Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory sector review

The regulatory review into the ECE sector is our first ever review of this type. Quality early childhood education can be transformational for children, their parents, and society.

Reviewing this sector is a priority in the Coalition Government’s Action Plan.

Regulation Minister David Seymour announced the review on 5 June 2024. The Ministry delivered its final report on the review to the Minister in December 2024. He accepted the review’s recommendations and will take a paper to Cabinet for consideration in early 2025.

Regulatory Review of Early Childhood Education – full report

Regulatory Review of Early Childhood Education – summary

The ECE regulatory review is designed to make a tangible difference for parents by ensuring that the regulatory framework enables ECE to be supportive, nurturing, and a beneficial experience for both children and their parents.

The scope of the review is broad, and examines the regulatory systems for education, health, safety, child protection, food safety, buildings, and workplaces as they apply to the early childhood education sector. We are not looking at funding settings for the sector.

We’re working closely with the Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office throughout.

The terms of reference for the ECE regulatory review outline the objectives, scope, roles, and methodology of the review, including the milestones.

We consulted sector representatives and government agencies as the terms of reference were developed.

ECE review: Terms of Reference (170 KB, Pdf)open_in_new

We are working with a range of other agencies during the review, especially the Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office, and sector groups and representatives, including:

• unions
• interest groups
• research organisations, and
• a range of different providers.

We have been working with an inter-agency forum comprising a wider set of government agencies with regulatory functions in the ECE sector, such as WorkSafe NZ, New Zealand Police and Oranga Tamariki to test recommendations, and consider implementation in parallel to the review.

This approach has meant that while the review is underway, we could identify quick wins that sit with other responsible agencies that could be progressed immediately rather than waiting for the formal review to be completed.

Clarifying ECE licensing misconception to make things easieropen_in_new

The review team is based in the Ministry for Regulation and has included staff from the Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office.

The regulatory sector review is a thorough check-up of how the Government regulates early childhood education. The Ministry for Regulation has been looking closely at why the Government is involved, how well the current rules are working, and what effects they have, including how they make things cost more or less. The review has been focused on the biggest issues, especially those that affect a lot of people or cost a lot, to find ways to make things better.

Using existing research, both domestic and international, the review aims to build on previous work. This includes how different groups work together in this area. This review is important because it helps make sure that the rules are good for everyone and make economic sense, saving time and improving outcomes for our children.

Engagement on the early childhood education regulatory review is now closed. Thank you to everybody who took time to provide us with feedback.

To support our information gathering for this review we engaged with those impacted by, and subject to, the early childhood education regulatory system, including:

• regulated parties, such as ECE business owners
• those who regulate the sector such as the Ministry of Education
• interested groups, such as:
  • unions
  • child advocacy organisations
  • research bodies
  • the early childhood education workforce, and
  • the parents and caregivers who use the services of ECE providers.

We are now considering the significant amount of feedback and written submissions we received through direct engagement and through our engagement hub.

We received over 2,320 submissions and written feedback from parents, teachers, centre owners, child advocacy groups, unions, research bodies, and others connected to the sector, in addition to information gathered from various face-to-face meetings across the country.

ECE Regulatory Review - what submitters said - October 2024