How to write a Job Description for a Reliever Position.
Many services like to use relieving staff they know, rather than going through an agency.
Below is a template for a job description that you can adapt to suit and use. If you would like more guidance and ideas go to the main article about writing JDs.
Service name or Logo
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Management and ECE employment resources and advice will be at your finger-tips 24/7. We have so much available in the service provider area of our website – ranging from templates for policies, guidance on managing cashflow and debtors, staff drug use, negotiating pay with staff, and through to topics such as best sandpit design.
We will make running a staff survey simple for you. You can use our specially designed survey. We collect the results and will provide you with a confidential report of the findings. (50% discount available to service provider members).
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Anyone thinking about getting a job in ECE working in ECE or thinking about moving to a different service will find clear, practical information in this article about pay rates, employment conditions, and what to expect in different roles. It explains everything from starting salaries and pay‑step calculations to workplace rights, benefits, and how to recognise a supportive, professional environment.
Discover the key organisations and sector groups shaping early childhood education in New Zealand – who they are, what they do, and how they influence the services, policies, and people at the heart of the ECE sector.
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
Making Volcanoes with Children.
Children find volcanoes intriguing.
Here are some key facts and simple information to share with children about volcanoes and geysers, along with a ‘recipe’ for making your very own fun miniature demonstration volcano. Introducing knowledge and understanding of volcanoes is a common part of teaching and
The titles, authors and abstracts for papers published in the NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 2026, Volume 28, No. 1 are shown on this page. Click the article link to go to the full published article.
Library Trip with Children.
Going to the library is a great activity to do either on your own with a child or small group of children, or as a group visit with your early childhood service.
Maybe you will walk there. Or take the bus? It might be something that you do weekly or monthly to take out and return books.
The most obvious thing y
It is now some years since the Learning Stories approach to assessing children’s learning caught on and was widely and uncritically adopted by early childhood professionals in NZ.
Here we open up discussion and reflect on the use of the Learning Story approach to child assessment and how well it is working for teachers and children.
There
FULL REFERENCE: Probine, S. (2024). Colouring outside the lines: Re-exploring the teacher’s role in visual arts learning in early childhood. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 26, pp. 14 -29.
ABSTRACT: Teachers can be powerful influences on how young children experience the visual arts. It is often teachers who make choices about when, where, and how children will experience the visual arts in early childhood education. This paper explores an interpretivist, qualitative research project that examined the visual arts experiences of young children (aged 3-4) at three early childhood settings in Auckland, New Zealand. This paper focuses on the experiences and visual arts pedagogies of the teachers who participated in this study. In response to the literature, which suggests that many early childhood teachers continue to experience uncertainty around their roles as teachers of the arts, settings where the visual arts were deeply valued within the curriculum, were purposively selected. The rationale for selecting settings that valued this domain was to determine what factors and choices had enabled these settings to develop a rich visual arts curriculum for children. The study aimed to discover what influences had shaped teachers’ visual arts pedagogies, and how this impacted young children’s learning through the visual arts. The research found that when teachers nurture their own visual arts knowledge and confidence, both personally and professionally, they are equipped to engage authentically with children’s visual arts making and make intentional and creative choices about visual arts curriculum and pedagogy.
KEY WORDS: Visual arts pedagogy, early childhood education, co-construction, co-artists.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
INTRODUCTION
The visual arts support young children in exploring, theorizing, communicating, and reflecting on their experiences of the world (Brooks, 2017; Richards & Terreni, 2023). Formative visual arts experiences shape children’s identities as learners and creators. Early childhood teachers play a pivotal role in initiating children into the visual arts and fostering positive self-images as art-makers and creative thinkers (Denee et al., 2023). However, confusion persists about what constitutes appropriate visual arts curriculum and pedagogy (Denee, 2022; Lindsay, 2017; 2021). Some teachers hesitate to ‘intervene’ in children’s creative processes, while others overly control activities, which can result in identical artworks (Lindsay, 2017). There are also teachers, informed by sociocultural theories and the associated pedagogies, who have found a place in between these positions. These teachers actively plan for and engage in children’s art making, recognising the importance of ensuring children’s ideas and interpretations remain at the forefront. Developing such practices, however, can be challenging if teachers have had little prior experience in the visual arts or recall negative visual arts encounters from their own educational histories (Denee et al., 2023; Lindsay, 2017).
The results of a study on why early childhood teachers leave their jobs and factors such as better adult-to-child ratios that contribute to satisfaction in the workplace.
FULL REFERENCE: Jones, C., Hadley F., & Johnstone, M. (2017). Retaining early childhood teachers: What factors contribute to high job satisfaction in early childhood settings in Australia? NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal: Special Issue “Educators and their Work”, 20(2), 1-18.
Log-in to read the full research paper below. Or order a pdf copy of the article from the main NZIRECE Journal page.
ABSTRACT: The Australian early childhood sector is grappling with high teacher turnover rates in a climate where the demand for teachers is higher than ever due to regulatory increases in qualifications and an influx of centre based services. The necessity to understand what inspires those teachers who remain in the sector and the factors enhancing their job satisfaction is pertinent in the current context. This article reports on a study of teacher job satisfaction while examining the potential of Deci and Ryan’s (1985) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a mechanism for understanding this phenomenon. The study consisted of two phases. Phase one included 229 teachers completing an online survey measuring job satisfaction, intention to turnover, extrinsic factors as well as a major component of SDT (the three Basic Psychological Needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence in the workplace) with the W-BNS. In phase two, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten teachers who reported high levels of job satisfaction in their current workplaces from phase one. The ‘voices’ of these teachers support the findings from phase one by echoing the importance of meeting the three basic psychological needs in the workplace. This paper discusses the potential of SDT as a framework for understanding early childhood teacher job satisfaction and implications for policy and practice are also explored.
Key words: Job satisfaction; self-determination theory; early childhood teacher; staff turnover; long day care; retention.
INTRODUCTION
For this study, job satisfaction was defined as how satisfied a teacher is in their current workplace, and how happy they are in the overall Early Childhood (EC) profession. While job satisfaction in prior to school settings has been studied quite extensively (Bloom, 1986, 1988; Stremmel, Benson, & Powell, 1993; Whitebook & Sakai, 2003) there is limited Australian specific research and much of what is available is quite dated (Lyons, 1996, 1997; Rosier & Lloyd-Smith, 1996). This is problematic as the Australian EC sector is undergoing substantial growth requiring more teachers in prior to school settings (Productivity Commission, (PC), 2014; Sims & Waniganayake, 2015),
In the past decade (2003-2013), the number of approved EC services increased by 58%, with Long Day Care (LDC) services comprising just under half of this figure (PC, 2014). LDC centres are defined as providers of care for children from birth to school age, are open for at least ten hours per day, five days a week, and for at least 48 weeks per year. The introduction of the National Quality Framework (NQF), the regulatory system for EC organisations has also seen an emphasis on increased educator qualifications (Australian Children’s Education and Care Authority (ACECQA), 2011). The expansion of services has subsequently increased the number of educator positions (those who are employed to work directly with children); and the NQF regulations have increased the number of teachers (a person who holds an approved early childhood teaching qualification from a university) to meet the legislative requirements (ACECQA, 2016). This overall increase of EC teacher positions in the past decade has added further pressure to a sector already grappling with issues of retention and turnover (Bretherton, 2010; OECD, 2013).
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