Licensed and certificated services#

Services recognised by the Ministry of Education have to be licensed or certified. They are not Government-owned in the way that state schools are.

Some are community-based and some are privately owned. This means there is a lot of variation in how these services are provided.

Centre-based, teacher-led services#

These include:

• kindergarten
• education and care services – you may know these as daycare or preschool
• puna reo
• reo rua education and care
• leo o fanau moana immersion
• leo o fanau moana bilingual.

These services can be privately owned, or owned and operated by a community group. Some are based within a workplace or university for staff and students to use for their children. There are also teen parent units where parents can attend school while their children go to an associated early learning service.

Some services have a particular language and cultural focus. For example, puna reo are early learning services which promote te reo and tikanga Māori. Others have a specific set of beliefs about teaching and learning, for example, Rudolf Steiner and Montessori.

Sometimes, your child may be in a group of children of a similar age. In others, they will be with a mix of ages.

At least 50% of the adults who work with children at teacher-led services must be qualified early learning teachers, but some may have more than this.

To be licensed by us, all services must meet our standards for education and care, including health and safety, curriculum, premises and facilities, governance and management, and child protection.

Within these regulations, services can set their own rules about things like:

• hours they are open for
• numbers and ages of children they will cater to
• daily routines
• whether they will provide meals or ask you to pack lunch for your child.

Cost#

Licensed early learning services receive government funding, but usually there is an additional cost for whānau | families.

Services set their own fee structures, so you'll need to check with the services you are interested in. Whānau-led centres like Playcentre or playgroups generally cost less than teacher-led centres.

Choosing a service#

To find out more about the options available in your area you will need to check with individual services. This is because not all services even within the same group operate in exactly the same way.

For example, many kindergartens operate for a shorter day similar to school hours, but some offer full-day options.

Home-based education and care services#

This is where a home educator looks after children in a private home. This could be their home, your home or another home. Home-based educators can have up to 4 children from birth to until they start school.

Each educator must belong to a home-based service, which provides support through a Person Responsible who is a fully qualified early learning teacher. Educators must hold a home-based service qualification or within 6 months of joining a home-based service, be enrolled in a course offering a home-based service qualification.

Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura)#

Te Kura, formerly the Correspondence School, offers learning programmes for tamariki aged between 2 and 6 years who can't attend an early learning service or kōhanga reo.

Te Kura early learning educators work with parents, whānau and caregivers to meet a child's early learning needs. They also provide whānau who are based in New Zealand with books, puzzles, games and art materials to support your child's learning.

To enrol at Te Kura, you need to meet certain criteria. This could be living far away from your nearest early learning service.

Learn your way – Te Kura

If you need help to enrol, you can contact your regional office.

Regional offices