Licensing criteria for home-based ECE services

Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) defines home-based ECE services as the provision of education or care, for gain or reward, to children who are under the age of 5 years, or who are aged 5 years but not enrolled at school, in:

  • the children’s own home; or
  • the home of the person providing the education or care; or
  • any other home nominated by a parent of the children.

These services are licensed in accordance with the Education and Training Act 2020 under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008(external link), which prescribe minimum standards that each licensed service must meet. Licensing criteria are used to assess how the services meet the minimum standards required by the regulations.

For each criterion there is guidance to help services meet the required standards.

The publication of the criteria on its own can be downloaded as a PDF [PDF, 1.3 MB] and printed.

The licensing criteria were last updated in September 2022.

GMA5 Self-review and internal evaluation

  • Criteria

    • Criteria

      Governance Management and Administration criterion 5

      An ongoing process(external link) of self-review and internal evaluation helps the service maintain and improve the quality of its education and care.

      Documentation required:

      1. A process for reviewing and evaluating the service's operation (for example, its curriculum, learning and teaching practices, philosophy, policies, and procedures(external link)) by the people involved in the service. The process is consistent with criterion GMA4/GMA3(external link) and includes a schedule showing timelines for planned review of different areas of operation.
      2. Recorded(external link) outcomes from the review and evaluation process. Outcomes show how the service has regard for the Statement of National Education and Learning Priorities (NELP) in its operation.
      Rationale/Intent:

      The criterion is to ensure that services have processes for continual improvement to maintain the quality of the education and care provided to children. It is underpinned by the belief that ongoing self -review is part of good management and administration.

       

  • Guidance

    • Guidance

      The following is a starting point to show how services can meet the requirement. Services may choose to use other approaches better suited to their needs as long as they comply with the criteria.

      What is an ongoing process of self-review and internal evaluation?

      Self-review is about looking back on the implementation of policies, procedures and practices to ensure licensing requirements are met. Self-review involves asking questions such as:

      • Are we following our policies and procedures?
      • Are we doing what we are required to?

      Internal evaluation is about identifying what is and is not working, and for whom. This is carried out with the aim of improving practice and what is happening for children and then to determine what changes are required.

      Internal evaluation involves asking questions such as:

      • How well….?
      • How effectively…?
      • What next….?

      The Ministry would expect to see scheduled self-review and internal evaluation, in a service’s annual plan. Spontaneous self-review may happen in response to an incident or complaint.

      An ongoing process means that scheduled self-reviews and internal evaluations are undertaken regularly and are linked to and reflect on previous reviews or evaluations. An ongoing process involves asking questions such as:

      • What actions did we take?
      • What were the outcomes of those actions?
      • How have those outcomes informed the current self-review/internal evaluation?

      What should be included in the documented process?

      The documented self-review and internal evaluation process should identify:

      • Who will be involved in review and evaluation?
      • How often will reviews and evaluations will take place?
      • How parents of children attending the service are provided with the opportunity to contribute to the review and evaluation?
      • What type of incident/complaint would initiate a spontaneous review?

      What outcomes need to be recorded?

      Recorded outcomes should include change’s that were made (or not made) to the service’s policies, procedures and practices, the rationale for these changes (or lack of change), what impact these changes (if applicable) have had on tamariki and how the service has regard for the statement of National Education and Learning Priorities (NELP) in its operation.

      How to have regard for the NELP?

      Having regard for the NELP(external link) means being able to demonstrate in the documented outcomes of self-review and internal evaluation how any change made to the service’s policies, procedures and practices align with priorities 1-6 of the NELP. Services will need to ensure those involved in any review and evaluation are familiar with priorities1-6 of the NELP.

  • Things to consider

    • Things to consider

      Samples of home visit notes and narrative assessment may help to provide evidence and support coordinators to monitor any changes to practice which lead to successful outcomes for children from self-review.

      Ngā Arohaehae Whai Hua/Self-review Guidelines for Early Childhood Education has been developed to encourage ECE services to adopt a process of self-review. The Guidelines cover all areas of the self-review process – including when to undertake self-review and what to review. A series of templates of review plans and frameworks that can be used as guides for review, and examples of self-review in practice are included as appendices. Review stories have also been provided by a range of ECE services, which show different approaches to review.

      ERO has also prepared a set of evaluation indicators for use in its reviews of early childhood services. Services may also choose to use the indicators when reviewing their own performance. These indicators can be found at the Education Review Office.

      The use of electronic reminder systems and electronic recording and communication media may assist smaller services to manage time constraints.

       

      NELP

      At this stage, the Ministry is taking an educative approach to assessing the NELP, given these are recent criteria change. 

      Ministry staff will engage in conversations with services about how they may show they have regard for the NELP.  For example, some services may be due to update their annual plan so it could be as simple as including the NELP in this. Services could look at how the NELP can be woven into their self-review and internal evaluation processes and systems as well as professional growth cycles. 

      We are realistic that services providers are unlikely able to provide a lot of documentation to demonstrate full compliance with these criteria right now. Over time we will be expecting more, which will be indicated in discussions between advisers and service providers.

      The Ministry is currently working on developing a suite of resources to assist services to meet the NELP criteria. This is likely to include PLD webinars later in the year. More information will be provided when available.

      Resources

      Te Hurihanginui Te Hurihanganui – Education in New Zealand(external link)

      Ka Hikitia Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaitia – Education in New Zealand(external link)

      Tau Mai i te Reo Tau Mai Te Reo – Education in New Zealand(external link)

      Action Plan for Pacific Education Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020–2030 – Education in New Zealand(external link)

      Early Learning Action Plan https://conversation-space.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/SES_0342_ELS_10YP_Final+Report_Web.pdf(external link)

      Learning Support Action Plan Learning Support Action Plan – Conversation space (education.govt.nz)(external link)