Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Reform) Amendment Bill

 

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the Education and Training (Early Childhood Reform) Amendment Bill. We are a collective of community-based, not-for-profit early childhood education (ECE) service providers operating 260 licensed services across the country (1) catering for over 12,000 tamariki and whānau each day. We have considerable experience working with regulation across government institutions, regional councils and territorial authorities.

Introducing the bill, the Minister for Regulation and Associate Minister for Education David Seymour said of the proposed legislation “ ... critically, there's the principle that the regulation should be done in such a way that it is the least impact—that it's proportional to the purpose.” The minister advised the bill sets out “... the purpose of regulating early childhood education (ECE) and ... that the Education Review Office (ERO) will be in charge, instead of the Ministry of Education.” (2)

In effect, the bill positions ECE as a cost not an investment, and has the potential to:

▪ reduce quality provision and further undermine minimum standards;
▪ undermine the confidence of parents, whānau and the community in our ECE provision;
▪ ignore research evidence related to teaching and learning to limit costs to providers;
▪ introduce a narrow regime of compliance as the focus of service provision;
▪ shift early childhood education out of education;
▪ position ECE as primarily a function of the labour market.

We urge the committee to reject the bill in its current form and recommend further work be undertaken in collaboration with the sector to agree:

▪ the purpose of ECE regulation; and the most effective way to ensure regulation supports the provision of high-quality early childhood education for every child; and
▪ the most appropriate settings to ensure transparency and accountability for the use of public funds.

Our submission focuses on the proposed purpose of the bill, and the role and function of the Director of Regulation.

Watch KA's submission to select committee

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1. Our services are located in communities on the Hibiscus Coast north of Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Murupara, Wairoa, Napier, Taranaki, Whanganui, the Central Plateau, Horowhenua, Wairarapa, Whanganui-a-Tara, the Christchurch metropolitan area and greater Canterbury district, the West Coast, and Central and Southern Otago.
2. 31 July 2025 https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/ece-reform-gives-sector-rights-and-regulator-purpose