Law change that will affect how ECE is governed approved by Cabinet
NEWS
31 July 2025
Cabinet has approved a potential law change that will affect how ECE services are governed.
The decision has paved the way for the Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Reform) Amendment Bill to be heard in Parliament.
If it becomes law, the Bill will establish a new role within the Ministry for Education called the Director of Regulation. The public servant who holds this position will be responsible for the regulatory oversight of ECE, which currently sits with the Secretary of Education.
But today, Minister Seymour announced that the role will instead be established in the Education Review Office, and ERO will be in charge of Regulating ECE.
Issuing licenses to ECE services and ensuring their compliance, requesting information from licensed services and entering and inspecting services (or appointing staff to do so) would all fall within the Director of Regulation’s remit.
The Bill states that the Director will be tasked with ensuring that the health, safety, and well-being of children in ECE is upheld and supporting their learning and development to ensure they’re ready to transition to school.
They’ll also be expected to ensure parents and caregivers of children in ECE are recognised and supported, and that decision-making around regulatory enforcement is “risk-based, proportionate, fair, and transparent” and “avoids imposing unnecessary costs on parents, caregivers, and service providers”.
Additionally, the Bill introduces new “objectives” to the section of the Education and Training Act that covers early childhood that stipulate the role of ECE is to support parents to participate in the labour market.
The Regulatory Impact Statement for this Bill notes that this fails to meet Cabinet’s quality assurance criteria. It states:
“This assessment corresponds to the tight constraints on the options considered, the limited analysis of the impacts, costs and benefits, and lack of consultation on the proposals imposed by the timeframe. Given these constraints we consider that insufficient information and analysis have been provided to support decisions.” (p.8)
Cabinet paper material includes a note that: “the proposals aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the regulatory system and therefore reduce costs for service providers. The government has no control over the childcare fees charged by providers.” (p. 15)
The Ministry of Education says it will “continue to focus on producing good quality ECE policy and regulation for ECE”, and ERO will “focus on the licensing of services and core regulatory functions, including monitoring and enforcement.”
Minister Seymour says that the change will take effect from next year.
What do you think of the proposed law change? What impact do you think it could have on ECE services and staff?
Tell us in the comments below, on our Facebook page, or via email.
