Welcome, karakia and introductions#

What's on top#

Data on licenses and participation#

• Rory Sudfelt introduced himself and Sean Kang from the ECE Data Collections team. (Sean attended to support with more technical data questions.)
• Rory presented updated data on:
  • any new licenses approved, cancelled and reasons for cancellations
  • ECE participation and closures across regions
  • participation of 5 year olds in ECE.
• Data has shown a decrease since 2015 in the number of services, while there was also an increase in the number of licensed places. Between August 2025 and August 2026, the number of service closures outnumbered service openings.
• A member commented on the closure of home-based services, saying this is dire for the home-based sector and that something needs to be done.
  • Andy will ask the policy team to give an update.
• The graphs clearly show a dip in participation around school holidays. A member commented that school holidays, along with absence due to illness, significantly affect child funded hours.
• A member asked about methodology. The numerator is the number of children and the denominator is the booking data from the service. Participation shows attendance rate compared to enrolments.
• The data shows a gradual increase since 2016 in children aged 5 and over in ECE. A member asked if the kinds of services they’re in could be identified. The Data team will look to do this for the December hui.
• There is an assumption that many of the children aged 5 and over in early learning are children receiving learning support and are delaying school entry.
• Members commented on other possible reasons:
  • Some children are waiting for a place at kura kaupapa Māori. The data presented includes puna reo, but not kōhanga reo.
  • Sometimes communication from schools isn’t clear about whether the child has a place or when their start date is.
  • Some educational philosophies start school from age 6.
• A question was asked about the proportion of children in the population who are not participating in early childhood education.
  • This is reported as part of the annual ECE Census factsheets.
  • The 2026 ECE Census data will come out at the end of the year/early next year.
  • The 2025 ECE Census factsheets on Education Counts will already have this data:
    2025 ECE Census – participation factsheet [PDF, 296KB]

Actions#

• Policy team to give update on home-based sector (Andy, 9 December)
• Identify the types of early learning services children aged 5 and over are in (Rory, 9 December)

Learning support update#

Rachael Vink provided a learning support update.

• Budget 2025 aimed to strengthen learning support with investments over 9 years.
• Rachael summarised the progress from the first 7 months into the first year:
  • increased capacity of frontline workforce
  • increased teacher aide hours
  • increased Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) verifications for children with high and complex needs.
• The Early Intervention Service (EIS) has been expanded into Years 0 and 1 of school. Wait times are trending down, although there is still regional variance. Allocation of staffing has been prioritised into areas with higher wait times.
• The Early Intervention Specialist Service (EISS) for children with high and complex needs has also been expanded, with more EISS providers around the country, including in areas that previously didn’t have providers.
• Digitisation: this week the first phase of digitisation went live (online applications for ORS and School High Health Needs Fund).
  • In the next roll out, we will introduce an online request for support.
  • To support this, Rachael’s team is keen to engage with members about who currently submits requests for support and whether they have Education Sector Logon access, amongst other questions.
• Rachael will keep in communication with ECAC members to provide updates to support engagement and may seek support for training activities.

Ministerial Advisory Group update and funding review#

• Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) Chair Linda Meade thanked ECAC member organisations for their time, interest and effort with submissions for the consultation on the ECE funding model.
• In the discovery phase, the MAG met with or heard from over 2,000 people about the funding issues that the ECE system is facing.
  • An engagement report summarised what the MAG heard.
  • This and the consultation material are available on MAG webpages.  
• The MAG went on to develop a range of possible options which were shared during consultation. 
  • These are not recommendations – some options may be rejected or changed as the MAG deliberates.
• The MAG received over 3,500 submissions during consultation.
  • A range of views were shared, including commentary on pay parity, fees and affordability, and quality.
  • All feedback is being considered as recommendations and final advice are progressed.
  • This will be provided to the Minister by the end of the year. It will be up to the government to consider the MAG’s advice and make decisions.

Consultation on early childhood education funding system

Ministerial Advisory Group – early childhood education funding system review

Early childhood education funding system review engagement

Funding review process#

Andy Jackson and John Brooker provided a funding review update.

• A funding review formula won’t be in place before March when funding decisions are made – plan for the same funding to 2028.
• By the next ECAC hui in December, we might have a clearer idea of how the MAG advice will progress.
• There was some discussion on the sequencing of recommendation 10 with MAG recommendations.
• Members commented that the July adjustment this year was well timed.

