
2025 in review: News (and views) on ECE over the past year
Here, we sum up the major stories we’ve covered in

Here, we sum up the major stories we’ve covered in

This submission responds to the Committee’s invitation to provide views

Every morning I would feel overwhelmed by the noise level

Who is Who and Does What in Relation to the

Here, we sum up the major stories we’ve covered in the past year.
If we had to sum up what 2025 had in store for the ECE Sector in one word, it would be “flux”.
The sector has experienced rapid and significant change over the past 12 months and not all of it positive. There is still considerable uncertainty about what comes next.
To keep our members updated on everything they’ve needed to know about what’s going on in the sector, the Office of Early Childhood Education launched a newsroom, through which we’ve published articles regularly (usually weekly).

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.

Every morning I would feel overwhelmed by the noise level – music was always blasting, kids were crying as we walked in. I felt bad leaving my son in such a chaotic environment, but I had to go to work.
The final straw was when, minutes before I entered that squalid toilet area, I witnessed the team leader leave another child unattended while eating.

To support transparency and accountability in the early childhood sector, the OECE publishes an annual list of ECE services that, at any point during the year, had their licence changed by the Ministry, due to regulatory breaches.

Funding Rates for Early Childhood Education Services in New Zealand 2026 Services need to understand funding rates so they can plan their budgets, staffing, and

Chloe Davidson – Hospital Play Specialist Chloe started her career as an Early Childhood Teacher in 2011, working in a range of different settings and

Parents and caregivers of tamariki in ECE made 80 complaints to the Ministry of Education through the confidential online service on the MyECE website last year.
MyECE is the official website of the ECE Parents’ Council. The council is a volunteer-run, grassroots organisation that

Offer the Early Reading Together Programme to Families at Your ECE Service Early Reading Together® meets the need of service providers and teachers for an

Compliance checks are a necessary good, not a burden This opinion article is published as part of our ‘Speaking-up‘ series By Bonnie Te Ara Henare.

The NZIRECE Journal is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes research results, critiques, methodological papers and theoretical articles relating to children’s education, wellbeing and care

The titles, authors and abstracts for papers published in the NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, Volume 27, 2025 are shown below. To

In 2023 a notice published in the Government Gazette introduced new requirements regarding the Curriculum Framework and its implementation which came into effect on May 1, 2024.

Who is Who and Does What in Relation to the ECE Sector & Contacts Teacher Organisations and Associations NZEI – Union for the industrial interests

There are two iconic NZ early childhood organisations that continue to hold onto their original purpose and philosophy, these are Playcentre Aotearoa and Nga Kōhanga

The Federation of Rudolf Steiner Schools represents early childhood centres that work out of the educational indications developed by Austrian philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner.
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