In 2024, we are altering the application process for services seeking to make changes to the service provider details of their early learning service.

Buying and selling services is a common occurrence in the sector. Where there is going to be a change of ownership, services must apply to us before the change takes place. This is so the service is at least partly assessed before the change takes place, giving the incoming provider and parents greater assurance that the service is a safe place for children to be when a service changes ownership.

If you are considering selling or purchasing an ECE service in 2024, please join one of the webinars below to learn more about what these changes will mean for you:

• Tuesday 5 December 6-7pm 
• Thursday 14 December 6-7pm

Register for one of the above dates through Eventbrite:

Changing the identity of the service provider - updated processes – Eventbrite

If you can’t make either webinar, information will be made available on our website in December.

If you have any questions, you can contact us on: Eceregulations.Planning@education.govt.nz

This is additional information following health advice about being prepared for a measles outbreak.

Be prepared in case of a measles outbreak – Early Learning Bulletin 9 November

If you want your service to become an immunisation hub to offer on-site immunisation services to your community, the National Public Health Service at Te Whatu Ora can help you organise this.

Email Immunisation@health.govt.nz for assistance.  

We are aware that some communities are experiencing high levels of illnesses, including measles. We would like to remind you of the existing absence rules that recognise that absences do occur, and services should not be unreasonably penalised because of this.

Absence rules allow services to claim funding for hours that permanently enrolled children do not attend, providing that certain conditions are met. See Chapter 6 of the ECE Funding Handbook for more detail:

ECE Funding Handbook: 6-5 Three Week Rule for Continuous Absence – Ministry of Education

As outlined in the 12 October Early Learning Bulletin, the EC13 can no longer be completed by a parent or guardian, in place of a medical practitioner.

Temporary funding protections end – Early Learning Bulletin 12 October

The ECE Funding Handbook states that if a child is advised by a health authority or medical practitioner to stay home due to illness, the exemption from the three-week rule to continue to receive funding can still be accessed.

See Chapter 7-7 Absence rule exemptions.

7-7 Absence rule exemptions – Ministry of Education

You will see in the criteria subsection of this chapter that a child will qualify for an exemption for the absence rules if they have a short-term illness or condition that is supported by an EC13 form, and this specifies the period of the exemption. This, along with the other absence rules, allows services to claim funding for hours that permanently enrolled children do not attend, providing that certain conditions are met.

The Pay Parity Scheme now has a Full Parity Salary Scale with associated higher funding rates that were effective from 1 November 2023.

It is important to note that there will be an increase for all minimum salary scales (Base, Parity, Extended Parity and Full Parity) from 1 December 2023. All services need to be aware of these and implement the appropriate increases for their certificated teachers.

See Appendix 4 for the minimum salary scales:

ECE Funding Handbook: Appendix 4 – Ministry of Education

See Appendix 1 for the funding rate tables:

ECE Funding Handbook: Appendix 1 – Ministry of Education

Until 6 December, we will be engaging with kaiako, tumuaki and poari (kura board members) to refine the Ako framework and socialise Te Puāwaitanga Harakeke: Aromatawai paper.

Ako and Aromatawai are levers identified as critical to supporting the development and implementation of the redesign of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. To find out more, or to register for the workshop, visit:

Framework and strategy engagement – Ako me te Aromatawai

Workshop registration – Ako me te Aromatawai

For any questions, email Ako.Aromatawai@education.govt.nz.  

Following recent queries, we want to remind you about the following topics relating to safety checking and police vetting.

When undertaking a safety check of a certified teacher, you are not required to request a police vet for a teacher who has been issued a current practising certificate by the Teaching Council. This is because a police vet is part of the Teaching Council's practising certificate renewal process.

You must still complete all other components of the safety check:

Safety checking - the 7 components – Ministry of Education

Under Schedule 4 of the Education and Training Act 2020, a police vet must be obtained for contractors and their employees before the person has, or is likely to have, unsupervised access to children.

Education and Training Act 2020: Schedule 4 – New Zealand Legislation

Schedule 4 of the Education and Training Act 2020 was amended on 23 August 2023 to clarify an existing requirement for licensed early childhood services to consider the information contained in the police vet to assess whether the person would pose a risk to the safety of children.

Police vetting requirements under this section are for relevant persons who are not children’s workers. They do not limit or otherwise alter the requirements for safety checking of children’s workers required under the Children’s Act 2014.

Education and Training Amendment Act – Early Learning Bulletin 31 August

The assessment of information returned in a police vet must take into account the following:

Guidelines for risk assessments required under Schedule 4 of the Education and Training Act 2020 – Ministry of Education

You can find further information about Police vetting and safety checking below:

Police vetting for early learning services – Ministry of Education

Safety checking - general guidance – Ministry of Education

The home-based service qualification requirements described in Schedule 1A of the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 will move to the next stage of the phased implementation on 1 January 2024.

Read more about the changes here:

Upcoming changes for licensed home-based early learning services – Early Learning Bulletin 9 November

From 26 February 2024, all persons responsible in teacher-led education and care centres must hold a first aid qualification from a first aid training provider recognised by New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).

Read more about this requirement here:

Upcoming changes to first aid qualification requirements – Early Learning Bulletin 9 November

For puna reo services to be eligible for property maintenance funding this year, they must meet immersion criteria and be affiliated to Ngā Puna Reo o Aotearoa by 30 November.

You can read more about this funding here:

Funding for property maintenance for puna reo services – Early Learning Bulletin 9 November

The ‘SO’ or ‘service open’ code should be used when:

• a service is open during a holiday period, and
• parents have confirmed their child(ren) are booked to attend but no children are in attendance, and 
• teacher(s) are present.

If this situation occurs, services are entitled to funding for that day and should use the SO code.

A service can only claim funded child hours for the hours the staff are present for that day, that is, if the teacher starts at 9am and closes the service at 12pm (instead of 3pm), then the service can only claim funded child hours for the half day. 

All records required to support funding claims must be retained for a minimum of seven years. This includes paper-based or electronic records. After this time, we suggest records be deleted or securely disposed of.

Record keeping requirements are available here:

Record keeping requirements – Ministry of Education

Practising Muslims will be observing the holy month of Ramadan from mid-March to mid-April in 2024.

We will be hosting opt-in webinars for early learning and school staff, including an introduction to Ramadan, and guidelines for supporting students, learners, colleagues and whānau who are observing Ramadan.

Registration:

Register for one of the webinars using the links below:

Tuesday 27 Feb, 3:30 PM webinar registration link

Webinar: Introduction to Ramadan – Microsoft Teams events

Wednesday 6 March, 3:30 PM webinar registration link

Webinar: Introduction to Ramadan – Microsoft Teams events

We have been exploring how to better recognise Pacific immersion and bilingual education and care services in the ECE funding system. We have worked with a focus group of Pacific services in Auckland to develop and test some initial ideas.

On 5 and 7 December, we will be running online talanoa for all Pacific immersion and bilingual education and care services to get wider feedback on these ideas. This will support us to provide the Minister of Education advice in 2024.

If you are interested in attending, please contact your regional Pacific early learning advisor to find out more or email us on ece.maoripacificfunding@education.govt.nz.