New data shows a dramatic decline in regulatory action against
The ECE sector has delivered an unexpected bright spot in
A young child was left alone in a locked early
Who is Who and Does What in Relation to the
Research on culturally safe and inclusive early childhood work environments. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
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Who is Who and Does What in Relation to the ECE Sector & Contacts Teacher Organisations and Associations NZEI – Union for the industrial interests
Wage and salary rates, pay scales, employment benefits and conditions Contents – on this page you will find: You’re welcome to join the Facebook group for
Opinion Editorial on the Early Learning Action Plan Costs. Dr Sarah Alexander. February 1, 2020. I hope you got your pen and muffin because there’s
Dr Sarah Alexander warns systemic failures in New Zealand’s early childhood education put children at risk, citing the Christchurch chemical burns incident and urging lessons be learned from it.
Getting a call that your baby or young child has been seriously injured — or worse, has died — is something no parent should ever expect from a licensed early childhood service. Yet it happens.
On Friday afternoon, 5 December 2025, at a Christchurch centre licensed for 88 children, a corrosive substance was poured down a playground slide. Several children suffered chemical burns, prompting a major emergency response. By Monday, the centre had reopened as usual.
Credit is due to the service operator for informing parents and accepting responsibility.
Mistakes can happen — many of us have, at some point, reached for the wrong product when cleaning or fixing something.
As a part of my journey I have focused on supporting my colleagues to learn and begin to understand some of the basic stuff that is important to Te Āo Māori. I understand and accept that if you don’t know, you don’t know, hence we should as teachers find ways to become aware. Along with this unknown factor I have experienced resistance. Resistance to acknowledging what it means to weave the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and therefore promote tikanga within our Centres.
For example, after partaking in these korero sessions and hearing Kaiako show enthusiasm for incorporating Tikanga in Practice, often those changes to practice that have been discussed, debated, worked out, and agreed upon as a collective don’t eventuate into practice.
It often feels like participants come to the workshops as a part of a box ticking exercise – they can put it in the appraisal system, but then don’t follow through with making actual changes to the practices.
For example, observing colleagues continue to sit on tables, place shoes or hair ties and hats on tables or benches where Kai is sometimes placed, using a chair to place food plates on, finding shoes in the hat basket, observing teachers straddle tamariki stretchers, or doing the laundry all in together.
When we have had discussions about how tikanga helps to make meeting regulations so easy, yet the changes are not forthcoming.
OPINION/ANALYSIS — 29 October 2025
After 16 years, the Ministry of Education has finally reviewed the Terms of Reference for its Early Childhood Advisory Committee (ECAC). While this might seem like a step forward, it instead exposes deep-rooted problems within our early childhood education system—problems that have left the sector fragile, divided, and declining in quality.
ECAC itself reflects the Ministry’s ongoing issues with oversight and governance. The way it continues to operate only further undermines the integrity and effectiveness of early childhood education in Aotearoa.
The ECAC review was a closed-shop exercise: only sitting committee members were invited to give feedback on it, thus essentially rewriting the rules that govern their own influence.
There was no public scrutiny, no broad stakeholder input, no fresh perspectives.
And yet, in the words of one Ministry official, ECAC’s role is “in advising on the real-world impacts of policy.”
Read the Full Details:
We welcome your thoughts and comments on ECAC. Add your reply below. What would a well-functioning, truly representative early childhood advisory committee to the Ministry of Education look like—one equipped with the knowledge, expertise, and diversity needed to provide meaningful, sector-wide advice?
The titles, authors and abstracts for papers published in the NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, Volume 27, 2025 are shown below. To
Research on adult learning in ECE settings and outcomes for parents of being involved. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.
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