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Country Kindy successfully repels Ministry of Education’s aggressive approach in legal action, raising renewed questions

Many of ECC’s members are small providers much like Country Kindy. Small providers make easy targets for the powerful ECE regulator, but all providers are equally fearful of the Ministry of Education with its gigantic departmental budget of $3 billion, more than the total funding distributed to all ECE services in a year.“MoE doesn’t seem ready to face accountability for what they did to Country Kindy. In this case they even engaged high-powered lawyers to try to bully its opponent into th...

Operation Zero Waste

But despite my values, the life of convenience and disposability was justified by my own busyness. I mean, I didn’t do nothing for sustainability. I stopped buying craft supplies like foam shapes and glitter because we all know where artwork goes after the fridge. We used ‘compostable’ nappies which kept my conscience clean. But ashamedly, we were doing some things which were just lazy, like sending recyclables to landfill.In November 2023 I attended a hui with the Hamilton City Council’...

Celebrating Diwali at Kimihia Early Learning Centre

Celebrating Diwali helps us to strengthen a sense of belonging and acknowledge the unique cultural identities of children who are living away from their place of origin, which we all know plays a fundamental role in the development of children.At Kimihia, we commemorate Diwali by incorporating various elements of the festivities. We know the value of sharing each of our families’ uniquely different cultures and traditions and we carefully plan to enhance the mana of the Indian community in the...

ECE clarifications welcome, but there’s more work to do in the regulation review

"Misconceptions in ECE can perpetuate when Ministry of Education officials make their own interpretations of the regulations, when in fact the system allows ECE centres a good level of flexibility in how they could comply. It’s great to see these inconsistencies being dealt with,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.“Flexibility is crucial – the regulations need to work fairly for a large 125 child centre in Papakura and one with 27 children in Ranfurly, and everything in between.”ECC supports it...

Using New Zealand Sign Language to Support Diverse Communities

When my business partner Mark and I took ownership of Haven ELC in 2018, we noticed the depth of diversity in our immediate community and in the ethnicity of the tamariki and whānau who accessed the service. The centre was rich in diverse language, culture and identity. There were 12 different languages spoken amongst tamariki, kaiako, and families.After the Covid pandemic, our local community underwent many changes in cultural diversity as overseas families reconnected and came to New Zealand ...

How The Castle Streamlined its Website with Rocketspark

The Castle is a well-established, community-focused, not-for-profit early learning centre in Cambridge. It has been a pillar of the community for nearly 50 years, providing high-quality care and education to local children. Like many not-for-profits, The Castle faced challenges with a tight budget while needing a functional, easy-to-manage website. The centre needed a solution that allowed them to update their website efficiently without ongoing maintenance fees, allowing them more time to focus...

Government food programme will boost ECE outcomes

“Good nutrition for children in early childhood is crucial to their learning and wellbeing. We support making nutrition a core focus in the ECE outcomes framework, alongside a child’s health, safety, development and care, as outlined in our ECE Regulation Review submission,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.”“ECC was really happy with the Government listening to feedback and refining the targeting to ensure children who need food most will now get it, instead of the blunt approach initially pu...

Pay Parity principle let down by MOE policy and delivery

Increased childcare fees for parents and centre closures have been the net effect of the Pay Parity policy, which is intended to close the pay gap between kindergarten and education and care teachers. It remains underfunded however, with the funding gap getting larger for every hour every teacher works every day.  “We need to clarify that ECC doesn’t consider kindergarten teachers’ inclusion in the state sector as a regulatory review matter. But their special status is a concern in th...

Meaningful ECE change will take bold decisions from the Regulation Ministry

2,325 submissions were received: 774 from parents and caregivers, 859 from people working in ECE, 107 from service providers and 61 from other groups with 524 long-form written submissions. This is a massive response and shows a strong level of engagement among the sector, and parents and caregivers wanting the best for their children.The Early Childhood Council’s verdict through this process is that over-regulation is a lot worse than first realised. ECC’s submission asks simple questions a...

MOE must learn the lessons of Country Kindy case

Everyone involved with Country Kindy are grateful this process has come to an end, and that focus can at last return to caring for the children enrolled and growing the roll, while decisions are made about whether and how to continue with the Court process.“It’s disappointing the Country Kindy case reached this point, and we sincerely hope this leads to a fairer and more measured approach from the Ministry of Education from now on,” said Early Childhood Council CEO Simon Laube.  “I�...

Welcome ECE relief teacher Pay Parity change will help centres’ bottom lines

“We’ve called for this for some time, and are grateful to the government for listening and acting swiftly. It’s a real win for ECC members and all centres,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.Read more on today's announcement.“As we said in July, there was widespread support for this throughout the childcare sector - this will help reduce costs for centres and spell the end to the unnecessarily burgeoning secondary market for relievers. Solving the ECE teacher shortage will take a number of diff...

Teaching 'Sleep' is Teaching Too

“Children require sufficient restful sleep to become self-managing, be effective learners and to make the most of the learning opportunities provided by ECE. Services are encouraged to actively engage in discussions with parents for guidance on the sleep requirements… [and] recognise cultural practices of the communities.” - Ministry of Education, PF37.Strengthening children’s sense of belonging can create a seamless transition between home and centre; this is informed by ongoing discuss...

