1,000 signatures reached
To: The National, ACT, and NZ First Government
Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE
Call on the Government to STOP its recommended changes to ECE:
- DON’T scrap child safety and Te Whāriki curriculum regulations.
- DON’T undermine qualified teacher requirements or related funding.
- DON’T put profit ahead of quality early education for tamariki.
Every child deserves quality early childhood education. However, for years the sector has been in crisis — serious teacher shortages, unmanageable workloads, and teacher-to-child ratios that mean tamariki can't get the quality teaching time they deserve.
Instead of solving these issues, the Government is now recommending changes as part of its ECE Regulatory Review that prioritise profit over quality ECE:
Instead of solving these issues, the Government is now recommending changes as part of its ECE Regulatory Review that prioritise profit over quality ECE:
- Undermining qualification requirements for teachers.
- Changing or removing up to 74% of ECE licensing criteria, including scrapping safety measures like immunisation record requirements, water temperature safety valves, emergency evacuation meeting points, and a separate toilet for adults.
- Removing requirements that ensure quality teaching practices as part of our world-leading curriculum, Te Whāriki.
- Removing requirements to honour Te Tiriti and acknowledge Māori as tangata whenua.
- Removing requirements for regular updates and whānau input into children’s learning.
- Removing requirements for ECE centres to do long-term planning and regular quality reviews.
We believe these changes will lower the quality of early education for tamariki, put their safety and wellbeing at risk, and potentially affect their learning for decades to come.
We call on the Government to scrap these recommended changes and to ensure public consultation on any changes before they occur.
Put tamariki before profit!
We call on the Government to scrap these recommended changes and to ensure public consultation on any changes before they occur.
Put tamariki before profit!
Why is this important?
The quality of ECE will decrease, qualified teachers will be undermined, children will be less safe, most of the ECE curriculum will not be compulsory, and profits for business would increase rather than seeing tamariki and their needs at the heart of decisions about the future of early childhood education.