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Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

There are many different options for childcare and early education – some you may not yet be aware of or understand much about.

Enjoy exploring and knowing your options with the help of the articles in this section.

The Kiwi Parent guide to choosing quality early childhood education and care.
Choosing an ECE Service: Checklists and Guides, Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available, What Is Quality? About Ratios, Teachers & Other Indicators

The Kiwi Parent Guide to Early Childhood Education

The Kiwi Parent Guide to Early Childhood Education is for anyone considering using an early childhood service for the first time or changing their current…
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Dr Sarah Alexander visiting an early childhood centre
Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

Video for Seeing Inside Early Childhood Education Services

See what it's like and what happens within some different licensed early childhood service options in New Zealand/Aotearoa. When choosing an early childhood education and…
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private early childhood centre and commercial ECE services
Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

Private Early Childhood Centres and Companies

Private early childhood centres are as the name suggests - privately owned. Owners can be individual people such as business entrepreneurs, accountants, lawyers, as well…
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community-based early childhood centres
Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

Community-based Early Childhood Centres

Community-based early childhood centres are ones that are registered as Incorporated Societies.  They may be run by a group of parents, a charitable organisation, a…
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Montessori and Rudolf Steiner preschools and schools
Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

Montessori and Steiner Waldorf Education

Montessori and Steiner Waldorf Education Most children in Aotearoa New Zealand start school at age five, but Steiner and Montessori philosophy suggests keeping a child…
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Kohanga Reo for children, family and whanau
Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

Te Kōhanga Reo

There are over 460 Kōhanga Reo throughout Aotearoa so chances are you will find one in your area. You will find the welcome mat is…
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children playing at Playcentre Aotearoa NZ
Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

Playcentre

Playcentre Playcentre provides parents with often much needed community support and friendship, while children are also experiencing an educative benefit. Parents meet other parents and…
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Kindergarten child at kindy NZ Aotearoa 20-Hours ECE
Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

Kindergarten

Kindergarten In almost every suburb in NZ there is at least one kindergarten run by a kindergarten association. What is a kindergarten? Kindergartens are defined…
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nanny or caregiver in your own home
Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

A Nanny or Caregiver in Your Home

Many parents who need flexibility in hours with their childcare employ a nanny themself or go through a home-based agency for a nanny. Parents can…
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home-based early childhood education
Options for Parents: The Range of ECE Services and Help Available

Home-Based Childcare

Home-based ECE involves people caring for children in a home environment (either their home or the child's home), who have signed up to a government…
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Key

Community Ownership:
Parents likely have a strong say in how the service operates and what happens to children, all money earnt stays within it, and teachers may be paid better and childcare charges may be lower compared to most (but not necessarily all) private and corporate owned services. (Ask: Is it an Incorporated Society? Does it also have charitable status?)

Small Boutique Centre:
Centres with 50 or fewer children make it easier for staff to provide a warm and nurturing environment, for children to have their individual needs met and skills, knowledge, and competencies extended. (Ask: For continuity of care and relationships, do children stay with the same group of children and teachers throughout their time at the service?)

100% Qualified Teacher Funded:
All staff counted toward meeting the minimum adult-child ratio requirement must hold a practising certificate as a teacher if the service receives this level of Ministry of Education funding. (Ask: Does the service count teachers trained in the ECE of children birth to 5 years and not primary or secondary school trained teachers?)

Men Included on Teaching Staff (as at last year):
There are strong benefits of having both men and women on the teaching team for the quality of care and education a service provides to children. Additionally, gender bias in staff recruitment and employment is not generally acceptable in society today. (Ask: How many teaching staff are employed and what proportion are men?).

Clean Licence Record (last year and the year before):
To be licensed a service must comply with regulations that help ensure children’s safety, care, and a suitable standard of education. When requirements are breached the Ministry of Education may downgrade a service’s licence to provisional or issue a suspension. (Check the lists of services placed on a provisional or suspended licence https://oece.nz/public/information/standards/ published each year)

Recommended Highly by 80% or More Families:
At least 80% of families recommend the service and rate it as being very good to excellent on a range of aspects of quality. (Note that a response rate of at least 51% families on the OECE parent survey https://oece.nz/public/information/resources/parent-survey/ research instrument within the last three years is necessary here)

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