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A key priority for Minister Seymour as Associate Minister for Education with responsibilities related to the early childhood sector is to reduce the regulatory burden on the sector.
The Government has announced a number of proposed regulatory changes to Early Childhood Education.
Removing red tape to help early learners thrive – Beehive.govt.nz
Amending person(s) responsible requirements
The Government has revoked a scheduled change to the Person(s) Responsible Requirements outlined in the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 that would have seen the person responsible required to hold a full (category 1 or 2) practising certificate from the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand from 26 August 2024.
The revocation means that the existing person responsible requirement will be retained, so they can hold any practising certificate from the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Network approval revoked
On 25 September 2024, the Government agreed to remove the early childhood Network Approval provisions from the Education and Training Act 2020. This means service providers can now apply for a probationary licence to operate a new service without needing prior network approval.
To be issued a probationary licence, providers will still need to meet the requirements of the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 and associated licensing criteria.
Processes for changes in the identity of the service provider
Implementation of the requirements for changing the identity of the service provider on the service license are on hold following concerns raised by the sector. This will be considered further following the ECE regulatory sector review being led by the Ministry for Regulation.
Changes to home-based ECE regulations
The Government has made changes to some of the home-based ECE regulations to help reduce the compliance burden on providers whilst maintaining quality of education and care.
The amendments include:
- revoking a scheduled change that would have required each licensed home-based ECE services to have a minimum of 80% qualified educators and the remaining 20% in-training. Instead, all educators in a service will be required to either be qualified or working towards a recognised home-based service qualification,
- removing the limit on the number of licensed ECE services that a home-based person(s) responsible can work across in any given month.
These changes will come into effect on 1 January 2025.
Regulatory Impact Statement Other work underway
Developing guidance on centre design, environmental factors and group size
The Ministry of Education is working with an advisory panel of experts to develop comprehensive, integrated and culturally responsive guidance for early learning services about centre design, environmental factors and group size and organisation and how to improve quality in these areas.
Early learning regulatory advisory group
We have established an advisory group to provide expert advice and help inform the Ministry's ECE regulatory work. The group includes representatives from early childhood education services and peak sector bodies.
Update on the Ministry of Education’s early learning regulatory review
In 2020, the Ministry of Education began work to review the early learning regulatory system, in 3 planned tranches.
Tranche 1 was completed in 2021. Its main aim was to address some of the immediate gaps in our current system including those that pose a risk to children’s health, safety and wellbeing.
Tranche 2 was largely completed in 2022 and 2023 and covered more complex areas that required detailed policy work. This included addressing several commitments in the Early Learning Action Plan 2019–2029 and the Review of Home-based Early Childhood Education.
Tranche 3 was intended to include a wider review of the early learning regulatory system and a rewrite of the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. This work has now been superseded by the ECE regulatory sector review being undertaken by the Ministry for Regulation.
The other planned work in Tranche 3, to improve adult-to-child ratios, is on hold pending further Government decisions.
Mōhiohio anō
More information
More information about what was done in the early learning regulatory review, including the pro-actively released documents, are available on:
