Welcome, karakia and introductions#

Andy Jackson, Chair

• Andy welcomed the group and Beccy Creswick opened the meeting with a karakia.
• Apologies and member movements were noted.
• March minutes were confirmed.
   

Whakawhanaungatanga – Introductions#

Andy Jackson, Andrea Williams, Megan Hutchison

As there is a new Chair and new members, and a number of alternates, everyone introduced themselves and their organisations.

Introduction to the day’s programme#

Megan Hutchison

Megan set out the programme for the day, as it is structured a little differently than usual, with a Budget focus and no afternoon workshop.

Megan also updated on the ECAC Terms of Reference: a small change in reducing specificity of rhythms. There have been no member questions on it. We will release the finalised version publicly with the minutes of this meeting.

Early learning curriculum resources update#

Bradley Hannigan

• Bradley introduced his role and his NZ Curriculum and Te Whāriki team (on the slide) which focuses on Te Ara Whānui.
• He thanked members for encouraging their services to engage with the Kōwhiti Whakapae survey. There have been over 450 responses.
• Draft Kōwhiti Whakapae printed resources are in development. The 4 steps will be brought together as printable PDFs. Feedback suggests this will be clearer for the sector. The resource will be sent to every centre and be available on Tāhūrangi.
• Six new Kōwhiti Whakapae assessment examples will be developed to show different ways of noticing.
• Based on feedback from the sector, a key documents poster is in development to help the sector understand necessary and supporting documents.
• Kōwhiti Whakapae Maths resources are currently being tested with the sector, with good feedback so far. There will be comms to announce the resources, aiming for end of July.
• Investment in te reo Māori resources sits with the Te Uepu Reo Māori team.
• A video series with sector voices talking about Kōwhiti Whakapae is currently in development and will be released later this year. The idea for this initiative came from ECAC members.
• Work is currently being done on the alignment between Kōwhiti Whakapae Maths and Oral Language and Literacy areas, and the NZC English and Maths and Statistics learning areas. Next year, products will come out that help early learning kaiako, primary teachers and whānau to support children’s transition to school/kura.
• Members discussed the removal of cultural aspects related to the proposed changes to licencing criteria. Members wanted their support of Te Tiriti o Waitangi formally recorded.
• Ministry officials explained that if the proposed change to the licencing criteria is accepted, culture will be moved from licencing criteria to a guidance document. The Ministry won’t assess cultural compliance; providers don’t need to change their practice. This will go out for public consultation.
• Members discussed the impact of testing in the first few years of schooling, including a ‘school readiness’ test, and the impact this has ‘downstream’ on early learning. Andy offered to bring a colleague to a future meeting to discuss this further.
• Members are also interested in the interface between early learning and early schooling and how it fits together. Andy suggested this be revisited at a future meeting.

ECE snapshot#

Megan Hutchison

• Megan presented a snapshot of the early learning data for May 2025, with most data points covering the March quarter.
• Members asked:
  • If it’s possible to get funding bands broken down by types of service.
  • If there was any way to analysis the likely reasons for the increase in the 100% funding band (eg did those services now have fewer Funded Child Hours than when they were in the 80-99% band).

Megan will look into what might be possible, and useful, to provide around these questions.

ECE Budget overview#

Graham Bussell, Paul Scholey

Graham and Paul briefly outlined the following Budget 2025 initiatives:

• Strengthening oral language in the early years. Includes funding for ENRICH, a NZ-based, evidence-based programme. More information will be provided on this later today.
• Early childhood education services – cost adjustment. A similar approach and timing as previous increases. Acknowledge 0.5% cost adjustment is a small increase in a tight fiscal environment.
• Kōhanga Reo data administration initiative provides funding to improve data capability.
• Early Childhood Education Funding Review. Provides resourcing to support Ministerial Advisory Group costs and for time-limited MoE roles for the review.

Associate Minister of Education, David Seymour#

• Minister Seymour acknowledged the 0.5% increase in cost adjustment in relation to inflation and ran through how he reached that number.
• There has been an increase in early learning costs to the Crown, due to paying for more children and different pay rates than planned.
• The government agenda is underway to remove irritants to the sector by deploying resources efficiently.
• Minister Seymour announced a further change: changes to Pay Parity to give services more flexibility:
  • Services in the pay parity scheme will have discretion to determine the initial salary step for newly certificated teachers, and certificated teachers who are new to working in ECE centres.
  • Services receiving Parity and Extended Parity funding rates will be unable to opt into higher funding rates between 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2027.
• This was the best option to give flexibility and bring cost relief.
• Centre operators are not being restrained; they may pay more if they want to. The judgement for this should not rely on a central framework but sit with operators who know their service best.
• Cabinet has signed off on all recommended changes to licencing criteria and these will be consulted on.
• The Minister will announce a funding review soon and is currently setting up a Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) which will be announced at the same time, along with the Terms of Reference, subject to Cabinet approval. The paper is expected to go through Cabinet in the next month.
• A member spoke about the current pressure on the ECE system and the difficulty of waiting until regulatory and funding reviews are complete. Her organisation has done some preliminary analysis of cost pressures and will share this with the Minister. Minister Seymour is happy to see any analysis. He wants to keep the conversation going with the sector.
• Another member said based off the Budget, some of their members will make the hard choice to close. The pay parity change is welcome but too little while the reviews are completed, and suggests looking at discretion around those who increase their qualifications.
• Other members were emphatic that changes are not made to qualifications. It is essential to have qualified staff in front of children.
• Minister Seymour questioned whether there should be more flexibility in the system to give more judgement to centre operators to determined what is the best way to achieve the common objective of helping young New Zealanders develop their full potential.
• Some members commented that NZ has been regarded as an exemplar in having a high quality and qualified early childhood education sector, and that the pay parity change will undermine this which will be noticed internationally.
• Minister Seymour backs Kiwis operating centres in New Zealand to choose the initial pay scale of newly certificated teachers and certificated teachers new to working in ECE centres.

Questions and reflections#

Ministry officials

• Ellen McGregor-Reid introduced herself, and encouraged ECAC members to take the opportunity that the Minister is offering to understand the impact of Budget decisions and keep the conversation going. The Minister is keen to know evidence and data to show impacts. There will always be different views but we can come together on the facts.
• There were further questions about the process for choosing the Funding Review MAG. There are controls for conflict of interest. Members are chosen by the Minister. Once the MAG is announced, Andy will invite the Chair to ECAC.
• Members discussed curriculum: Te Whāriki works well and connects with school; Kōwhiti Whakapae is fantastic; the timings that different parts of the NZ Curriculum will be released as drafts. Ellen asked for this information to be in a curriculum newsletter.
• Members raised concerns about the role of testing. A member asked if testing will be rolled out for 4-year-olds. Ellen said there are no plans for this.
• Ellen thanked members for their views and wished them well for the rest of the day.
• Graham shared a slide on the pay parity changes that Minister Seymour announced.
• The Bulletin will have links to the Funding Handbook, which will have a Q and A section.
• A member raised a concern about attracting people to ECE teaching and asked for this to be addressed. Andy will get this on the next agenda.

Early oral language Budget initiative#

Bradley Hannigan

• ENRICH will be implemented in 525 early learning services.
• The other pieces to this bid are:
  • Designing and testing an oral language assessment tool. Kaiako in schools need to know where children’s oral literacy sits. A tool is needed for this that is respectful of the child.
  • Developing self-directed PLD resources for kaiako, home-based care and whānau, that give practical advice and guidance.
  • An evaluation of the impact of Kōwhiti Whakapae.

ECE regulatory review update#

Paul Scholey

• Paul gave an overview of what Cabinet has confirmed so farand key work now underway to help modernise the ECE regulatory system and its tools, simplify requirements and reduce the compliance burden.
  • Update legislation through an ECE Reform Bill – to set out the purpose and objectives of regulating ECE services, guiding principles to inform regulatory decision-making, establish a Director of Regulation within MoE and specify the regulatory functions.
  • Amend ECE regulations – graduated enforcement tools, public notification of non-compliance, and higher thresholds for provisional licence and licence suspension.
  • Amend Act and ECE regulations – proposed changes to licencing criteria must outline impacts.
• Revising licencing criteria: Public consultation on proposed changes in June/July, with revised criteria gazetted by 30 September and implementation TBC depending on Minister’s final decisions to give sector and MoE time to prepare for changes.
• Paul showed a slide of work timeframes to July 2026 covering the above and work starting in September to respond to Ministry for Regulation recommendations on qualifications, person responsible and the home-based sector.
• There was discussion around the legislative process, the relationship with regulation and the Regulatory Standards Bill, as well as the crossover with the funding review on areas such as qualifications and ratios.

Learning Support Budget initiatives#

Rachael Vink and Kate Raggett

• Budget 2025 is the biggest investment in Learning Support in 20 years.
• Centred around a tiered investment, where each layer supports the others:
  • Universal supports – 650 Learning Support Coordinators, teacher aide PLD.
  • Targeted supports – expanding Early Intervention Service, 900,000 hours teacher aide time, meeting demand in the behaviour and communication service.
  • Tailored supports – sustainable funding for ORS, expanding Te Kahu Tōī, 25 new specialist school classrooms, 365 property modifications.
• The intention is to meet demand and lower wait times, increase the intensity and lower the age of support, and provide additional specialists to extend the EIS into Year 1 of school.
• The ORS funding is changing to a demand-based model.
• A workstream will look at tighter operating procedures to increase consistency of access across different regions.
• Workforce will be a challenge. Overseas recruitment is already underway as a short-term measure. A workforce plan has been developed with medium- and long-term strategies.
• The impacts of the Learning Support Budget initiatives will better support learners transitioning to school and provide a greater structure of support.

Reflections and wrap up#

Andy Jackson, Chair

• Andy thanked members for their engagement and participation throughout the day.
• Suggestions for future agenda: curriculum, Funding Review, teacher supply, licencing criteria.
• Beccy Creswick closed with a karakia.