Government and Ministerial relations
A big part of the work we do for our members is providing advocacy and ensuring the government of the day hears our voice. In this section, we will keep you abreast of developments in our ongoing government relations.
EEF meets with Minister
Gillian Dodson attended a meeting with the Minister of Education on thursday 25th March 2010. Whilst no details were given. the Minister did suggest that there will be changes to the way ECE is funded in the next budget. Minutes from the meeting are available here pdf 88kb
Minister of Education attends NZCA Whakatane teaching base opening
Hon Anne Tolley MP attended the official opening of Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa / NZ Childcare 
Association's new Whakatane teaching base which was held on the morning of Friday 2nd October. The base has been relocated to The Strand from Commerce Street.
The opening of the base began with a mihi whakatau and formal blessing from base kaumatua Pouroto Ngaropo, followed by a speech from Nancy Bell. The Minister of Education, Hon Anne Tolley unveiled a ceremonial plaque and spoke of the high demand for quality early childhood education and the important work of NZCA as the largest provider of early childhood teacher education in New Zealand. One of Anne Tolley's first Ministerial duties was to attend the NZCA Whakatane graduation in January and the Minister commented on how pleased she is to be continuing her journey with NZCA.
National Office would like to thank Arlene and all the staff at the Whakatane base for their hard work in organising the base opening and ensuring it was such a success.
Minister's reply
The Minister of Education has replied to the Association's letter following this year's conference. You can read the reply here. (pdf, 105kb)
Letter to the Minister of Education
At this year's NZCA conference Council President Judy Kaa and Chief Executive Nancy Bell created a letter to the Minister. The letter summed up the views of delegates and their concerns for the future of high quality early childhood education and young children. You can read the letter here. (pdf, 80kb)
Air quality
The Ministry of Education has released key messages outlining their position on the current debate over air quality in Auckland and how this might affect the licensing of ECE centres. The Ministry advises they will continue to license centres on a case by case basis and are working towards a nationwide response to concerns over air quality. Read the full release here.
ECE regulations consultation begins
Education Minister Anne Tolley has announced the release of the public consultation document initiating the review of early childhood education regulations.
The consultation document includes the six-yearly re-licensing cycle, separate sleep rooms, police checks for home-based services and written risk assessments for home-based services.
NZCA will be making a submission and is also putting forward recommendations for representatives to take part in the working party which will review the submissions.
The consultation document can be accessed at http://www.lead.ece.govt.nz/
Minister of Education signals changes to ECE
Hon Anne Tolley Minister of Education recently announced a series of changes to ECE including not implementing the previous government's planned teacher:child ratio improvements. NZCA Chief Executive Nancy Bell has released a statement to members. Read the statement here.
ECE licensing criteria review
One of our recent pieces of advocacy work centred on the new National-lead government's plan to hold the incoming ECE licensing criteria. After making our position public in the media, we wrote to Hon Anne Tolley MP to express our dismay at the proposed six-month delay.
Following the minister's decision to hold four licensing criteria in late December, the Association received a letter back from Minister Tolley. You can read the letter here.