This Government bill amends the Education and Training Act 2020 with the stated aims of improving the effectiveness of the early childhood education regulatory system for children and parents, and reducing the regulatory burden for service providers. It was passed by Parliament and has received Royal assent, becoming the Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Reform) Amendment Act 2025.
Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (committee of whole house, third reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.
This bill overhauls how early childhood education (ECE) — care and education for children before they start school — is regulated. It establishes a dedicated "Director of Regulation" within the Ministry of Education responsible for licensing ECE services, monitoring them and enforcing compliance, consolidating these functions into a clearer, standalone regulatory role. The aim is a simpler, more risk-based and less burdensome regulatory system, following a government review that found the existing rules were complex, duplicative and costly for providers. It affects ECE centres, home-based educators, kōhanga reo and playcentres, their staff, and ultimately the whānau and young children who use these services.
It amends the Education and Training Act 2020 and stems from a government-commissioned early learning regulatory review that recommended streamlining oversight. Supporters argue the current framework is overly bureaucratic, and that a single accountable regulator with modernised rules will cut unnecessary compliance costs, letting educators focus more on children while maintaining safety and quality standards. Critics and some in the sector caution that simplifying regulation must not weaken protections for very young children, and worry that changes to licensing and monitoring could lower quality or safety if not carefully designed and adequately resourced.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.