Oral language development recommendations can’t be delivered for free

“Early childhood education (ECE) centres provide the kind of quality interactions recommended in the report every day. But when ERO says that oral language learning progress should be monitored, measured and reported to parents, the problem is that this type of work happens during a teacher’s non-contact time, for which the ECE centres don’t get any funding for at all. Increasing expectations in this area will simply lead to significantly increased fees for parents, so prolonging the cost ...

Ombudsman, Ministry of Education not bothered about getting their sums wrong

The Ministry’s Pay Parity calculator can’t deliver accurate data, because it rounds up service into years, when the policy says they must be measured in hours.By law, centres must measure teachers’ length of service accurately to determine which Pay Parity step they should be paid at. Failure to get this right risks breaching statutory funding conditions, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars in penalties, or personal grievances for not following policy properly.“It’s inexplicable ...

ECC Awards 2024: Winners and Nominees

On 10 August 2024, at Te Pae Convention Centre in Christchurch, the Early Childhood Council hosted its first-ever ECC Awards, recognising the outstanding individuals and centres shaping the future of early childhood education in Aotearoa.With more than 50 nominations across five categories, the evening was a powerful reflection of the passion, innovation, and commitment that drives our sector. We were honoured to celebrate those going above and beyond for tamariki, whān...

Education Review Office pragmatism will really help the sector while the Regulation Review is underway

This dubious protocol where ERO began providing the Ministry with a steady flow of ECE services to investigate was established under the previous Government.“Unfortunately, this protocol became an industry in itself, heightening fears among Early Childhood Council members that centres were being systematically shut down,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.  “Stopping this practice shows ERO either lost confidence in the Ministry to reclassify appropriately, or is simply being pragmatic while t...

Country Kindy to stay open

“Country Kindy achieved this because they have such a supportive parent community, dedicated staff and happy and safe children who are engaged in their learning. Today’s decision avoids a more costly legal route, as Country Kindy, with the ECC’s support, was prepared to defend itself,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.“Closure was narrowly avoided - this case should serve as a warning to all ECE providers that this could happen to them. I’m proud that ECC was able to intervene, with our memb...

Country Kindy’s fate in Ministry of Education’s hands

Early Childhood Council CEO Simon Laube said “Country Kindy should be supported, not closed. When the Ministry says there’s curriculum non-compliance, but an experienced, independent ECE specialist can’t find curriculum non-compliance just last week, we think this requires another look.”The ECC wrote to the Ministry on Friday asking for County Kindy to remain open while the alleged outstanding regulation breaches were addressed, and are waiting for a response.Associate Minister for Educa...

MoE running roughshod over ECE centres - Manawatu kindy to be closed without valid reason

The decision to close County Kindy comes after an Education Review Office, then problematic Ministry of Education investigations over the last two years. Each time investigators found a new issue, the centre did everything they could to resolve it, in line with how other ECE centres are operating.“If the Ministry can close Country Kindy like this, then many other centres aren’t safe. This is why the Early Childhood Council needed to get involved,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.“In our view, t...

One simple fix needed for spiralling ECE relief teacher agency fees

“Market forces aren’t solely driving the high fee increases of relievers, they’re artificially created by the Government’s Pay Parity policy. Excluding reliever agency-employed teachers from Pay Parity will curtail the rampant fee increases,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.‍“This idea has widespread support from the childcare sector – it’s a simple, common sense way to reduce costs for centres and shut down the burgeoning, needlessly-inflated secondary market for relievers.”‍In a...

ECE Network Management’s removal a case of commonsense

“This is very welcome news. The Government’s attempt to control market access had clearly failed - too much cost, too much time and too many exemptions. The Network Management policy did nothing to encourage services into communities that needed them, making it actually more difficult to address demands for new services. Significant barriers to opening a childcare centre meant only those with the deepest pockets could get through Network Management,” said Simon Laube, ECC CEO.  Networ...

ECC Advisory Waha Rumaki and PITA

As part of Budget 2023 funding was allocated to establish Waha Rumaki and Pacific Immersion Teachers’ Allowance (PITA), which provides allowances for teachers in eligible licensed Education & Care services (centres) where immersion or bilingual teaching and learning is provided.Due to a one-off tight timeframe, ECC wants to urgently draw centre operators’ attention to these new funding initiatives. This advisory covers the conditions and any further information ECC has been able to ascer...

Sector consultation key to Early Childhood Food Programme roll out

“It’s encouraging the programme aims to target support to those who need it most, like community owned and low fee centres, who often support low socio economic areas and have done it tough under the Pay Parity scheme,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.“The benefits of early learning are clear, and combining that with lunches for children who might otherwise miss out is potentially a big win. But with many centres already providing food, so it’s important this new programme doesn’t confuse o...

ECE review an opportunity to return focus to children without costly over-regulation

“Now’s the time to redefine regulation so services can offer what children, parents and providers want from childcare. Let’s support parents and families with young children to choose affordable and high-quality care and education, and remove our sector’s headwinds to arrest the decline. We should recognise services that go beyond minimum standards and enable innovation - we’re excited about the review and about the future,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.‍“The ECE regulation system to...

ECE sector innovation supports FamilyBoost

Every parent wants quality education for their youngest children, and Budget 2024 helps deliver that by subsidising New Zealand’s most unaffordable childcare in the OECD,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.‍“FamilyBoost should stimulate demand, and re-engage families with ECE centres – more demand for childcare does benefit ECE providers. FamilyBoost is a positive move before more substantial relief comes from the ECE Regulation Review, which is expected to remove costly over-regulation, imposi...