Qualification requirements

At least 50% of required staff must have a recognised early learning teaching qualification.

Component	50% qualified licensing requirements	Person responsible	Funding (certificated teachers)
A current practising certificate issued by the Teaching Council	Not required	Required	Required
Recognised ECE teaching qualification (or overseas qualification assessed as comparable by NZQA)	Required	Meets requirement	Meets requirement
Recognised primary teaching qualification (or overseas qualification assessed as comparable by NZQA)	Does not meet requirement	Meets requirement	Meets requirement
Staff enrolled in a course of study that will result in a recognised ECE teaching qualification within 12 months	Can count 1 staff member towards requirement	Does not meet requirement	Does not meet requirement
First Aid Certificate (NZQA accredited provider)	First aid is a separate licensing requirement (1 certificated first aider per 25 children), and does not affect the 50% ECE qualified teacher count	Required	Not a funding requirement

The person responsible role

All licensed teacher-led centre-based services are required to have 1 person responsible for every 50 children in attendance.

Persons responsible hold a number of important roles. They supervise children and staff, and they are directly involved in and primarily responsible for the day-to-day education and care, comfort, and health and safety of children attending the service.

Each person responsible must be nominated for the role by their service provider. It is best practice for the service provider to give them enough information and support to help them understand their role and to carry out the duties expected of them.

Who can be a person responsible

Persons responsible must have an ECE or primary teaching qualification and a current practising certificate.

Each person responsible must hold a current first aid qualification from a first aid training provider accredited by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority that meets the requirements of HS25. 

They can count towards the requirement in HS25, where 1 adult must hold a current first aid qualification for every 25 children attending.

HS25 First aid qualifications

Component	Person responsible qualifications
A current practising certificate issued by the Teaching Council	Required
First Aid Certificate (NZQA‑accredited provider)	Required
Recognised ECE teaching qualification (or overseas qualification assessed as comparable by NZQA)	Meets requirement
Recognised primary teaching qualification (or overseas qualification assessed as comparable by NZQA)	Meets requirement
Staff enrolled in a course of study that will result in a recognised ECE teaching qualification within 12 months	Does not meet requirement

What the person responsible role involves

Persons responsible in teacher-led centre-based services must:

• supervise and be actively involved with children in attendance and staff providing education and care (even when children and staff are located in separate spaces)
• provide education and care to children in attendance and guidance to staff providing education and care
• ensure that staff are implementing any prescribed curriculum framework and know how to use it in providing education and care
• ensure that day-to-day health and safety risks and hazards are identified, and that appropriate steps are taken to address those risks or hazards when children attend

Regulation 3 – New Zealand Legislation

Regulation 44 – New Zealand Legislation

Regulation 60 – New Zealand Legislation

HS 17 Excursions

In practice

Persons responsible must work with children and staff and should not be engaged in activities that take them away from their supervision responsibilities. For example, they should not be located in an office with no children physically present undertaking administration duties.

When a person responsible is supervising across multiple rooms, they should be moving between these areas to effectively supervise and fulfil their responsibilities. There is no requirement to assign children or staff to each person responsible or for there to be a person responsible in every room.

As the person responsible is required to take an active role in supporting children’s learning, they should assist staff with questions about attending children's care and education. It is helpful for them to have knowledge of the regulations and licensing criteria that prescribe the minimum standards the service must meet.

The person responsible does not have to be the service’s pedagogical leader, but they must be able to guide and support staff to implement the curriculum in a way that is consistent with the prescribed curriculum framework.

Curriculum criteria 1–13

Carrying out daily hazard checks and addressing any identified risks is an important part of ensuring attending children experience a safe and healthy learning environment. The person responsible does not have to carry out the daily checks, but they must ensure that day-to-day health and safety risks and hazards are identified, and appropriate steps are taken to ensure any associated actions to keep children safe have been taken.

HS 12 Hazard and risk management

HS 17 Excursions

Staff should know who the person responsible is at any one time and be able to provide this information to parents on request

You must have a list of all the qualified and certificated teachers displayed in the entrance of your service. There is no explicit requirement for services to show who acts in the person responsible role under GMA1. But it may be helpful to both staff and parents to clearly state who can act in the role in the same document that is used to display the full names and qualifications of each person who counts towards regulated qualification requirements.

