Supporting safe, high-quality education and care for children, mokopuna and their whānau.
The Education Review Office (ERO) helps make sure early learning providers meet the legal and regulatory requirements that apply to them.
These responsibilities include licensing or certification, compliance monitoring, complaints, incident responses and enforcement for matters that fall within ERO’s role. ERO will continue to review and evaluate the quality of education and care alongside these regulatory responsibilities.
This section explains what ERO’s responsibilities are and how we approach them.
ERO’s regulatory responsibilities
From 1 September 2026, legislation gives ERO the legal authority and responsibility to carry out a range of regulatory functions in early childhood education. These functions include:
Licensing early childhood education services and certifying playgroups.
Undertaking proactive, regular, risk-based monitoring of providers.
Monitoring and enforcing compliance with regulatory requirements, including investigations and prosecutions where appropriate.
Providing support, information and guidance to help services understand and meet their regulatory obligations.
Helping parents, caregivers and communities understand provider compliance and the quality of early childhood education.
ERO’s response will reflect the circumstances, evidence and level of risk involved.
Regulations are rules that service providers follow
Regulations are official rules that help keep children safe and set clear expectations about what early childhood education providers of all kinds must do. In early childhood education and kōhungahunga, they establish the minimum standards services must meet across areas such as health and safety, premises and facilities, staffing, governance, learning environments, and the education and care provided to children.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for setting the standards and licensing criteria that underpin these regulations. ERO uses those standards and criteria when making licensing and certification decisions, monitoring compliance, undertaking reviews, responding to complaints and incidents, and considering enforcement action.
Licensing and monitoring activities are how ERO helps ensure early learning services are meeting requirements and supporting safe, high-quality education and care for children and mokopuna. ERO's approach combines regulation, evaluation and improvement to support better outcomes for learners and stronger confidence in the quality of education and care.
A child-centred and risk-informed approach
Children and mokopuna are at the centre of ERO’s regulatory work. A child-centred approach means considering how practice and compliance affect children’s safety, wellbeing, learning and outcomes.
A risk-informed approach means focusing attention and regulatory intervention where the potential risk or harm is greatest. Not every complaint, incident or concern will require the same response. ERO will consider the circumstances of each matter and decide what action, if any, is appropriate.
Read more about how ERO manages complaints, incidents and concerns