Welcome, karakia and introductions

Nancy Bell, Chair

•    Nancy welcomed the group and Anna Steel opened the meeting with a karakia. 
•    Bradley Hannigan introduced himself and his role.
•    Apologies were noted.
•    September minutes were confirmed. 

Context update: ECE policy, where we are now and where we are heading

John Brooker, MoE.

• The government has introduced some specific changes: FamilyBoost, reversal of 20 hours ECE for 2-year-olds, repeal of network management. Other changes are more open to information, influence and change: removing unnecessary regulation, getting value from ECE, knowing the results of ECE.
• The government is also focused on managing debt and returning to surplus; for ECE we are looking to better use the resources we have.
• The Ministry for Regulation will report its regulatory sector review later this month. Ministers and Cabinet will consider how to respond to the recommendations. Any changes that require a law or regulation change will take longer.
• An ECE funding review will likely start next year. The Minister will seek Cabinet agreement on a review. The review and engagement on its process will likely carry through 2025.
• The Minister of Education is interested in improving education outcomes. For ECE that means focussing on Te Whāriki and Kōwhiti Whakapae, initial teacher education, early intervention and learning support.
• We have had no specific direction on ELAP so for now the work programme is focused around Ministers’ stated priorities.

Early Learning work programmes, including early learning regulatory work update

Paul Scholey, Kristen Sharma, MoE.

• Paul reminded members of Minister Seymour’s short, medium and long-term priorities for ECE and highlighted work completed in providing regulatory relief.
• Since last ECAC, there has been progress on reducing the compliance burden for the home-based sector. Paul thanked members for their feedback and insights on this.
• The amended regulations for home-based services have been gazetted and take effect from 1 January 2025. 
• Paul went through a slide updating on the learning support work programme, and thanked members for their engagement and feedback on proposals to remove NELP, and to lift and shift some functions from the Teaching Council to the Ministry. There are no further updates on these consultations as they are still under active consideration.
• Kristen presented the Early Learning Snapshot, provided in agenda packs. Overall, participation in early learning is up slightly. Licence downgrades at 32 are at the lowest for a significant period. There is an increase of services in the 100% funding band.
• A member raised a question about ratios reported on the Snapshot. These are calculated using the ECE Census data, at the busiest time of day.

Ministry for Regulation: Update on ECE regulatory review – next steps

Gráinne Moss, Ministry for Regulation

• Gráinne set out the background of the regulatory sector review of ECE, including method and approach.
• Submissions were received from parents/caregivers, people who work in the sector, and ECE service providers. Further details on the feedback can be found in the document Information releases - Ministry for Regulation under the heading Early childhood education regulatory review feedback.
• Some general lines of inquiry were presented.
• The findings suggest modernising the systems and settings, supporting the sector more (develop the right tools), and simplification. They will be recommending a reduction of requirements in some areas, such as licencing criteria.
• The report is being presented to Minister Seymour before Christmas and he has indicated he will release it publicly this year. The Minister can challenge or accept the recommendations. 
• Gráinne thanked members for their time, the effort they put into submissions, and for meeting with Ministry for Regulation officials.
• A member thanked Gráinne and her team for their level of engagement with the sector on this work.

Police vetting consultation update

Maria Kirkland, MoE

• Maria’s team have been speaking with a range of early learning services about issues with police vetting. Maria thanked members who have been involved.
• Feedback has been that the time taken to get a police vet makes it harder to recruit staff who are not registered and certificated teachers for roles in education and care. This is more difficult when there is high staff turnover and staff shortages.
• Options that have been explored: Queensland Blue Card system, alternative screening services, and the Teaching Council taking on the process of police vetting uncertificated ECE teachers.
• Maria outlined the process of the Teaching Council option.
• During targeted engagement, we’ve heard that services agree with the problem definition. There were some differing views about who should be included under the option.
• Targeted engagement also found that: knowing the cost of the option is critical for services; there are concerns about privacy and publication of a ‘negative outcome’ from a police vet (services say this should not be publicly available); some services wondered if it would be simpler to just get a faster police vetting process in place.
• Before Christmas, the Associate Minister of Education will be advised on these options and the feedback on them from the sector. We will update you in the New Year about progress. 
• A member reiterated that the problem is the time it takes to get police vetted and asked if the fast-track option that used to be in place is a possibility. Maria explained that Police have requests from different sectors. There is a Bill in the House, currently at Select Committee stage, to identify groups to be prioritised. Police don’t yet have clarity about times frames of this. A member suggested MoE could employ a police officer to do police vets, which was noted.

Participation data updates

Rory Sudfelt, MoE.

