Who Who’s Who: The Key Organisations Shaping Early Childhood Education in NZ
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.
Updates: Please let us know of any changes or updates to information on this page
