- Education Legislation Bill: Introduction and submissions
- Updating the Education Act 1989 – consultations now closed
- Safety checking students on practicum
- New Zealand’s International Report Card released
- Food safety reminder for new ECE centres and kōhanga reo
- Health and Safety at Work Act questions and answers
Education Legislation Bill: introduction and submissions
The Minister of Education, Hon Hekia Parata, has introduced the Education Legislation Bill. This omnibus Bill is designed to improve administrative and governance arrangements for a number of educational entities and funding organisations. The Bill has had its first reading in Parliament and been referred to the Education and Science Select Committee.
The Committee has called for submissions on the Bill, with a closing date of Friday 19 February 2016.
The Bill amends several Acts, including some parts of the Education Act 1989. These changes are different from the proposals currently being consulted on to update the Education Act 1989.
What’s in the Bill for early childhood education?
Of specific interest to the early learning sector is the proposed amendment to allow licensed home-based education and care (ECE) services to simultaneously provide ECE and out-of-school care (OSCAR) services for children 13 years of age and under. This is subject to there being appropriate separation of ECE and out-of-school-care children, the maintenance of stringent adult-to-child ratios and existing regulations around safety, and the provision of quality learning environments.
The suggested change enables parents to have both early learning and out-of-school-care delivered in the same environment, especially where the options are limited (such as in rural areas).
More information
Detailed information about the Bill, including a link to the Bill and information about how to make a submission, is available on the Ministry’s website.
Updating the Education Act 1989 – consultation now closed
The Minister of Education Hon Hekia Parata would like to thank all early learning services for taking part in the consultation to update the Education Act 1989. A total of 120 workshops, meetings and hui were held across the country during the consultation, reaching parents, family, whānau, communities, education professionals and organisations.
Feedback from these workshops and the submissions received is being carefully analysed by the Ministry of Education. A report summarising everyone’s views on the proposals will be made available on the Ministry’s website in the New Year.
Next steps
The Ministry of Education will use the analysed submissions along with other evidence to help shape some firmer proposals for the Minister of Education to consider.
The Minister will then seek Cabinet’s agreement to her preferred proposals. If Cabinet agrees, a Bill will be drafted.
There will be a further opportunity to comment on any specific proposals for change through a Parliamentary select committee process in 2016.
We will keep you updated on progress in the next issue of He Pānui Kōhungahunga – the Early Learning Bulletin.
Safety checking students on practicum
All children’s workers need to be safety checked to the standard set out in the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 (VCA). This includes students on practicum.
While it is the responsibility of each early childhood education (ECE) service, kōhanga reo or playgroup to ensure the safety check has been completed, some components of the safety check may be done by a person or organisation acting on behalf of the ECE service, kōhanga reo or playgroup.
Most tertiary education organisations (TEOs) already undertake similar checks for students as part of their screening and enrolments processes.
If you are hosting a student on placement and you wish to rely on a TEO to carry out the safety check for that student on your behalf, we recommend you obtain a letter from the TEO confirming this. The letter should contain details about which components of the safety check have been completed and that they have been done to the standard set out in the VCA. A separate letter should be obtained for each named student teacher.
If any components of the safety check have not been completed by the TEO, you are responsible for completing these. We recommend you complete the identity check and risk assessment, even if these have already been completed by the TEO.
Read more about ECE sector requirements under the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.
New Zealand’s International Report Card released
Last month the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its Education at a Glance 2015 report, which compares education in 34 OECD and other participating partner countries, using data from the last three years.
The report shows New Zealand continues to deliver a top-performing education system, and does well in early childhood education (ECE), international education, and on measures of public education investment.
New Zealand performs well on ECE indicators. We are in the top third of countries for participation, funding and teacher-child ratios, well above OECD averages.
However, there are still areas in our education system where extra effort is needed, such as further improving upper secondary retention and more students achieving NCEA Level 2.
The full report is on the OECD website, and you can read a summary of the New Zealand results.
Food safety reminder for new ECE centres and kōhanga reo
New education and care centres and kōhanga reo opening on or after 1 March 2016 should check if the Food Act 2014 applies to them, by using the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) online tool 'Where do I fit?'.
In last month’s He Pānui Kōhungahunga – the Early Learning Bulletin we gave you information about the implementation of the new food safety law, including key dates.
You can find out more about the new law on the MPI Food Act webpage. You can also contact MPI directly by emailing info@mpi.govt.nz or calling 0800 008 333.
Health and Safety at Work Act questions and answers
You can now find a series of questions and answers about the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 on the Ministry website.
They reflect the queries we have been receiving about what the new health and safety legislation means for the early learning sector.
Among the questions and answers you will find:
- further information about the duty holders as defined in the Act
- links to more information in the health and safety factsheets for the education sector and to WorkSafe New Zealand’s website.
If you have any other questions about the new health and safety legislation, please email healthandsafety.info@education.govt.nz.