Half of ECE services rated “below the threshold for quality” by Education Review Office on at least one metric in the last year

Search Newsroom Posts
children writing drawing homebased

OPINION/ANALYSIS – October 23, 2025

The Education Review Office considers more than half of 394 early childhood services it has visited in the last year to be “below the threshold for quality” on at least one of its four metrics.

In September 2024, ERO started using a new rating system for its quality assurance reports for ECE.

How did your service do? View our our interactive table and read full details.

The Office of Early Childhood Education’s chief advisor Dr Sarah Alexander says because ERO gives ECE services four weeks’ notice of reviews, it was concerning that so many services were still not measuring up to quality standards.

Moreover, because the Education Review Office no longer has the capacity or resources to review every licensed service it now assesses only a small selection from providers that operate 14 or more services. As a result, we have no way of knowing how many of these services fall below ERO’s threshold for quality.

This is a member/subscriber only post. To access it, please see the message below for details on access and joining.
Already subscribed?
ECE Newsroom

NZ’s own specialist ECE newsroom. 
Access national and local stories, in-depth analysis, & original commentaries.  

Membership Support for Teachers & Educators

(Comes with free Newsroom and Research access)

Membership Support for ECE Service Owners, Managers, & Community Organisations

(Comes with free Newsroom and Research access)

Researchers & Tertiary Education Libraries

Full access to over 25 years of ECE academic research articles – NZIRECE Journal.
Plus, guidance and resources on doing and publishing research

Has this been useful?  Give us your feedback.

You are welcome to add a link to this page on your website. Copyright belongs to the OECE so please do not copy any content without our written permission.

Information provided is of a general nature. It is provided ‘as is’, and we accept no liability for its accuracy or completeness. See our Terms and Conditions.

Related Posts

blanket tent inside play winter

Freezing Cold Centre

Low Indoor Room Temperature. Opinion article. By an early childhood teacher (name withheld). As a teacher I never thought I would find myself having to

Read More »
toy train back on track

What’s all this rumble about train noise in ECE? – Where David Seymour’s go-to anecdote came from

Can a centre really be closed because of a train driver honking his horn?

ANALYSIS/OPINION. 5 June 2025.

When justifying the incoming changes to ECE regulations, Associate Education Minister David Seymour has repeatedly used a service provider having to try to mitigate train noise as an example of “arbitrary” rules services are expected

This is a member/subscriber only post. To access it, please see the message below for details on access and joining.

Read More »
parent drop off child at preschool or kindy

The business of ECE: All the ECE services that changed ownership in 2024

101 services changed ownership: from whom and to whom, the details

ANALYSIS.29 May 2025.

The Busy Bees chain bought four privately-owned independent early childhood education services last year, bringing the total number of centres the company operates across New Zealand to more than 80. 

Bright Beginnings ELC Peachgrove Rd, School of

This is a member/subscriber only post. To access it, please see the message below for details on access and joining.

Read More »
The Office of ECE

Share This Information

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

The Office of ECE Login

Take Action!

Help spread this vital ECE information, join our free social and email groups and become a member of OECE.

pay parity funding policy

1. Share This Information

2. Follow Our Social Pages

3. Get Regular Updates

Sign up to our free newsletters.

4. Become a Member