Licensing criteria for home-based ECE services
Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) defines home-based ECE services as the provision of education or care, for gain or reward, to children who are under the age of 5 years, or who are aged 5 years but not enrolled at school, in:
- the children’s own home; or
- the home of the person providing the education or care; or
- any other home nominated by a parent of the children.
These services are licensed in accordance with the Education and Training Act 2020 under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008(external link), which prescribe minimum standards that each licensed service must meet. Licensing criteria are used to assess how the services meet the minimum standards required by the regulations.
For each criterion there is guidance to help services meet the required standards.
The publication of the criteria on its own can be downloaded as a PDF [PDF, 1.3 MB] and printed.
The licensing criteria were last updated in September 2022.
C13 Seeking information
- Criteria
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Criteria
Curriculum criterion 13
Information and guidance is sought when necessary from agencies/services to enable educators and coordinators to work effectively with children and their parents.
Rationale/Intent:
The criterion is underpinned by the belief that a level of collaboration between parents, adults providing education and care, and other agencies as necessary, will result in positive outcomes for children. The criterion aims to ensure that services seek information as needed.
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- Guidance
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Guidance
Any examples in the guidance are provided as a starting point to show how services can meet (or exceed) the requirement. Services may choose to use other approaches better suited to their needs as long as they comply with the criteria.
There are a range of situations where information and guidance from outside agencies and specialist services can enhance the ability of a child to fully access the curriculum and therefore improve their educational outcomes. Support and assistance may be focused on an individual child and family/whānau or on the wider group of children, management, and educators.
Building stronger links between ECE services, parents and whānau, parenting programmes, schools, health, social services, and other specialists, allow children’s learning and development needs to be met more holistically. It is useful for a coordinator to establish these links within their network’s community before they are needed, to ensure timely assistance.
Before coordinators approach a specialist service, it is important to consult with the parents to ensure that the process is appropriate. Confidentiality issues must always be taken into consideration.
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- Practice
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Practice
Examples of what this might look like in practice:
- Educators, with support from coordinators, know and quickly recognise the factors that suggest that specialist information and guidance is required
- Decisions to seek specialist guidance are made in collaboration with others, including educators, coordinators, and parents, and are based on observational evidence
- Coordinators have a directory of specialist services and a ready network who will provide guidance and support to parents.
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- Things to consider
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Things to consider
Things to consider:
- How do our policies provide a clear process for identifying when support is needed, and for seeking that support?
- How do we know that we have considered the family’s wishes?
- How do we go about making contact with specialist services? Do we know where all our local community facilities are?
- How do our own values and assumptions impact on our decision whether or not to seek support?
- What are our own assumptions of how specialist support operates?
- How do we integrate advice from specialist services into the curriculum?
- What are our strategies to fully-include children with special needs?
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