• Rory introduced Debra Taylor, Manager, Evidence, Synthesis and Reporting, and Paul Monahan’s team (Early Learning Data Collections) who were present to support.
• The subject of the presentation was the Participation Intensity Measure (PIM)  and prior participation in early learning data sets, which are available on Education Counts.  
• The Participation Intensity Measure is from the Early Learning Information system (ELI) so excludes Kōhanga Reo.
• The ECE Participation Intensity Measurement shows the percentage of children participating for 10 or more hours and 20 or more hours on average in ECE, for children aged 3 and 4. 
• Since 2023, the percentages of 3 and 4-year-olds have increased their average participation, for both 10 hours or more and 20 hours or more.
• ECE prior participation reports on the proportion of children who have attended an early learning service in the 6 months prior to starting school. Parents/caregivers provide this information when enrolling a child in school. This information is entered into ENROL.
• The Ministry has now enhanced the prior participation measurement to primarily use data from ELI, with ENROL data being a secondary data source. As Kōhanga Reo data isn’t in ELI, Kohanga Reo prior participation data continues to come solely from ENROL. The enhancement of the prior participation measure had a minor impact on the overall prior participation rate.
• The last part of the presentation focused on the number of children aged 5 or over participating in ECE. This was asked for at a previous ECAC hui where there was interest in understanding trends in the number of these children participating in ECE.
• In July 2024, there were 11,865 children aged 5 or over participating in ECE. This was an increase of 12% since 2019 (from 10,601). Children aged 5 or over accounted for 6% of children participating in ECE (up from 5% in 2019). There was discussion on possible reasons for this increase.
• A member asked if there is data from schools about children’s readiness for school, and whether children who aren’t ready went to ECE. The Ministry doesn’t have a measurement or data collection for this, but there are some discussions about how we might better understand the impact of ECE on children’s school readiness.
• There was a question about what is known around 4 and 5 year olds who were in home-based services that closed. Did they continue in unlicensed care? The Ministry will look at what is known about these children through ELI data.
• A member asked if the 3-year-old and 5-year-old participation intensity figures could be included on the Snapshot. The Ministry’s data team will investigate whether participation intensity for 5-year-olds can be included next time; this is not currently calculated.
• Members asked questions about the ratios included on the Snapshot. The Ministry confirmed that only kindergarten and education and care centres are included in this measurement. The Ministry will consider whether providing the range (rather than only the average ratio) could be possible or useful.

Actions

• Consider including 3-year-old participation intensity and 5-year-old participation figures on ECE (Megan, March 2025 ECAC).
• Consider whether inclusion of the range of adult:child ratios for teacher-led centre-based services is possible or useful (Paul Monahan, March 2025 ECAC).
• Provide analysis on children who were in licensed home-based services that closed down, and whether they left the ECE system. This analysis will have a particular focus on children aged 4 and 5+. (Paul Monahan, Rory  Sudfelt, March 2025 ECAC.)

Pourato system update

Stephen Billing, Sloany Campbell, Sarah Strong, MoE

• Stephen, Sloany and Sarah introduced themselves and their roles in the Pourato programme. Pourato is the new funding information system that will be released on 1 July 2025.
• Sloany summarised feedback on the system from the discussions with service providers so far. Users liked the functionality and transparency of the system. Training and support needs have been identified for 2025.
• There was some discussion around functionality aspects and an outline of future engagement to demonstrate Pourato as we move closer to the rollout next year.
• At the beginning of June, the Ministry will begin processing RS7s into Pourato and providers will receive a notification when their RS7 is in Pourato. Pourato will be launched for the 1 July funding payment. The RS7 period will be the same as usual, and resubmissions will still be possible. 
• A member expressed thanks to the team for the excellent system.

Teaching Council Inclusive Education Capability Framework 

Michael Stewart, Julia Tinga, Teaching Council.

• Based on two ERO reports, and in response to hearing from teachers, principals and ECE leaders, the Teaching Council is developing an inclusive education capability framework. This is to increase the confidence for teachers, principals and ECE leaders to use inclusive education practices in ECE, schools and kura, to cater to the increasing diversity of learners.
• The Teaching Council is taking a broad understanding of inclusion, including gender, sex, culture, religion, learning needs.
• The main focus of this framework is on guidance for the teaching profession to make explicit the expectations for inclusion of disabled children. 
• There is a Working Group which includes ITE members, ex-ECE teachers and parents alongside other sector professionals. The Teaching Council is also talking to learning support groups about the capability framework.
• A second draft of the guidance will go to the Working Group in late January. Following the approval process, the framework will be trialed in selected regions, schools and early learning services in 2025.
• A member asked if there is a group who understands the key work programmes across the system. Nancy explained that the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) have the overarching view of government priorities, and agencies report on their work. For MoE, this is attendance and achievement. In the early learning space, we expect our Ministers to agree on a work programme, and the Ministry is accountable to deliver on these. 

Action

Provide a big picture of who in MoE has an overall view of work priorities and programmes impacting ECE (Nancy, March 2025 ECAC).

ECAC terms of reference review

Nancy Bell, Chair.

• Nancy thanked members for their thoughts and feedback on the drafts Terms of Reference and principals of ECAC membership.
• Organisations and sectors change, so we need to refresh and be clear about the value ECAC offers to members and the Ministry. We see ECAC as an advisory group, not a decision-making body, as decisions are made by Ministers.
• Members discussed the draft Terms of Reference, draft membership principles and a summary of the feedback received thus far and provided further written feedback. Members showed their level of agreement with different statements from the guiding principles with sticky dots on posters.
• We will update ECAC on this review in March.

Wrap up

Nancy Bell, Chair.

• Members raised final questions and topics for future hui.
• Nancy thanked members for their engagement and participation throughout the day.
• Anna closed with a karakia.