State of the Sector: Why Early Childhood Education Must Be Part of the Election Conversation

Early childhood education rarely dominates election campaigns. Yet few issues deserve greater attention, given their impact on the future of our tamariki, our communities, and our economy.

Every day, thousands of New Zealand families rely on early childhood education not only to enable them to work and study, but to give their tamariki the strongest possible start in life. The quality of that experience matters. It shapes children’s learning, wellbeing and development long before they walk through the school gates. “All children are born with immense potential and quality early learning helps our children begin to realise that potential and build a strong foundation for school learning and for life.”

That is why Te Rito Maioha has launched its new State of the Sector | He Rāngai Kōrero series, a growing collection of opinion pieces and analysis designed to inform the national conversation about the future of early childhood education.

The series explores the significant challenges facing the sector. Services are grappling with rising operating costs, teacher shortages, increasing regulatory pressures and a funding system that many providers believe no longer reflects the true cost of delivering high-quality early childhood education. At the same time, government policy continues to evolve, raising important questions about quality, access, affordability and the role of early childhood education in New Zealand society.

These are not issues that affect kaiako alone. They affect every parent choosing an early learning service, every employer who depends on working parents, every school welcoming new and ultimately every New Zealander who wants tamariki to have the best possible start in life.

As we move towards the next General Election, voters should expect political parties to explain not only what they will invest in early childhood education, but why. How will they ensure children remain at the centre of policy? How will they keep quality at the heart of the system? How will they support and retain qualified teachers? And how will they create an investment model, (not just a funding model), but one that is sustainable for providers, teachers and parents, while delivering the outcomes tamariki deserve?

These are questions worth asking because the decisions made over the next parliamentary term will shape the sector for years to come. The time for conversations is at an end. Action is now a must.

The State of the Sector series seeks to contribute to that discussion through evidence, experience and informed debate. Our recent opinion pieces have explored the importance of quality as the foundation of effective early childhood education, examined what New Zealand can learn from Australia’s reform journey through the insights of Australian MP Abigail Gray, and challenged readers to think beyond short-term policy decisions that favour access over quality, towards long-term investment in tamariki.

These articles are not intended to provide all the answers. They are intended to encourage better questions and solutions, thoughtful discussion and evidence-informed policymaking and we’ll also compare and contrast each party’s ECE election policies when these become available.

Underlying this work is Te Rito Maioha’s Five Point Plan, which provides a practical framework for strengthening New Zealand’s early childhood education system. It calls for sustainable investment, a supported and qualified teaching workforce, improved teacher-to-child ratios, stronger leadership, and policy settings that place tamariki at the centre of every decision.

We invite parents, educators, policymakers and anyone with an interest in New Zealand’s future to explore the State of the Sector series. Read the articles. Challenge the ideas. Share them with others. Most importantly, ask your local candidates where they stand on the future of early childhood education.

The dialogue, and more importantly, actual action about ECE should not begin and end with those who work in the sector. It belongs to all of us, because every child deserves the opportunity to thrive, and every election is an opportunity to decide what kind of future we want to build.