ECE services and environmental issues

Key messages on ECE services and environmental issues.

The Ministry of Education is responsible for licensing early childhood education services
First and foremost, the Ministry of Education considers the health, safety and wellbeing of children in early childhood education services
The Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 and related criteria set out the standards for ensuring children’s health, safety and wellbeing
The Ministry of Education provides guidance to support ECE services to meet these standards. Guidance material is published on the ECE Lead website.

What is happening?

The Ministry of Education is developing guidance for the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector on environmental issues and the development of ECE services. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry for the Environment are assisting with this
Environmental issues include those that have a required standard stated in the regulations and criteria, such as noise, and those that should be considered as part of good practice, such as air quality
The guidance aims to provide information to help ECE developers make decisions about the suitability of a site for development as an ECE service
This guidance will complement other Ministry of Education work on issues identified through the February 2009 ECE Regulatory Review such as instances where there was conflict, tension or inconsistency in the way the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 interacted with the application of other legislation
The Ministry of Education has worked with the Department for Building and Housing to develop guidance for ECE centres and Building Consent Authorities to assist the Building Consent process
Other guidance is being developed or revised to support the development of ECE services.