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ECE Newsroom

NZ’s very own newsroom for the latest early childhood education and childcare national news, local stories, in-depth analysis, and opinion-editorials.

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Bringing you leading news and the latest stories on early childhood education and care news and in-depth analysis
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Submissions and Policy Reviews

Submission: Proposed transfer of ECE from the Ministry of Education to the Education Review Office

This submission responds to the Committee’s invitation to provide views on whether regulatory functions for early childhood education (ECE) should remain within the Ministry of Education or be transferred to a Director of Regulation located in the Education Review Office (ERO). It sets out the Office of Early Childhood Education’s (OECE) assessment of the proposal, the evidence base underpinning it, and the likely implications for the ECE system.

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ECE Newsroom Restricted

A Roll of the Dice: Child Safety Risks in Early Childcare Facilities

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.

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Early Childhood Council ECC and David Seymour relationship
Sarah's View

Lobbying in ECE – Who has the Minister’s, and the Ministry of Education’s ear?

Since becoming associate education minister and taking over the ECE portfolio after the 2023 general election, David Seymour has met with ECE sector groups and representatives about 30 times (that equates to more than once a month, on average).

While on the surface that figure might make it seem like he’s engaging with the key stakeholders of the sector regularly, when you comb through his ministerial diaries more thoroughly you’ll see the same names pop up again and again.

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In the Media

Raising awareness of who the Government is (not) listening to in its ECE Reform Programme

This week, The Post published an Op-Ed concerning who is the Government listening to about the care of our youngest children?  It was pleasing to see the response from Minister Seymour published by The Post two days later. 

Unfortunately, everything Minister Seymour wrote to challenge the key points made by our Chief Advisor, Dr Sarah Alexander in her opinion piece, can in turn be challenged right back.

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sand play
Sarah's View

Rethinking sensory play in ECE – Asbestos in coloured sand products

SARAH’S VIEW – OPINION COLUMN. The recent discovery of asbestos in commercially produced coloured sand sold in Aotearoa and Australia should prompt more than immediate safety checks and recalls, it should spark a wider conversation about why early childhood services and schools are buying mass‑produced sensory products in the first place.

Brightly packaged items promise instant appeal, but when something as basic as sand can carry hidden hazards, the trade‑offs are stark.

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