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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
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Teacher Member Posts
SUDI – Death of an Infant when Sleeping
Sleep in ECE and Reducing the Risk of (SUDI): Learnings and What’s Legally Required versus Best Practice.
For years, the OECE’s chief advisor Dr Sarah Alexander has feared that a child would die from sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) in an early childhood education (ECE) setting. Now that has happened: An infant died from SUDI while
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
Starting School – What Helps According to Parents
Parents On Children Starting School.
Starting school is a major milestone in any child’s life but it can be stressful, and the success or otherwise of the transition period between childcare or preschool can set the tone for a child’s academic career.
However while the focus is often on getting the child ready to start school, it can al
Survival Tips for Beginning Male Teachers
Tips for New Male Teachers.
“I am a beginning teacher. Any tips on how I can survive and not let the glances, laughs, the inquisitorial questions, and the sexist assumptions about my competency because of who I am as a male affect me?”
Early childhood teacher Stuart Miller says “you may get some or a lot of dung hurled your way!”
Service Provider Member Posts
Lockdown Policy and Procedures
ECE Service Lockdown Policy Template and Procedures.
The terror incident in Christchurch in March 2019 prompted many ECE services to review their lockdown procedures, leaving us questioning whether we are well-prepared for situations where we may need to go into lockdown.
Some services in Christchurch found themselves unprepared, part
Building the Real Quality of Your ECE Service
Beyond Regulatory Standards and Expectations to Building Quality.
There seems to be so much to do in trying to provide a quality service, does there not?
Is all your work worth it or could a change in focus and method achieve better results?
To help you to think critically on this consider the following:
Who defines what quality is? A
Children Screaming – Risk to Adult and Child Hearing
How a child screaming can hurt adult ears
What did you say? I can’t hear you. I’m cuddling a circular saw!
By James Lochead-Macmillan.
Most research into screaming children focuses on the production of the stress hormone Cortisol.
What is significantly less reported is how dangerous that screaming child is to their car
Job Descriptions
Job description templates for various centre and home-based positions and examples.
Creating an effective job description is an important part of the hiring and employment process.
An appealing job description will attract the best candidates for the job you are advertising and will ensure you have a range of different applicants to choose
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
Index for the NZ Research in ECE Journal, 2011, Vol 14
The titles, authors and abstracts for papers published in the NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, Volume 14, 2011 are shown below. To view
Female Social Justice Leaders in the Early Childhood Profession
FULL REFERENCE: Summers, T. & Kamp, A. (2023). Female social justice leaders in the early childhood profession: A narrative inquiry on the origins of leadership. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 25, pp. 29 – 43.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: Sonja Davies, Kai Tahu, 1923-2005, was dedicated to social justice in Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) across various arenas, including early childhood education. She received the Queen’s Service award in 1987 and was a member of Parliament from 1987 to 1993. This article, drawn from kaupapa Māori, narrative research, investigates Sonja’s life with a focus on her upbringing, family, and contributions to early childhood. Sonja’s story, compiled from autobiographies, interview and document sources, was analysed thematically to explore the origins of her leadership. The analysis revealed that the origins of Sonja’s leadership are found in role models, personal struggles, mana wahine and social norms. Her leadership had a cost and was influenced by gender and generational contexts. Sonja’s leadership skills, combined with the social, economic, and cultural context that existed for her generation, enabled her to address inequities and to achieve change in the social justice sphere. Sonja’s story is important due to its place in time and history and because female leaders are underrepresented in the leadership literature. Drawing on Sonja’s story and the literature this article argues that the origins of Sonja’s leadership offer insights for the development of current and future leaders in early childhood education and beyond.
KEY WORDS: Sonja Davies, early childhood leadership, social justice, politics of childcare.
INTRODUCTION
Lyman et al (2012) states that “there is no universal understanding of social justice leadership amongst scholars” (p.4). Despite this lack of common understanding, the importance of leadership is acknowledged in the early childhood education sector in Aotearoa. Scholars also recognise that historical narratives of early childhood leaders have the potential to make an important contribution to leadership and practice (May et al., 2021). Sonja Davies has influenced early childhood education from a historical perspective in Aotearoa, New Zealand. When Sonja learned about her Māori ancestry and discovered her whakapapa (see Glossary for Māori terms) later in life she learnt the importance of identity for supporting her leadership. Given Sonja’s identity as a Māori woman the research reported on in this article draws on Māori leadership literature and reflects a kaupapa Māori perspective. The focus on Te ao Māori in this article also reflects the context of Aotearoa as a bicultural nation and the researcher’s identity as a wahine Māori.
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.
Influences on SENCo Practice in Early Care and Education Settings in England
FULL REFERENCE: Richards, H. (2021). Influences on SENCo practice in early care and education settings in England. NZ – International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 23(1), 24 – 38.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCos) play a key role in the identification of additional learning needs. Improved progress and potential for children with these needs is linked to early recognition and support. In England, early care and education (ECE) provision exists in a context of conflicting priorities, including differences in setting, culture, resources, experience, knowledge, skill and agreements with outside agencies. This presents challenges for SENCos who must navigate and secure support within this context.
This article presents findings obtained from qualitative data collected from participants working in ECE settings to investigate their experience of implementing Education and Health Care Plans. Data were analysed using a bio-ecological framework to reveal key influences perceived to make a positive difference in practice. These influences were routine collection of evidence; robustly held knowledge of developmental norms; introducing the possibility of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND); resources; and contact with children and families.
Key words: SENCo, bio-ecological framework, developmental norms, additional learning needs, early intervention.
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