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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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Membership Services and Support for:
Teacher Member Posts
The Learning Story Narrative Approach to Child Assessment
Narrative Approach to Child Assessment.
While our country’s youngest children are not assessed with end of year tests or other formal assessments, the Ministry of Education does require early childhood education (ECE) services to be ”informed by assessment, planning and evaluation (documented and undocumented) that demonstrates an understandi
Job Interview Preparation and Questions
ECE Job Interview Questions.
If you have been asked to attend an interview then you have been short-listed out of the applications received.
The information below will help you to prepare for the interview and participate in the interview process with confidence.
This article covers:
what checks are likely to be done on youqu
Diseases Requiring Children and Adults Not to Be at ECE
Diseases and Conditions Requiring Exclusion of Children and Adults from Coming In Contact with Any Other Person at the ECE Service.
Below is a list of the diseases and conditions likely to be passed on to children and to have a detrimental effect on them. When a child or adult has one of these diseases or conditions the early childhood s
Teaching Pre-Reading Skills
Teaching Pre-Reading Skills. By Barbara Morris.
Is it important for parents and early childhood educators to be involved in teaching pre-reading skills to children? Yes it is!
Parents play an important part in helping their children acquire pre-reading skills. There are many ways early childhood educators can support the acquisition o
Service Provider Member Posts
Separated Parents – Policy on Who Child Can Leave With and Disclosure of Information about a Child
Separated Parents.
It can be tricky being caught between parents, new partners of parents, and lawyers and it’s never easy trying to determine what information if any you can and should share and where the line is between privacy rights and responsibilities and duties as a parent.
This article discusses key issues that have a
Strategies Services are Using to Improve their Financial Outlook
Financial Improvement of Struggling ECE Services.
On this page you can find out what centres and home-based services are doing in respect of:
fees,staffing,ways that they are cutting back on spending (or not),marketing approaches and new markets being targeted, and
The insight this provides will be helpful for everyone who is seeking to i
Performance Appraisals for Early Childhood Staff and Managers
The Teaching Council no longer requires teachers to participate in an appraisal process – this requirement was replaced with a Professional Growth Cycle requirement.
However, the Ministry of Education’s licensing criteria that sits alongside the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations requires that services have processes for human resource management; including “a system of regular appraisal” (GMA6 home-based; GMA7 education and care centres; GMA7 playcentres; GMA7 kōhanga reo; GMA7 hospital-based).
The templates and guidance provided here covers performance appraisals for managers who may also be the service owner, and teaching staff (including unqualified and qualified staff).
This article also covers
How to conduct a performance appraisal, the process involved and 6 simple steps to follow
Tips for setting the scene properly and conducting the performance review effectively.
Owner Worried about Putting Service at Risk By Employing Men
“I have nothing against employing men – but why put my centre at risk? Parents don’t want a male tending to their child’s personal needs. This is the type of society we now live in.”
owner of an early childhood service
Dr Alexander Replies
* In a childcare/early childhood education context children are not any safer with wo
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Changing Roles and Responsibilities: The Development of Coaching in Early Intervention
This paper examines if coaching has a potential role in helping authentic collaborative partnerships between early intervention teachers and early childhood educators and families.
Coaching is a process that can empower. It can also help ECE teachers to examine their own perceptions about the knowledge they hold. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
Airplane Grows in the Tummy of Clouds: Living Through Relations in the Early Years of Life
Using a child’s expression that illustrates his mental image of constituted relations of living things, the author conceptualizes relationality, an interrelated view of being, and its importance for early childhood education. The difference between relation and interaction, and the significance of inter-human relationship are discussed as signifi
Advocating Anti-bias Practices in Early Childhood Education
Full reference: Harper-Hooper, W. (2025). Advocating anti-bias practices in early childhood education. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 27, pp. 43-55.
Login to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT:
This article examines the integration of anti-bias education, multicultural pedagogy, and Social Learning Theory within early childhood education, with a focus on fostering inclusive, equitable, and socially just learning environments. Grounded in the view that bias is socially constructed and learned, anti-bias education offers a critical framework for supporting children’s identity development, empathy, and engagement with diversity from the early years. Informed by Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, the paper explores how young children internalise inclusive values through observation, modelling, and guided interaction. Play-based learning is identified as a developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive approach for embedding these values within everyday practice. Through intentional role-play, storytelling, and collaborative exploration, children are supported to examine difference, challenge stereotypes, and develop inclusive ways of thinking and relating. The paper outlines practical strategies, including inclusive curriculum design, culturally sustaining resources, family and community engagement, and educator reflection, that contribute to equitable learning experiences. It also presents assessment approaches that capture children’s understanding of diversity and inclusion through observation, artefacts, and caregiver input. In the Aotearoa New Zealand context and globally, where increasing diversity and persistent inequities shape the early childhood education landscape, this article underscores the educator’s role as a reflective, relational, and intentional agent of change. It concludes by advocating for ongoing professional learning and collaboration to advance transformative early childhood education practices rooted in equity, belonging, and social justice.
Key words: Anti-bias education, pedagogy, play-based learning, multicultural education, social learning theory.
From a Good Idea to a Robust Research Design: A Discussion of Challenges in Designing Early Childhood Research
Designing an ECE Research Study. By Claire McLachlan.
Abstract: Designing and carrying out research in the area of early childhood education is one that is attempted by many, including experienced and beginning researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students as well as by people working in a range of different early childhood servi
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