Clearer education roles and responsibilities for ERO and Ministry
News
If you're a parent, whānau member, early childhood provider, private school leader or hostel manager, knowing who to contact can sometimes be confusing.
Do you contact ERO? The Ministry of Education? Someone else?
From 1 September 2026, the answer becomes much simpler.
The Education Review Office (ERO) will be the main point of contact for reviews, concerns and complaints, monitoring, and a range of regulatory matters relating to early childhood education services, kōhungahunga, private schools and school hostels. This change brings together review, monitoring, regulatory and enforcement responsibilities within one organisation.
What does this mean for me?
If you're a parent or whānau member
You will have a clearer pathway when you need information, want to raise a concern, or need help understanding how an education setting is performing.
Whether you're looking for information about reviews, want to understand a service's obligations, or have concerns about a child's safety, wellbeing or learning environment, ERO will increasingly become your first stop for a range of matters.
Quick links:
If you're an early childhood provider
Instead of working with different organisations for different matters, ERO will become your main point of contact for many regulatory functions, including complaints, compliance monitoring, certification and licensing-related matters, alongside its existing review role.
The requirements and obligations services must meet are not changing, but where providers go for support, information and regulatory matters is.
If you work in, or operate a private school or school hostel
If you operate a private school or school hostel, understanding who to contact about reviews, regulatory requirements, concerns or complaints will become simpler from 1 September 2026.
ERO will become the place to go for reviews, complaints, compliance monitoring and a range of regulatory matters. This means many of the functions that were previously managed across different parts of the education system will be brought together within a single organisation.
The requirements private schools and hostels must meet are not changing. What is changing is where you go for information, support and regulatory matters.
