ECE Regulation Shake-up Welcomed By Home-based Providers

A national home-based early childhood education (ECE) provider group welcomes today’s ECE regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation.

The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care and education. Home-based early learning is specifically mentioned in the recommendations, with the review acknowledging the need for a strategic plan for home-based services that will reflect operational needs and ensure future growth.

Erin Maloney, chair of the Home-Based ECE Provider Group and Managing Director of Tiny Nation is supportive of the review. “We’re excited to see a strong focus on home-based early learning provision in the recommendations presented to the Minister, which is recognition of the important role home-based services play in meeting the diverse needs of communities. The report signals an intention to strengthen the provision of early learning by providing clarity and lifting regulatory capability. When the recommendations are translated to action, it will enable better quality, growth and innovation across the ECE sector.”

The report makes clear recommendations around the need to simplify the regulatory framework for ECE providers. This includes revising the criteria that providers are licensed by to ensure that they are necessary and proportionate to the risks that are being managed. Of the current 98 licensing criteria, it is proposed that only 26 will be retained in their current form.

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Maloney agrees with this approach. “The regulatory and compliance tools we use in ECE are well overdue for an overhaul. For too long, providers have wrestled with different interpretations of the licensing criteria across Government agencies. This creates confusion and can result in impractical or inconsistent practices that don’t uphold the intention of the criteria. This report walks the delicate line of identifying changes to the regulatory system that will help reduce red tape for service providers, while also protecting the quality of care and education for children that our parents and communities expect.”

As for the strong focus on home-based ECE services in the recommendations made, Maloney believes that the regulatory review has been an opportunity to showcase the important work that has been done in recent years to professionalise home-based ECE and create high quality care and learning environments for children.

“We now have a workforce in home-based ECE that is incredibly capable and qualified. All educators must either be trained or in training and many come to us with significant experience in ECE. We do things very differently to centre-based services by offering smaller ratios, safe home environments and ‘real life’ education. There is a strong evidence base that supports home-based ECE as being incomparable when looking at the long-term benefits of our model. It’s great to see a strong commitment to the growth of home-based services in this report. While the proof will certainly be in the pudding when it comes to what happens next, we’re looking forward to working alongside Government to make the recommendations a reality.”

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