Certification criteria for playgroups

Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) defines a playgroup as a group that meets on a regular basis to facilitate children's play and in respect of which—

  1. no child attends for more than 4 hours on any day; and
  2. more than half the children attending on any occasion have a parent or caregiver present in the same play area at the same time; and
  3. the total number of children attending on any occasion is not greater than 4 times the number of parents and caregivers present in the same play area at the same time.

Playgroups include Puna Kōhungahunga, cultural playgroups and community language playgroups.

Playgroups are certificated in accordance with the Education and Training Act 2020 under the Education (Playgroups) Regulations 2008(external link), which prescribe minimum standards that each certificated playgroup must meet. Certification criteria are used to assess how playgroups meet the minimum standards required by the regulations.

For each criterion there is guidance to help playgroups meet the required standards.

The publication of the criteria on its own can be downloaded as a PDF [PDF, 1.1 MB] and printed.

The certification criteria were last updated in September 2022.

Management and administration

22 Management and administration standard

(1) The management and administration standard requires the service provider for every certificated playgroup to ensure that-

(a) the playgroup is effectively managed in accordance with good management practices; and
(b) the playgroup is managed in a collaborative way with the parents and caregivers involved; and
(c) appropriate written procedures and records are developed, maintained, and made available when appropriate.

(2) All written procedures and records required by subclause (1)(c) must be made available by the service provider for inspection-

(a) at any reasonable time on request by a parent or member of the family or caregiver of a child attending the playgroup:
(b) at any time on request by any person exercising powers or carrying out functions under Part 26 of the Act.

(3) Subclause (2) does not limit any rights of access conferred by law to any document referred to in subclause (1)(c).

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