The Associate Minister of Education, Hon David Seymour, has announced that the Government intends to make changes to early learning legislation and regulations to provide regulatory relief to the sector. 

Removing red tape to help early learners thrive – Beehive.govt.nz

The Government intends to repeal an upcoming change to the certification requirements for persons responsible which would have meant that, from 26 August, teachers occupying the persons responsible role must hold a recognised qualification and a full (category one or two) practising certificate from the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. This change will no longer take place.

The existing persons responsible requirements will be retained, that is, persons responsible must hold recognised qualifications and a practising certificate from the Teaching Council. The Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 are expected to be amended by mid-June to remove the scheduled changes prior to these coming into effect in August.

Removing this requirement responds to sector concerns about the lack of fully certificated teachers in the sector and the impact that has on services. 

In late 2023, we informed you that we would be changing processes to align with the amendments to the regulations in 2021 that sought to clarify the requirements for changes to service provider identity. Some service providers have raised concerns about the potential impact of these operational changes on those that want to, or are in the process of, selling their service. Implementation of these changes is on hold, and we will continue to manage applications to amend the service provider as it has been. 

Further information about the requirements is available on our website:

EC8: Change your service details – Ministry of Education 

The Government also intends to repeal the network approval provisions to reduce the regulatory burden for individuals and entities wanting to establish new services. This will mean that network approval will not be required before applying for a licence. Repealing network approval requires changing the law and will include opportunities to submit to select committee on the proposals. The Government is aiming to repeal the network approval provisions before the end of September.

Until the network approval legislation is repealed, network approval requirements will remain. To make it easier to establish new services in the interim, it is proposed that the National Statement on the Network of Licensed Early Childhood Services is revoked. If revoked, applicants will no longer need to reflect the statement in their network approval applications. 

Consultation on the proposal to revoke the National Statement is open from Tuesday 16 April to Sunday 5 May. For more information on the consultation, including how to provide feedback, visit: 

Consultation on revoking the National Statement – Ministry of Education 

The Government has also signalled its intention to review all regulations governing the early childhood education sector, with the newly created Ministry for Regulation conducting a regulatory review.