Giving Medicine to Children: Safe Practices in ECE and Clear Expectations

Giving medicine in ECE settings requires clear policies, especially when parents request painkillers like paracetamol or ibuprofen. It highlights the risks, the confusion many teachers face, and the need for consistent, safe practices that protect children’s health.

This is a member/subscriber only post. To access it, please see the message below for details on access and joining.

Already a Teacher Member?

Are you teaching and caring for children or studying for an ECE qualification?

If you are, that’s great! Join us now, and become a teacher member.

Five Reasons to Join Us

1. Professional recognition

It is prestigious to belong to the OECE – you can skite about it!

Ask us for an OECE Member Certificate, to include in your professional portfolio as proof you are engaged in reading and professional learning that advances your understanding of the relationship between practice and outcomes for children.

2. Extra benefits

No need to pay a subscription fee for access to NZ’s specialist ECE Newsroom – your member login will let you view everything in the ECE Newsroom.

No need to pay to access the best NZ and international research – your member login gives you free access to the Research Library and support.

3. Professional growth and no-judgement help

Teaching resources and advice on probably everything you can think of, including what to wear as a teacher, how to ask for a pay raise, identifying child behaviour causes and responding to needs, new play activity ideas, etc., etc. all of this is at your finger-tips 24/7 whenever you need help or advice – login to view.

4. Representation

Did you know that the OECE meets personally and regularly with the Ministry of Education national team, and the regulations committee and other forums?

Political leaders and journalists are able to use the OECE to gain deeper knowledge on a topic or issue, and we provide a sounding board for ideas and feedback.

The OECE promotes safe working environments for teachers. We also promote the absolute need for full pay parity with school teachers for all certificated teaching staff working in teacher-led centres and in home-based, and whether permanently or casually employed.

5. Value for Money

We are committed to keeping membership prices affordable and providing value for money.

Teacher membership is just $89 for a full year, or save by joining for 2 years.

Has this been useful? Give us your feedback.

You are welcome to add a link to this page on your website. Copyright belongs to the OECE so please do not copy any content without our written permission.

Information provided is of a general nature. It is provided ‘as is’, and we accept no liability for its accuracy or completeness. See our Terms and Conditions.

Contents – NZ International Research in ECE Journal, 2024, Vol 26

This issue brings together research on food‑safety practices, visual arts pedagogy, disability inclusion, Indigenous perspectives, autism support, place‑based learning, and educator wellbeing. Across these diverse studies, authors offer fresh insights that deepen our understanding of early childhood education and the conditions that shape equitable, meaningful learning for all children.

Submission on the Education (EC Services) Amendment Regulations 2025 – Changing the Consequences of Non‑Compliance

Our Key Concerns at a Glance:

1. Weakened Enforcement: The proposed changes shift focus away from child protection by making licence downgrades dependent on preliminary, softer measures. This delays strong action in response to multiple or serious breaches.

Rethinking sensory play in ECE – Asbestos in coloured sand products

SARAH’S VIEW – OPINION COLUMN. The recent discovery of asbestos in commercially produced coloured sand sold in Aotearoa and Australia should prompt more than immediate safety checks and recalls, it should spark a wider conversation about why early childhood services and schools are buying mass‑produced sensory products in the first place.

Brightly packaged items promise instant appeal, but when something as basic as sand can carry hidden hazards, the trade‑offs are stark.

Child suffered serious head injury in daycare ECE New Zealand

Nelson’s fall: Parents still don’t know how their toddler hit his head on concrete and had a brain injury at childcare

Five years after Olivia Xu and Elmer Zhang’s son Nelson suffered a brain injury – he was found laying on a concrete path at his early childhood centre, the couple are still in the dark about what happened and what caused the injury.

Did he slip on an icy path? they wonder. Did another child push him?

They’ll probably never know what happened.

The two teachers who were on duty in the playground of the under 2-year-old area at the Centre that freezing morning on July 27, 2020 told investigators they did not see Nelson fall because they were busy with other children.

The couple have spent $60,000 on lawyers to try to get more information about the circumstances that led up to their then-14-month-old son being in a critical condition.

They’ve been told that their only option now would be to hire a private detective.

Emotions are still raw for Xu when she recalls rushing to Nelson’s daycare after being told he’d been injured, and seeing her little boy, who had been well when she dropped him off less than an hour earlier, lying on a nappy change mat unresponsive as one of his teachers administered first aid.

unwell children can make other children sick

Vaccinations Provided En-Masse at a Daycare

April 12, 2013. At a Kindercare centre 156 vaccinations were provided today for children and staff after a child was diagnosed with Hepatitis A. Dr

Colouring-in Books and Drawing Templates

Colouring-in Books in ECE.

Back in the 80s and 90s the use of colouring-in books was hotly debated amongst early childhood professionals and a consensus developed that drawing templates and colouring-in books were bad for children.

But today, colouring-in books for adults have become fashionable. Such books are promoted as supporting mind

This is a member/subscriber only post. To access it, please see the message below for details on access and joining.

ECE Newsroom

For Everyone

Service Provider

Teacher

Research

Giving Medicine to Children: Safe Practices in ECE and Clear Expectations

Already a Teacher Member?

Five Reasons to Join Us

1. Professional recognition

2. Extra benefits

3. Professional growth and no-judgement help

4. Representation

5. Value for Money

Related Posts

Share This Information

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Quick Links

Free Newsletters and Updates

The Office of ECE Login

Take Action!

1. Share This Information

2. Follow Our Social Pages

3. Get Regular Updates

4. Become a Member