Staffing Rosters at opening and closing can make or break the safety and compliance of an early childhood service. Many leaders are unsure what the law actually requires, especially when only a few children remain at the end of the day. This article cuts through the confusion with clear guidance on ratios, supervision, and who can legally be left to open or close the centre and differences between legal and best practice.
ECE employers – managing sick leave is becoming increasingly complex, and getting it wrong can put pressure on ratios, disrupt staffing, and create legal and health‑and‑safety risks.
This guidance covers exactly what you must provide, how to support staff appropriately, and how to protect your service when absences occur.
Running an early childhood service means constantly balancing legal obligations, maintaining safe staffing levels, and finding cover at short notice.
Log in with your member details to read the full guidance. If your service’s membership has lapsed or you’d like to join, get in touch and we’ll help you get set up quickly.
Sick leave is one of the hardest parts of that balancing act – especially when absences create strain or when you’re unsure how to respond in a way that is both fair and compliant.
Does your ECE service meet requirements for staff meal and rest breaks? Check your legal duties now and learn how to manage breaks well.
Log in with your member details to read more. If your membership has lapsed and you’d like to renew – or if you’re interested in becoming a member – just get in touch with us and we’ll help you get started.
Running an early childhood service is demanding, and ensuring smooth staffing throughout the day can be challenging.
Most ECE employers genuinely want to support their staff and run a safe, high‑quality service. Providing rest and meal breaks is a key part of that.
This article outlines what employers must legally provide, why exemptions do not apply to ECE, and how to manage breaks while operating and maintaining a high standard of service.
If you’re a qualified, registered teacher and you’re ready to start supporting student kaiako as an Associate Teacher, we’ve got some helpful information to make the experience as rich and rewarding for everyone involved.
Staff using controlled drugs or working while impaired by alcohol is a serious safety risk. While managers and employers may know their responsibilities, navigating what to do can be difficult.
The Teaching Council no longer requires teachers to participate in an appraisal process – this requirement was replaced with a Professional Growth Cycle requirement.
However, the Ministry of Education’s licensing criteria that sits alongside the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations requires that services have processes for human resource management; including “a system of regular appraisal” (GMA6 home-based; GMA7 education and care centres; GMA7 playcentres; GMA7 kōhanga reo; GMA7 hospital-based).
The templates and guidance provided here covers performance appraisals for managers who may also be the service owner, and teaching staff (including unqualified and qualified staff).
This article also covers
How to conduct a performance appraisal, the process involved and 6 simple steps to follow
Tips for setting the scene properly and conducting the performance review effectively.
The ECE Employer Guide is for all managers and persons who employ or are involved in the recruitment and employment of staff. It is a comprehensive resource with detailed information on employment matters as well as on managing your team.
Creating and signing a team contract is a great idea – it fosters teamwork by acting to cement agreed behaviours and establishing a platform for effective professional conversations.
Having effective professional conversations supports continuous improvement of practices by allowing teachers to examine beliefs and assumptions and understand how these impact on children, the service, and each other.
Spending time discussing service philosophy, behaviour and kaupapa are important aspects of teaching. This can be linked to the Te Ao Māori concepts of tapu and noa.
Have you been asked by a colleague, student, or employee for an employment reference?
Here we explain your obligations, what to write, and ways to provide a job reference.
If you are asked by an employer to provide a reference for a person who has not asked you to be a referee, do not provide a reference without first checking and obtaining
Early Childhood Teacher Non-Contact Time.
At centres and home-based services, teachers or educators have a wide range of responsibilities in their roles and finding time to do everything can especially be a challenge depending on things like the number of other teachers, how many hours your service operates and the demands/ needs of caring of
The Staff Benefits and Wages Guide for Employers.
We provide data on usual and common benefits provided to staff, such as discounted childcare, and by which services. Data on pay rates at different services, for staff in different positions and regional variations is also shown below. Because data on pay rates can become dated as soon as it
An early childhood reliever is a much welcome part to any ECE service. Teachers and home-based coordinators will require annual or sick leave, or you may need someone to fill in, while you look for a new staff member. Whatever the reason for your need for using a reliever, there are many questions and concerns that may arise for employers and manag
DISCIPLINE AND COMPETENCE POLICY.
A template to use for your discipline and competence policy.
Date Effective: __/__/20__
Review Date: __/__/202_
Rationale
<Service Name> is committed to providing children, staff and whānau with an environment which is safe and welcoming and promotes positive outcomes for all childr
Here is what you need to know when deciding how to respond to an employee who is late for work.
Late for work – a one off or infrequent occurrence
If you pay the employer by the hour you are under no obligation to pay for time when the employee is not at work.
If an employee is late without a reasonable exp
Here’s information on mandatory reporting of teachers includes for not meeting the required level of competence, dismals and resignations, possible serious misconduct, and criminal convictions.
Should a confidentiality agreement be put in place as part of the settlement of an employment grievance, this may not over-ride the legal obligation to
Job description templates for various centre and home-based positions and examples.
Creating an effective job description is an important part of the hiring and employment process.
An appealing job description will attract the best candidates for the job you are advertising and will ensure you have a range of different applicants to choose
Safety checking is required of every person who has or may have access to children as part of their work, such as cleaners and cooks at early childhood services, must be safety checked in accordance with the Children’s Act 2014 before being allowed to start work. The fine to the early childhood service of failing to do this is up to $10,000 upon c
Equality and acceptance of LGBT teachers in the New Zealand education system is still far from established.
Discrimination can be subtle, such as whispering the word ‘gay’ so that the children can’t hear, but can also be obvious and inappropriate through direct discrimination and exclusion.
Teachers, and particularly leaders, in early c
Delegating as a leader.
A key reason why the workload of a manager or leader can become unreasonable is that they can take on too much!
When a teacher takes on a management role a common mistake is to assume that the job consists of ensuring that they comply with regulatory and licensing requirements, health and safety and financial systems
Employers’ obligations and rights on paying staff overtime and when they work outside of normal hours. This article covers what constitutes work outside of normal work hours that an employee must be paid for. NZ employment law that cannot be negotiated out of with an employee. Legal requirements for waged and salaried staff. It also tells you
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