In the 31 August edition of the Early Learning Bulletin, we announced that changes to the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 to support the new network approval provisions had come into effect.

One of these amendments clarifies that the Secretary for Education must consider relevant network approval provisions when considering an application to amend an existing licence for an early childhood service.

This does not change the process that you need to follow to seek license amendments – providers seeking licence amendments do not need to go through the network approval process.

We have recently released a Frequently Asked Questions document to provide more information about this regulatory change. This can be found here:

Recent amendments to the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 [PDF, 99.5 KB]

If you have any questions about the new regulatory changes that are not answered on this web page, please contact your local Te Mahau office.

We have amended the ECE Funding Handbook chapter 3-B-2: Recognised service to clarify when services consider and recognise the previous teaching experience of a certificated teacher | kaiako (hereafter referred to as ‘teacher’) when determining their initial salary step.

When determining a teacher’s initial salary step, ‘recognised service’ means any hours of service within New Zealand as:

• a trained early childhood teacher in a teaching capacity in a licensed early childhood centre or the Early Childhood Service of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (The Correspondence School)
• a head or senior teacher in a kindergarten
• a qualified certificated teacher employed in a teaching position within a New Zealand state or state-integrated school (including Kaupapa Māori education)
• a qualified certificated relieving teacher in a teaching position in a licensed early childhood centre or a state or state-integrated school (including Kaupapa Māori)
• a qualified certificated teacher employed in a management position in a licensed early childhood centre.

Any service should be recognised in full when determining a teacher’s initial salary step. A teacher who takes a position in a lower salary scale shall receive credit in that scale for service in any higher scale.

The original wording included a reference to ‘certificated relieving teachers employed continuously for six weeks or more’ and was based on clause 3.3.3(d) from the Kindergarten Teachers, Head Teachers and Senior Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2019–-2022 (KTCA). This was changed to clarify that clause 3.3.3(a) of the KTCA takes priority when recognising service for salary purposes for qualified certificated relieving teachers. Clause 3.3.3(a) recognises service for a trained early childhood teacher in a teaching capacity which includes qualified certificated relieving teachers, and clause 3.3.3(d) is intended to support it.

If certificated teachers can provide evidence of their experience and hours worked for all certificated teacher roles, including relief teaching they have been employed in, this would be counted in any future salary step negotiation processes from 1 November 2023

Service providers are required to maintain evidence of how a certificated teacher’s initial and current salary was determined.  

The COVID-19 or respiratory syncytial virus outbreaks over winter temporary funding protections for the June to September funding period have now come to an end.

COVID-19 or respiratory syncytial virus outbreaks over winter – Early Learning Bulletin

The emergency closure and absence rules now return to normal settings.

See chapter 6 of the funding handbook for absence rules.

ECE Funding Handbook, 6–7 The frequent absence rule – Ministry of Education

See chapter 7 for emergency closure.

ECE Funding Handbook, 7–5 Emergency closure – Ministry of Education

Following requests from the sector, indicative hourly rates of the salary amounts have been included in Appendix 4 of the ECE Funding Handbook. Rounding to two-decimal places has been applied to these amounts.

ECE Funding Handbook: Appendix 4 – Indicative hourly rates – Ministry of Education

On 1 November we will pay the next instalment of ECE funding to licensed early learning services. Any RS7 return that was received late (after 9 October), but is received before 8 November, will be processed for payment on 20 November.

The Kindergarten Teachers, Head Teachers and Senior Teachers’ Collective Agreement (KTCA) has been varied to align base salary rates with those agreed in the primary teacher settlement. The kindergarten funding rates have now been updated to consider the following changes to the collective:

• salary increases from July 2023 for teachers on steps 7 to 11
• an increase to the maximum short-term reliever rate payable, from step 6 to step 7, effective from 28 January 2024
• salary increases from July 2024 for teachers on steps 7 to1
• a salary increase from December 2024 for teachers on step 1.

The updated kindergarten rates can be found here:

ECE Funding Handbook: Appendix 1 – Ministry of Education

We will begin paying the updated funding rates, including the relevant backpay, to kindergarten associations in the November funding payment.

In Budget 2023/2024, the Government allocated $828,000 per annum to help puna reo services with property maintenance.

The property maintenance funding will be evenly distributed this financial year to each puna reo service affiliated with Ngā Puna Reo o Aotearoa.

