“It Pushes You Beyond the Boundaries”: The Paradox of Setting Teaching Goals in a Field-based Early Childhood Teacher Education Programme

This paper reports on a section of a research study into the teaching practice experiences of early childhood student teachers in a field-based teacher education programme. Goal setting was one of the four research themes of that study and is the focus of this paper. Eleven student teachers were initially interviewed in 2008 with ten of the origina

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Getting a Job with your ECE Qualification

Getting a job. How can my ECE qualification help me to get a job? With an early childhood teaching qualification you may find yourself attractive

ECE teachers off work for around three to four months for work-related injuries

On average, ECE teachers or staff members are off work for three to four months after sustaining a work related injury, ACC data indicates.

Two weeks ago, the Office of Early Childhood Education revealed that annually ACC accepts around 10,000 claims per year for injuries to children and staff at early childhood services. In total, the claims cost between $8 million and $9 million per year.

We have now obtained more statistics.

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cleaning gloves and clothes hanging to dry

Avoidable Harm to Children: Lessons from the Christchurch ECE Chemical Burns Slide Incident

Dr Sarah Alexander warns systemic failures in NZ’s early childhood education put children at risk, citing the Christchurch chemical burns incident and urging lessons be learned from it.

Getting a call that your baby or young child has been seriously injured — or worse, has died — is something no parent should ever expect from a licensed early childhood service. Yet it happens.

On Friday afternoon, 5 December 2025, at a Christchurch centre licensed for 88 children, a corrosive substance was poured down a playground slide. Several children suffered chemical burns, prompting a major emergency response. By Monday, the centre had reopened as usual.

Credit is due to the service operator for informing parents and accepting responsibility.

Mistakes can happen — many of us have, at some point, reached for the wrong product when cleaning or fixing something.

Substantial decline in ECE services downgraded or closed for non-compliance with regulations, Why?

Substantial decline in the number of ECEs downgraded or closed for non-compliance with regulations, why?

The political environment likely impacted on the Ministry of Education and its enforcement of regulations and rules in 2024. We discovered a 53% reduction in provisional licences issued to ECE services in the second half of 2024 even though t

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First Aid Qualifications and Staffing Requirements – All ECE Services

Number of first aid qualified staff and which staff must be first aid qualified in which services

From 26 February 2024, all persons designated the ‘person responsible’ in teacher-led education and care centres, including kindergartens must hold a first aid qualification from a training provider recognised by New Zealand Qualifications Authority

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Contents – NZ International Research in ECE Journal, 2019, Vol 22, No. 1

This issue spans sustainability pedagogies, post‑colonial tensions in Pacific ECE, digital technology use, advanced empathy, parent‑centred understandings of quality, schema‑informed behaviour support, and rhizomatic thinking in young children’s learning.

NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education journal

Communities of Learning: Promoting Equity in ECE Policy and Practice

Research on equity ideas and strategies for teachers and kaiako to advance equitable educational opportunities for all tamariki/children. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.

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“It Pushes You Beyond the Boundaries”: The Paradox of Setting Teaching Goals in a Field-based Early Childhood Teacher Education Programme

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