Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008 and the Ministry of Education's Licensing Criteria for Early Childhood Education Centres

The following articles provide you with information on the legal requirements specific to centre-based services - such as kindergartens, Montessori centres, Pasifika centres, Playcentres and others. 

The Ministry of Education has its own criteria for assessing service compliance with the Regulations.  While it has different sets of criteria for home-based services, ngā kōhanga reo, hospital-based services and playgroups, these are similar in respect to its licensing criteria for all other education and care centres with most exceptions being related to differences between service types in areas such as staffing and child numbers.