Press releases and articles

The Early Childhood Council says the targeted Early Childhood Food Programme announced today has the potential to help community and low fee centres, but must be carefully implemented to work as intended, as some centres working with highly disadvantaged children may be set to miss out.

Early in April the Early Childhood Council raised concerns over the Median Wage paid to Early Childhood Education teachers recruited from overseas negatively affecting those trained in New Zealand. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment advises they expect the confusion to be resolved following an upcoming Ministerial review, an outcome that will assist a wide range of industries and sectors.

The Early Childhood Council says today’s Early Childhood Education regulation announcements and confirmation of a wider regulatory review will help teachers and managers focus on children, not unnecessary compliance.

The Early Childhood Council is labelling rules as grossly unfair that mean ECE teachers recruited from overseas, through initiatives like the Accredited Employer Work Visa, are paid more than New Zealand trained ECE teachers.

An overview of ECE centre closures and new services opened in March 2024.

FamilyBoost is a childcare payment scheme that takes effect from 1 July 2024 onwards, and is intended to support parents and caregivers of young children in managing childcare fees with a partial reimbursement.