Call For Government To Halt Decision-making On ECE Regulatory Review Report Is Widely Supported

Hon David Seymour, Minister of Regulations, has accepted the early childhood education (ECE) Regulatory Review report recommendations released on 18 December, and intends to take them to Cabinet ‘early in 2025’.

The ECE Regulatory Review report is the first regulatory review undertaken by the Ministry for Regulations.

A group of leading early childhood academics have written an open letter (https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1Of3hNkItLlPXg0xA-HaRB4tsWGSmoVbUHrOXKMtWqWo/) and research-evidenced background paper for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, calling for an immediate halt to decision-making on the Review recommendations and for a period of consultation to enable democratic public scrutiny.

The academics warned that planned changes to ECE regulations are not in children's best interests. The proposed changes go against decades of research evidence on how to ensure high quality ECE.

Particularly worrying are recommendations to remove licensing criteria related to curriculum standards and to shift away from the commitment to a qualified teacher workforce by allowing qualification requirements to be flexible. The academics call for these recommendations to be removed altogether.

Professor Carmen Dalli from Victoria University of Wellington said that children’s learning and wellbeing cannot be left to chance. “Children need to be with qualified teachers who understand that everything they do impacts children’s experiences. Qualified teachers understand their critical role to provide sensitive and responsive learning opportunities for children. We need children to have high quality experiences in early childhood centres because poor quality can actively damage children.”

Over 230 professionals from the early childhood education sector have signed in support of the academic group’s recommendations and background document. They come from across the ECE sector –tertiary institutions, ECE organisations, and supervisors, head teachers and teachers in ECE centres.

“Decisions regarding regulations are incredibly important for the safety of babies and young children, as well as for staff,” says Amanda Coulston, spokesperson for Kindergartens Aotearoa, the collective of kindergarten associations across the country with over 12,000 children enrolled. “It is imperative that the recommendations are taken out to parents, whānau, and the wider community for feedback before any critical decisions are made”.

Kathy Wolfe, Chief Executive of Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand, was worried that lowering the requirement for ECE qualified teachers and allowing “flexibility in workforce qualifications to support access and quality across all areas and service types” would make the problem it is trying to fix, worse. “We need to support the teaching profession and ensure the attraction and retention of qualified teachers by having an effective teacher workforce strategy, including conditions such as full pay parity to address current challenge” she said.

The academics argue the underlying premises of the Regulatory Review report are problematic in positing business interests above all other educational and human rights values.

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