff Vacancy
Male job applicants.
We are advertising for a teacher and have received some quality applications so far, but no applications from males. We would love to have a male applicant or two – any ideas of how we could achieve this?Service provider
Dr Alexander replies:
Finding male staff can be difficult because there are disproportionat
No-Cost Advertising and Service Promotion
Marketing and Promotion.
Competition from other service providers in your area should not result in your service closing its doors. If you provide a quality service, do your home-work and develop a plan to keep children and attract new families.
The standard marketing and advertising advice is:
1. Develop a plan.
2. Consider c
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Young Children Becoming Curriculum: Deleuze, Te Whāriki and Curricular Understandings
Marg Sellers contests the usual dichotomisation of children and curriculum, by proposing and developing the notion of re(con)ceiving children in curriculum.
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.
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.
Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Mentoring Relationships in Field-based Early Childhood Teacher Education
Abstract:
The focus of this paper is on the relationships and experiences of third-year field-based early childhood student teachers with their mentoring teachers in their usual centre of work and with their Associate Teachers whilst on practicum. It reports on data from the second phase of a larger multi-year study (which commenced in 2008),
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