GMA1 Display of information

Regulation 3 – New Zealand Legislation

More information

The person responsible requirements must be met at all times children are attending, much like adult-to-child ratios.

The service provider holds overarching responsibility for compliance with all regulatory requirements, including the requirements associated with the person responsible role. They are expected to provide the person responsible with enough information and support to make sure they understand their role and can carry out their duties effectively.

A person responsible can count towards the 50% qualification requirement provided they hold a recognised early childhood education teaching qualification.

Services must keep records to demonstrate persons responsible hold a current practising certificate.

You can have as many persons responsible above requirements as you want. For example, you may choose to have a person responsible in every room.

Qualification requirements

Home-based services are in the process of becoming a more qualified workforce.

Home-based staff qualification changes

The person responsible role

All licensed home-based services must have 1 person responsible for every 50 children in attendance and only act as a person responsible for 1 licensed early childhood service at the same time.

Persons responsible have primary responsibility for overseeing the education and care, comfort, health and safety of children attending the service. They also provide professional leadership and support to educators within the service. They are often referred to as co-ordinators or visiting teachers.

Who can be a person responsible

Persons responsible must have a recognised early childhood teaching qualification and a current practising certificate from the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand.

The person responsible provides educators with professional leadership and support. This gives educators access to a qualified and certificated teacher who can respond to any questions or concerns they have while they provide education and care for children enrolled in the service.

Given the importance of the role, educators should be clear about who is acting as the service’s person responsible at any one time.

The role and responsibilities of the person responsible

There are additional duties for persons responsible in licensed home-based services because these services are very different from centre-based services.

The person responsible must:

• contact each educator engaged in the service at least once per fortnight
• visit each educator engaged in the service at least once per month
• take all reasonable steps each month to observe each child participating in the service while that child is receiving education and care
• take all reasonable steps to observe, support, and provide guidance on the implementation of the prescribed curriculum framework by the service and keep records of these activities
• provide professional development to educators on a regular basis and keep records of any such activity.

These requirements are largely self-explanatory (eg, the contact and visit requirements), but there is one major exception – providing guidance on the implementation of Te Whāriki to educators. To fulfil this requirement, we would expect that persons responsible use their visits to observe educators providing education and care and to role model good teaching practice.

Regulation 3 – New Zealand Legislation

Regulation 28 – New Zealand Legislation

Regulation 44 – New Zealand Legislation

Regulation 62 – New Zealand Legislation

Curriculum criteria

More information

The service provider holds overarching responsibility for compliance with regulatory requirements, including the person responsible requirements. They are expected to provide the person responsible with sufficient information and support to ensure they understand their role and can carry out their duties effectively.

Services must keep records to demonstrate persons responsible hold both an early childhood qualification recognised by the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand for registration purposes and a current practising certificate.

Qualification requirements

The Playcentre person responsible is not required to hold a current teacher practising certificate.

The person responsible role

In Playcentres, the person responsible must have a recognised qualification as set out in the New Zealand Gazette.

Qualifications for Persons Responsible in a Playcentre – Gazette

There are also group supervision qualification requirements as set out in the ECE Funding Handbook.

Supervision requirements: ECE funding handbook

The Playcentre Aotearoa website has more information.

Playcentre website

Qualification requirements

At least 50% of required staff must have a recognised early learning teaching qualification.

Component	50% qualified licensing requirements	Person responsible	Funding (certificated teachers)
A current practising certificate issued by the Teaching Council	Not required	Required	Required
Recognised ECE teaching qualification (or overseas qualification assessed as comparable by NZQA)	Required	Required	Meets requirement
Recognised primary teaching qualification (or overseas qualification assessed as comparable by NZQA)	Does not meet requirement	Does not meet requirement	Meets requirement
Staff enrolled in a course of study that will result in a recognised ECE teaching qualification within 12 months	Can count 1 staff member towards requirement	Does not meet requirement	Does not meet requirement

The person responsible role

There must be 1 person responsible for every 50 children.

The person responsible must have:

• an early learning qualification
• a current practising certificate.

The role of the person responsible is set out in Regulation 61.

Regulation 61 – New Zealand Legislation

The person responsible must be able to guide and support staff to deliver the curriculum.

Curriculum criteria C1–C13