Calls for more action to prevent deaths, serious injuries, and child escapes in ECE
IN THE MEDIA – June 19, 2025.
After the Office of Early Childhood Education revealed that a baby had died in his sleep at an Auckland early childhood education centre – and that details of what had happened had flown under the radar for more than a year – the New Zealand Herald has reported on the case.
The publication’s Pacific editor, Vaimoana Mase, on Monday, published an article highlighting potential shortcomings in regulations governing how babies and toddlers should be put to sleep safely in ECE.
The OECE’s chief advisor Dr Sarah Alexander told Mase: “I can’t help but wonder if a teacher had been in the same room as [the baby boy] that day, they might have noticed something was wrong and been able to save him.
“His death shows that checking on a sleeping baby every 10 minutes is not enough. A lot can happen in 10 minutes – in this case, a baby went from being fine, to dying.”
Funding review to commence
In the wake of the announcement of the ECE funding review on Tuesday, Alexander spoke to The Post’s Hanna McCallum about the planned review.
She told McCallum that the selection of four representatives of service providers among the seven members of the Ministerial Advisory Group presented “a conflict of interest”, as they stood to directly financially benefit from any funding changes.
Podcast
We are halfway through the year, but there have already been a number of confronting headlines about early education providers in 2025. Listen to a broad ranging discussion with Dr Sarah Alexander on ECE service practices and regulations after issues raised in coronial reports, and including child escapes.
The New Zealand Herald’s The Front Page podcast. Click on the play button below – and make sure your sound is turned up to hear it.
