Regulatory sector review into early childhood education announced

5 June 2024

Small children in class listening to Hon David Seymour reading a book to them

Regulation Minister David Seymour has confirmed the first regulatory sector review will be into early childhood education.

 

Our sector review team will start the review immediately. We’re working closely with the Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office.

The scope of the review will be broad, and will examine the regulatory systems for education, health, safety, child protection, food safety, buildings, and workplaces as they apply to the early childhood sector. We won’t be looking at funding settings for the ECE sector.

We’ll use a range of engagement methods to gather information for the review, focusing on where rules and regulations result in bad outcomes.

We intend to engage with those impacted by, and subject to, the early childhood education regulatory system, including regulated parties, such as ECE business owners, and those who regulate the sector such as the Ministry of Education, as well as interested groups, such as unions, child advocacy organisations, research bodies, the early childhood education workforce, and the parents and caregivers who use the services of ECE providers.

We will be setting up a variety of face to face and virtual hui with a range of groups soon.

We’ll have our online engagement platform ready to accept written submissions available soon.

This review is going to be important because it will help make sure that the rules are good for everyone and make economic sense, saving time and improving outcomes for our children.

Ministerial press release: Ministry for Regulation kicks off first sector review – Early Childhood Educationopen_in_new

Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory sector review

ECE review: Terms of Reference (170 KB, Pdf)