Who’s Who: Key Stakeholders in ECE and Organisations

Who’s Who: The Key Stakeholders and Organisations In ECE

ECE Services
Operate under a variety structures: Incorporated societies, charitable organisations, single owner-operator businesses, companies, and private equity and fund management
schemes.

MOE: Ministry of Education
Sets minimum ECE service standards. Monitors services and enforces compliance with Education Regulations. Administers public funding and audits service funding claims. Administers policy and advice to Government.

MSD: Ministry of Social Development
Administers the childcare subsidy paid to ECE services on behalf of parents/ guardians. Administers policy and advice to Government Ministers

Public Health Units
Conducts health and safety assessments of new or existing ECE services on request by MOE. Medical Officers of Health have various powers to medically examine children, to detect notifiable health issues, close a service or part of it, and direct a service to require a child or staff to stay home.

Teaching Council
A professional body for teachers established by the Government. Implements legal requirement for teachers to be registered and have their competency and fitness to teach checked. Approves and monitors Initial Teacher Education programmes to ensure training is as required

ERO: Education Review Office
Conducts external evaluations of ECE service paperwork and practices. Uses this data to provide assessment reports to Government on system performance

MBIE: Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
Sets employment standards. Responds to employment related complaints. Sets policy on the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

Children’s Commissioner
Advocates for children’s protection and rights. Advises Government Ministers on matters affecting children

Office of Early Childhood Education – Te Tari Mātauranga Kōhungahunga
A non‑partisan organisation that bridges sector groups and stakeholder interests, providing independent information, guidance, and membership support for services and teachers. It informs the sector, the public, and government officials about what truly matters in early childhood education.

Teacher Organisations and Associations

NZEI – Union for the industrial interests of ECE teachers

TEU – Union for the industrial interests of ECE teachers working in ECE services at Tertiary Education Institutions

Hospital Play Specialists – An Association that supports teachers and staff working in ECE licensed services in hospitals

Early Intervention (EIAAZ) – An Association that supports early intervention practitioners

ECMenz– An Association that supports men working in ECE

Reggio Emilia Aotearoa New Zealand (REANZ) – supports teachers to critically engage with the pedagogy of Reggio Emilia within the cultural content of Aotearoa

Child-Focused Groups

OMEP Aotearoa – a country member of the OMEP world organisation for professionals concerned with the education and rights of young children.

Infant Mental Health Association Aotearoa NZ (IMHAANZ) – a country member of the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH).

Peak Bodies / Largest ECE Service Operators

Operators of more than 400 licensed services in our ECE system

National Te Kohanga Reo Trust (a charitable organisation and community-based)
Playcentre Aotearoa (a charitable organisation and community-based)

Operators of between 200 – 400 licensed ECE services

BestStart (formerly known as Kidicorp: a private family-owned charitable trust organisation)

Operators of between 100 – 199 licensed ECE services

Evolve Education (a share market listed company)
Auckland Kindergarten Association (a charitable organisation and community-based)

Operators of between 50 – 99 licensed ECE services

Whānau Manaaki Kindergarten Association (a charitable organisation and community-based)
Kidsfirst Kindergartens (a charitable organisation and community-based)
Busy Bees (majority owned by Canada’s Ontario Teachers Pension Plan)

Service Provider Political Lobby Groupings

Ngā Puna Reo o Aotearoa – lobbies for Puna Reo throughout the country

Federation of Rudolf Steiner Schools – lobbies on behalf of the interests of Steiner-based ECE services.

Home Based Early Childhood Education Association (HBCA) – the original home-based lobby group representing the business interests of home-based providers.

Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand (ECNZ) – a long-established Private Training Establishment (PTE) providing teaching qualifications and study opportunities for primary school and ECE teachers. Traditionally it has represented mostly not-for-profit centres including Barnardos. Read about a founder – Sonja Davies. More information is needed on which centres it currently represents.

Early Childhood Council (ECC) – an industry lobbyist representing the financial interests of most of the larger for-profit players in the private childcare market and undisclosed centre owners.

Montessori Aotearoa New Zealand (MANZ) – represents providers of Montessori-based centres and is a support partner for the ECC.

Kindergartens Aotearoa – represents 6 Kindergarten Associations including Whānau Manaaki which covers most of the Wellington region and KidsFirst which covers the Canterbury region

Early Childhood Leadership – represents 3 kindergarten associations (Counties Manukau, Waikato and Central Kids Kindergarten Associations)

NZ Kindergartens Inc (NZK) – represents most kindergarten associations, except for the Auckland Kindergarten Assn (AKA) and kindergartens represented by Kindergartens Aotearoa and by Early Childhood Leadership.

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“A heart wrenching moment for all parents is when we leave our child for the first time in the care of someone else who is not well-known to us or at early childhood service or school. A child may become a lot quieter than usual or kick up a fuss. Either way as parents we

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Cobra Effects: How the Education and Training (ECE Reform) Amendment Bill Could Bite Back

Submission to the Education and Workforce Committee

The Education and Training (ECE Reform) Amendment Bill
Submitted by: Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE)
Date: 29 August 2025

CONTENTS:
– Introduction
– Summary of Key Concerns
– Our Position and Recommendations
– Errors and the Bill’s Shortcomings
– Closing Statement

INTRODUCTION

The Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Reform) Amendment Bill is promoted as a solution to improve the effectiveness of the early childhood education (ECE) regulatory system.

During the Bill’s first reading, Hon David Seymour shared the frustrations of ECE service operators he had spoken with—concerns that prompted the Ministry for Regulation review of the ECE regulatory system. He cited issues such as conflicting rules, a dictatorial approach, minor regulations enforced under threat of closure, and inconsistent enforcement.

The Bill is positioned as a long-overdue fix for these concerns, though it remains unclear whether the scale or severity of these issues truly warrants a full legislative overhaul.

However, the proposed reforms risk triggering serious unintended consequences—what’s known as the cobra effect, where attempts to solve a problem end up making it worse.

SUMMARY OF KEY CONCERNS

1. Sector Impact

The Bill is designed to reduce regulatory burdens for service providers—particularly those who struggle to understand existing requirements or view current regulations and penalties for non-compliance as unfair to themselves and their business operations.

However, these reforms could backfire on the very providers the Bill aims to support.

Looser regulation is likely to attract new entrants driven by commercial interests, potentially forcing high-quality providers to close due to unfair competition.

Children cuddling and caring for early childhood centre pet guinea-pig.

Death of a Pet

The death of a pet, especially a first pet, can be more traumatic for a child than it is for an adult.

Often the child has grown up with the pet and considers it to be as much a member of the family as the people in their family.

Or if it is an early childhood service pet, a child may have grown very fond of it and rely on it bein

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Airplane Grows in the Tummy of Clouds: Living Through Relations in the Early Years of Life

Using a child’s expression that illustrates his mental image of constituted relations of living things, the author conceptualizes relationality, an interrelated view of being, and its importance for early childhood education. The difference between relation and interaction, and the significance of inter-human relationship are discussed as signifi

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Who’s Who: Key Stakeholders in ECE and Organisations

Teacher Organisations and Associations

Child-Focused Groups

Peak Bodies / Largest ECE Service Operators

Service Provider Political Lobby Groupings

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