Choices for early child education

In Aotearoa New Zealand we have a variety of early childhood services to choose from. Services are licensed through the Ministry of Education and follow Te Whaariki, the national early childhood curriculum. Playgroups are usually license exempt, as they do not meet all the legal requirements for licensing, and have parent involvement. The terms, full day and sessional, are used to describe the amount of time your child will spend at the service. Full day is any period over four hours, and sessional is up to four hours.
When thinking about choosing a service there are some questions to bear in mind, visite our common questions page for more to ask and look for. It is always good to visit a few centres to get a feel for what is available, and to talk to the staff. We have a very good database of just about every early childhood centre in Waitakere on this site, for you to find contact details. Below is a brief description about each type of service.

Childcare centres
Childcare centres provide an education and care programme appropriate to the age of the children, and may be privately owned or community run. A number of employers provide childcare services for their staff.
Many aims and philosophies are reflected in the sector; for example, a centre may be run with a Montessori, Steiner or Reggio Emila approach. Others provide for specific cultural or language needs of the local community.
Childcare centres usually offer full-day or half-day (sessional) programmes. Children are enrolled on a regular basis, although sometimes casual care is available.

Home-based family care
This is care and education provided in private homes. This service is for very small groups of children, up to four at any one time, supervised by one educator in her or his family home.
Homes have to meet codes of practise for home based care. Educators provide an education programme for the children in their care. Home-based care is licenced under an umbrella system – where a qualified teacher regularly visits the home to support the educator and the educational programme.

Kindergartens
Kindergartens provide an effective, high quality early childhood education service that is both affordable and accessible to all who want to use it. Kindergarten provides a programme to meet the developmental needs of children aged from two and a half to five years.
Kindergartens in New Zealand usually have two groups of children: older children generally attend five mornings a week, and younger children attend three afternoons. There are two to three teachers who hold the Diploma of Teaching (ECE) or a recognised equivalent qualification.

Language-focussed groups
There are a wide range of language specific childcare playgroups to meet the range of Pacific Island and also asian languages and customs. Cultural values are incorporated within an early childhood education programme. Half or more of the parents stay during the session and are responsible for the running of the programme.

Playcentres
Playcentres provide developmental learning through play, with the close involvement of parents working alongside their children. Playcentre’s philosophy is to provide equally for the development of parents and their children.
Playcentre caters for children from birth to school age. Individual Playcentres arrange their own session times, with from one to ten sessions a week. Children may attend up to five sessions each week. Fees are on a donation basis. Playcentre is a parent co-operative and parents undertake the supervision of sessions. Playcentre has a recognised training system for parents.

Playgroups
Playgroups provide informal education experiences for children who come with their parents. Playgroups usually meet in halls or community centres. They are more informal than other services and often provide a place for parents to meet.

Te Kohanga Reo
The key aim of Te Kohanga Reo is to promote and protect the Maori language, and with this in mind, it is based on total immersion of children in the Maori language and tikanga from birth. Many Kohanga are based at marae. Parents are members of the Whanau management group, and support is provided by a national body. Te Reo language can be used at a bilingual level (12-80% of teaching time is in the Maori language), or immersion level (81-100% of teaching time is in the Maori language). All Kohanga Reo services are assumed to be operating at immersion level.