Why are we privatising ECE when we should be nationalising it?
Right now any Left wing Government needs to be focused on how too use the power of the State to lower the cost of living, so why the hell are we privatising ECE when we should be nationalising it?
Banishing Monsters From ECE: Challenging The ECE Reform Amendment Bill
It’s time for a State of the Nations address about Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa New Zealand. Few people would argue with the assertion that children are a national taonga (treasure) and that we need to be diligent about what is happening in the ECE sector.
It is alarming that the National Coalition Government has rapidly passed the Education and Training (ECE Reform) Amendment Bill, which will negatively change the landscape of ECE. This Bill brings about a reduction to teacher qualification and regulatory requirements, including reducing or removing key licensing criteria in centre-based services. The goal (in true right wing neoliberal fashion) is to increase competition among providers; simplify regulations and rules; and encourage investment.
This erodes the quality of our ECE sector in Aotearoa New Zealand and undermines the profession. The ECE regulatory system is being overhauled to put the economic interests of private ECE providers ahead of our children, whānau and teachers. In doing so it has its priorities all askew.
The Bill was introduced as part of a “work first” approach, aiming to cut red tape, improve efficiency and ease regulatory hurdles for providers. Critics, including myself, argue that the Bill was designed to support labour market participation and not the safety and wellbeing of children. Those in the profession know that the purpose of ECE is not primarily to provide childcare for parents so they can work. This is a benefit, but not the true raison d’etre.
The ability to open and operate an ECE centre is being made easier as the Bill reduces operational expenses for providers.
Children’s learning, safety , health and wellbeing are what is at stake here. As the Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE) argues, “International research consistently shows that high-quality early childhood education—especially when it involves parents in children’s learning and supports families—delivers significant benefits, including improved educational attainment”
The implications of this Bill are frightening. It offers the illusion that encouraging investment by private providers in poorly regulated systems will lead to increased efficiency and better outcomes for children and families. It won’t.
Instead, just one bite of the poisoned Bill will lead us backwards as a sector. It will lead to the expansion of long day childcare facilities – a profusion of low quality institutionalised facilities that operate on minimal standards. The Bill also claims to increase flexibility to ECE teacher qualifications, particularly in rural, lower socio-economic, and Māori and Pasifika services. Key changes include allowing “persons responsible” to be unqualified, easing staff qualification requirements. While this may increase profit for centres (unqualified teachers cost less to hire), it will undoubtedly impact children’s ability to learn and put their safety at risk.
Frankly, this isn’t good enough. All children should be able to access high quality education from the very beginning. All children deserve a supportive and nurturing start to life and access to education.
Our reputation as a world leader in ECE is at risk . We need to build on our progress made through decades of advocacy from those in the sector: leaders, academics, researchers and teachers. We have a quality curriculum Te Whāriki (which is not referred to in the Bill) . This curriculum has a clear focus on child wellbeing and rights; child-centred learning through play; an appreciation of cultural diversity; a bicultural approach that is embedded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi; and a whānau and community base.
Upholding these key tenets that guide ECE provision in Aotearoa New Zealand is of critical importance.
Privatisation of the ECE sector in Aotearoa New Zealand has long threatened its significance of a public good. It has led to uneven provision of ECE across Aotearoa. There is an oversupply of ECE in some communities and a dearth in others – mainly lower socioeconomic and rural – the very communities in which teacher qualification requirements are now being eased.
Communities with limited access to quality ECE are called ‘ECE deserts’. An article published in Early Childhood Folio onlinein 2025 revealed that some children in these communities are missing out on ECE, while others are in low quality centres. The reforms in the Bill can only exacerbate this.
In 2024 the Education Review Office (ERO) indicated that half or ECE services rated “below the threshold for quality on at least one metric in the last year”. Lowering regulations will not help this situation. Instead it can lead to high child-to- staff ratios and dangerously thin supervision. Indeed, staff burnout, low pay and high staff turnover are also consequences of not valuing the professional role of an ECE teacher.
Holding a mirror up to the ECE Sector thus reveals some unfair equity trends that the current Bills introduced by the National Coalition Government only accelerate.
The Bill treats ECE as a ‘business’ and a ‘childcare’ facility and not a fundamental right of the child. Glue isn’t going to fix it; we need systemic change. We need to return to our vision of quality ECE as a community based public good.
We can do this by ensuring high qualification standards for all teachers and a strong regulatory system protecting our children from physical, emotional and other forms of harm.
We need specialised and highly educated (tertiary level) ECE teachers in charge of our children. Yet the new Bills loosens teacher qualification requirements and leads to the possibility that those with generic childcare experience may now be regarded as qualified in ECE.
Empirical evidence shows us that higher teaching qualifications are correlated with higher quality education and care. Such teachers know how to design and implement curriculum and standards. They are experts at engaging community and family. They care for and support young children, following their interests and engaging them in meaningful learning.
We have a lot to be proud of in the care and education many teachers in ECE centres (private or otherwise) provide for our children. There are also excellent examples of quality ECE to be found in Kōhanga Reo (Māori language nests), community based centres, Playcentre and Kindergartens that are led by qualified teachers.
Let’s collectively banish the monsters hiding in the Bill.
Stand up for our children. Sign the parent-led petition https://our.actionstation.org.nz/p/put-children-first
Dr Lynley Tulloch is a lecturer in Early Childhood Education at AUT. https://academics.aut.ac.nz/lynley.tulloch
She is also co-president of OMEP New Zealand https://www.omepaotearoa.org.nz/
Why are we allowing private players even more power in a. broken ECE market?
‘We can’t afford to have another child’: Why more Kiwi families are one and done
Courtney Hatcher has a 1-year-old and would happily have more kids.
“We can’t afford to have another child. We would have liked one more if money wasn’t an issue. It just wouldn’t be financially responsible, sadly.”
The 24-year-old from Wellington blamed the cost of living crisis.
“Groceries, kids stuff, Christmas, birthdays … It’s hard to find part-time work and it looks unprofessional to take my 16-month-old to interviews.”
Stuff
Of course it is bloody expensive having kids!
We are locked into this paradigm of the free market where we import migrant workers because we have stripped away any cocoon to raise our own kids in and the second they gain tertiary qualifications they flee over seas to pay off the student debt requiring more migrant workers to be imported!
The 40 year neoliberal experiment in NZ has been a disaster and if we are not prepared to confront that reality, we are doomed.
The state has an obligation in a country as rich as this to provide cradle to the grave subsidisation.
The root cause of pay parity issues is the biological fact women have babies.
Counter that by investing seriously into ECE and maternity leave.
Why should a couple of private Christian providers price gouge the entire sector?
To counter the cost of having kids and building up our own population we should have:
- Free school lunches in every school
- Free student use of public transport
- Nationalise ECE and remove all fees
- 12 months maternity leave
- Free Tertiary education for certain sectors in exchange for bonded 3 year employment.
If you want healthy babies and a growing population base that isn’t reliant on migrant workers, invest in early childhood care, meaningful maternity leave and no cost public transport and free lunches.
