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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
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- 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
Transforming an Old Woodwork Table
I am James Lochead-MacMillan and I’m going to share with you our review and evaluation of the woodwork table and children’s use, and what we did to bring about improvement
Review and evaluation of woodwork
The hammers had seen better days, the saws were rusty, the screwdrivers were AWOL, the vices and the drills were all broken. The work benc
Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques to Help Children Keep Healthy
Teaching Mindfulness to Young Children. by Anna Whitehead.
Mindfulness can be described as the process of being aware.
Sensations, thoughts or feelings are simply experienced for what they are, without judgment.
Why would you be interested as a parent or teacher in mindfulness?
In the past we developed the idea that b
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
Professional Growth Cycle
The Professional Growth Cycle PGC is the new requirement for registered teachers. The Teaching Council have acknowledged that it will continue to be developed and improve over time.
Contents
What does the Professional Growth Cycle (PGC) mean for ECE services? And what should ECE service managers/ leaders do?Does this mean that teachers will n
Service Provider Member Posts
Losing a Child or Preventing Children Escaping Policy
Prevent Child Escapes.
Having a child slip out of a gate un-noticed or being sent home with the wrong person is something that everyone would dread.
It is expected that children are safe in their ECE environment and cared for at all times.
So in terms of developing policy and involving parents and others to play their part in ensuring th
90-day Trial Period
All employers in New Zealand, no matter their size, are able to use 90-day trial periods. 90-day trials will not affect other aspects of employment relations, such as the requirement to act in good faith. It can be used for any staff – including and not limited to teachers, cleaners, cooks, administrators).
If you wish to put a new staff me
Indoor-Outdoor Spaces and Room Layout
Early Childhood Centre Design Ideas.
We show, with photographs, a different design and approach to using space for supporting small group and project work. The design comes from a bilingual kindergarten, called a ‘Kita’ in Hamburg, Germany.
The photographs were taken, by Sarah Alexander, during a guided tour of the facility for
The ECE Safety Checklist – Daily Hazard and Safety Checklist
The ECE Safety Checklist – A Daily Hazard and Safety Checklist for Every ECE Service. Checklist items include regulation requirements and reflect learnings from tragic incidents that have happened in ECE.
How to Use the Checklist
This checklist is to assist in conducting and recording the daily inspection.
It is more thorough and detaile
Research Library – Today’s Featured Articles
How to write a good abstract and guidelines for reviewers of abstracts and paper or conference proposals
Writing a good abstract and what to look for if you are reviewing abstracts or conference paper proposals.
Guideline on Abstract Writing and Review
An abstract for a research paper should be sharply focused, concisely written and identify the major aspects of the research to be covered in the proposed session. Reviewing an abstract for a rese
Cultural Components of Early Childhood Teacher Education in Aotearoa New Zealand
FULL REFERENCE: Afrin, T. (2023). Cultural components of early childhood teacher education in Aotearoa New Zealand. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 25, pp. 1 – 16.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: A number of Tertiary Education Organisations (TEOs) deliver early childhood teacher education programmes, where teaching and learning takes place between student-teachers and lecturers. Although several research reports aim to explore cultural diversity and inclusive practice with young children, very few do so from the perspective of teacher education. It is important that the tertiary sector is studied so that the student-teachers’ classroom encounter aligns with the placement experience. This study aims to address this gap. Within a socio-cultural framework, the research objectives were to ascertain the cultural components of early childhood teacher education programmes and to explore how the identified components impact on teaching and learning. Twelve lecturers from three TEOs and three cohorts of student-teachers participated via interviews and focus group discussions. Using manual thematic coding, nine broad areas of emerged. These are bicultural contexts of Aotearoa, multi-culturalism, individual identities, cross-cultural interactions, comfort zone, female majority, socio-economic struggles, spirituality, and technology. Student-teachers reported feeling empowered when they shared components from their culture. Lecturers acknowledged these components and affirmed that they contributed to their own emotional and professional growth. The findings led to the development of a reusable reflection framework for the lecturers of early childhood teacher education programmes to promote cultural competence.
KEY WORDS: Culture, teacher education, early childhood, reflection, teaching as inquiry.
INTRODUCTION
If we believe in the quote “We teach who we are” (Palmer, 1998, p. 1), curiosity about cultural components arises. Our own cultural contexts influence us as individuals and as educators. As an immigrant early childhood teacher educator from Bangladesh, working in Aotearoa New Zealand for the last twelve years, my curiosity led me to explore how lecturers relate to the student-teachers within the diverse cultural context. This query led to a Master of Philosophy study where I aimed to understand the cultural components of early childhood teacher education classrooms and the possible impact they may have on lecturers and student-teachers. In this study, I have condensed the infinite components of culture present in early childhood teacher education classrooms. Culture itself is polysemous. This is because culture is influenced by multiple variables such social and political contexts, as well as individual aspects such as, age, gender, and ethnicities (Eberly, Joshi, & Konzal, 2007). Anthropologically, people may denote artefacts from many different identities even within the same individual. For the study, I have narrowed down the investigation to the following subjects:
Doctoral Thesis Directory
This is a Ph.D. and Ed.D. Education Doctoral Thesis Directory.
The Education Doctoral Thesis Directory shows theses completed in NZ, or through a NZ tertiary education institution, that are relevant to young children’s care, health, and education.
An education masters thesis directory is also available if you would like to search for
Constructing Teacher Identities across Different Learning Paradigms
Abstract:
This article discusses one key finding from a qualitative study that investigated the experiences of overseas-born, ethnic minority early childhood pre-service teachers in New Zealand. Data were collected through interviews with recently graduated Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) teachers and early childhood lecturers
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