Action#

• Further update on funding review (Policy team, 9 December)

ECE regulatory review update#

• Updates to the regulatory work programme since the June ECAC hui were presented by Kim Manktelow and Megan Hutchison.
• Future time frames of the following work programmes will be clearer after the election:
  • appeals
  • qualifications
  • person responsible
  • home-based services.
• Advice has been provided to the Minister about options to be considered for consultation, including flexible small-group models as discussed at June ECAC.
• A question was asked about the progress of recommendation 10 (allow greater flexibility in workforce qualifications).
  • This is underway and advice has been provided to the Minister on options for consultation.

Changes to safety checking#

Stephanie Ramirez gave an update on the changes.

• The Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Act 2025 amends the Children’s Act 2014. It establishes these new safety checking requirements, not just for early learning but for all core children’s workers.
• More offences have been added to Schedule 2.
• Overseas convictions will soon be added to safety checking requirements for core children’s workers.
• These changes come into effect on 24 October 2026 for hiring new core children’s workers. Employers must comply with the new requirements for current core workers by 24 April 2027.
• The police vetting service will inform employers if an existing core worker has a conviction for any of the offences added to Schedule 2 (this has been confirmed with NZ Police).
• Services should focus on non-certificated staff (the Teaching Council already checks for overseas convictions as part of its registration and certification processes).
• Staff who were born overseas are likely have relevant documents from the immigration process.

Safety checking for education core children’s workers

Transfer of early learning functions to the Education Review Office#

• Viv Ruth from the Education Review Office (ERO) gave an update on the new regulatory environment for early learning following the transfer of functions from the Ministry to ERO on 1 September.
• Viv outlined what is staying the same, and what has changed. The key change is that ERO is now the regulator.
• With the transfer of functions, many Ministry frontline staff have moved to ERO to provide continuity.
• Discussions centred around who to contact in different scenarios.
  • This contact list went out in a previous ECE Bulletin.
• ERO staff have a wide skill base so there are staff who understand the complexities of the different service types. Queries from, for example, a home-based provider, can be referred to a staff member with specialist knowledge of home-based services.
• There was some discussion about ERO’s role as enforcer and supporter.
  • Members were encouraged to contact Viv if they have questions about this.

Regulation of the teaching workforce#

• Suze Strowger shared about Aotearoa New Zealand's shared regulatory system, with the Ministry and Teaching Council having distinct responsibilities towards the same outcome.
• From 6 July 2026, responsibility for setting, maintaining and reviewing standards that apply to teachers and teacher training providers transferred to the Secretary for Education.
  • The Teaching Council will continue to regulate the profession. There is a strengthened approach to child safety.
  • Any change in standards will be evidence-based and involve sector engagement.
• A Teaching Standards Expert Advisory Group will provide independent sense making advice to the Secretary for Education.
• Review of Initial Teacher Education programme requirements: in the final stages of confirming the discussion document, which is expected to be out in October.
  • ECAC engagement with this will be valuable.
• There was some discussion of where enhancing the profession sits now, given it has been removed from the Teaching Council statutory functions.
  • This remains all our responsibilities across the education system.

Police vetting process#

• Megan Grigg and Genevieve Courtney from NZ Police spoke on the Vetting Bill and police vetting service.
• The Vetting Bill provides a statutory framework for the police vetting service and is currently awaiting its second reading.
  • This is not likely to occur until 2027.
• Public consultation for the cost recovery review has closed.
  • Police will be considering feedback before seeking ministerial and Cabinet decisions on proposed options.
  • If a decision is made to change the fees, service user agencies will be informed and a public notice published in the New Zealand Gazette.
  • This is not likely to occur until 2027.
• A member asked about increasing wait times for police vets.
  • ECE police vets come though the general queue and are the normal 20 working day service level agreement.
  • New staff have been recruited and there is a focus on training and development.
  • Where there are extenuating circumstances and a police vet requires a service a faster turnaround, you can email the police vetting service with the circumstances and efforts will be made to accommodate the request.
• There was a query around criminal history checks.
  • ECAC and the police vetting service to discuss further.

Action#

• Facilitate further discussion between ECAC and NZ Police on criminal history checks (Secretariat, 9 December)

Reflections and wrap-up#

• Andy thanked members for their engagement and participation throughout the day.
• Tere Gilbert closed with a karakia.