To be eligible for this funding this year, services must meet immersion criteria and be affiliated to Ngā Puna Reo o Aotearoa by 30 November.

For more information and to enquire about affiliation, contact ngapunareo@gmail.com.

We offer several initiatives to make it easier for early learning services to recruit teachers from overseas.

• The overseas finder’s fee of $3,450 offsets recruitment costs when employing a returning New Zealand or internationally trained teacher. Each centre can receive one overseas finder’s fee a year.
• The overseas relocation grant provides up to $10,000 towards a teacher’s costs of moving to New Zealand. 

Both grants require the teacher to be registered and certificated by the Teaching Council of New Zealand and have a contract for at least 12 months in a school | kura or licensed early learning centre. The teacher cannot have taught in Aotearoa in the 12 months before their new role starts.

Email  teacher.supply@education.govt.nz  to find out how our ‘Navigator’ team can support you with overseas recruitment.  

For more information visit:

Home – TeachNZ

An extension of funded International Qualifications Assessments (IQAs) for overseas trained teachers will significantly reduce the cost for teachers aiming to teach in Aotearoa.  

Up to 200 funded teaching IQAs will be accepted by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority each month from 9 October until the 1,200 funded places are used. Teachers with a job offer needing an urgent assessment after the monthly limit is reached can pay the $746 fee for a regular Teaching IQA and then apply to recover it through an overseas relocation grant. 

You can read more about IQAs on the NZQA site:

Zero fee IQA for teacher qualification – NZQA

Kōwhiti Whakapae is the name of our new practice and progress supports, designed to help strengthen teaching, learning, and assessment practices for kaiako using Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa.

The tool and its accompanying resources are built on the foundations of te Tiriti o Waitangi and Te Whāriki principles, the inclusion of all children, and the nurturing of their identities, languages, and cultures.

Kōwhiti Whakapae focuses on three areas across the strands of Te Whāriki: social & emotional, oral language & literacy, and maths.

The social and emotional area is available now, with the oral language and literacy, and maths areas due to be released next year.

Find it here:

Strengthening progress through practice – Kōwhiti Whakapae

Keep an eye out for Te Oranga Mauri – wellbeing storybooks being distributed to all early childhood centres in the next few weeks.

They aim to support the wellbeing of ākonga using stories that address mental health issues caused by COVID-19 and its lockdowns.

There are five storybooks written in different languages:

• Te Whānau Aroha o Tipene (Te Reo Māori)
• Sammy’s Koha (English and Te Reo Māori)
• ‘Amanaki Learns at Home | Ako ‘a ‘Amanaki ‘i ‘api (English and Lea fakatonga, and in Lea fakatonga)
• Kiara Loves White Sunday | E fiafia tele Kiara i le Lotu Tamaiti (English and Gagana Sāmoa, and in Gagana Sāmoa)
• A Kite for Tiare | E Manu Tiare (English and Te Reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani, and in Te Reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani).

Each book comes with teacher support materials that align across multiple curricula – Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, and The New Zealand Curriculum – with adaptable curriculum content that is relevant for early childhood education through to Year 4. There are also materials with story prompts and discussion tools for whānau to use at home.

Further physical copies will be available to order online here:

Login – Down the Back of the Chair

Applications for TESSOL tuition fees scholarships for 2024 are open and will close on 6 November.

Scholarships for TESSOL – Ministry of Education

Engagement on the Gateway assessment review is well underway.

Gateway assessments are a process to identify and meet health and education needs of tamariki and rangatahi in care, coming into care, or at risk of coming into care.  

More details are available on the Oranga Tamariki Action Plan website:

Gateway assessments review – Oranga Tamariki

Thank you to those who have taken time to get involved in local engagements. These opportunities are ongoing so keep an eye out for the dates and locations near you.

All kaimahi are invited to have a say about the Gateway assessment via a survey. 

If you've worked with the Gateway assessment, please share your perspective. It takes around 30 minutes and your feedback will be kept confidential.

 
Gateway Assessment Review National Survey – Oranga Tamariki

We also encourage you to share the survey with your teams and others who you know have experience with the Gateway assessment process.
 
Another survey for care-experienced young people, whānau, and caregivers is in development and will be distributed separately.

If you have any questions, contact gatewayreview@ot.govt.nz or for education specific questions, contact Amy.deVries@education.govt.nz.