“Equity” is one of the most overused words in education policy and one of the least realised in practice. While the principle is embedded in Aotearoa’s ECE vision, structural inequities continue to determine who participates, who stays, and who benefits. According to Education Counts (2023), participation rates for Māori and Pacific whānau have improved but remain uneven, particularly in rural and low-income communities.
The ECE Funding Review (MAG 2025) is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to translate equity from aspiration to architecture: measurable, funded, and enforceable.
Equity without structure is sentiment; with structure, it becomes justice.
1 - Engage: Seeing Inequity Clearly
Engagement begins with honesty. National averages hide the local disparities that shape daily reality. Services in high-deprivation areas face higher costs, lower fee revenue, and more complex family needs. Yet, as the Ministry of Education (2024) notes, these same services are often funded through formulas designed for uniformity, not fairness.
Equity starts with recognising that sameness is not equality. It is inequity disguised as neutrality.
2 - Enable: Designing Weighted Funding That Works
OECD (2021) identifies equity weightings as one of the most effective mechanisms for reducing participation gaps and improving outcomes. The Funding Review can embed predictable, transparent weightings for:
- Deprivation and income-based factors.
- Transport and geographic isolation.
- Language, cultural, and immersion settings.
- Complexity and additional learning needs.
Funding that follows vulnerability rather than volume ensures that resources reach the communities where they make the most difference.
3 - Empower: Accountability Through Transparency
Equity must be visible. Public trust grows when funding allocations are transparent and outcomes are measurable. The Education Review Office (2024) recommends public reporting of funding data by region, service type, and deprivation index. This would allow communities to see where resources are flowing and where inequity persists.
The Teaching Council of Aotearoa NZ (2024) reminds us through Our Code, Our Standards that fairness and collective responsibility are professional ethics, not optional values. A transparent funding model aligns those ethics with system design.
Policy opportunity: Introduce Equity Impact Statements for every major funding decision, mirroring environmental and fiscal impact reporting.
Fairness grows where transparency lives.
4 - Evolve: Embedding Protection as an Equity Measure
Protection and equity are inseparable. Children in under-resourced communities are statistically more vulnerable to harm (Oranga Tamariki, 2024). Yet, these services often have the least capacity to provide supervision, safeguarding PLD, or pastoral care.
The Funding Review can redefine equity by embedding protection metrics into its model:
- Ratio adjustments in high-risk areas.
- Funded safeguarding training and supervision.
- Cross-agency data linking to track protection alongside participation.
When protection is treated as a dimension of equity, safety becomes systemic, not situational.
Equity is protection funded in advance.
Closing Reflection
Equity with teeth is not charity, it is design justice. It recognises that some communities carry heavier loads and therefore deserve stronger supports. The Funding Review can rebalance power, time, and trust by building a funding system that resources difference with dignity.
We achieve equity not by treating everyone the same, but by resourcing everyone fairly.
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Reflection Prompts
- How does your current funding model reveal or hide inequity?
- What mechanisms could make equity visible and measurable in your community?
- How might protection and equity reinforce each other in funding and practice?
Inline References
- Ministry of Education (2025). ECE Funding Review (MAG 2025). education.govt.nz.
- Ministry of Education (2024). Regulatory Review of Early Childhood Education. education.govt.nz.
- Education Counts (2023). ECE Participation Data and Programme Evaluation. educationcounts.govt.nz.
- OECD (2021). Starting Strong VI: Supporting Meaningful Access and Quality in ECEC. oecd.org.
- Education Review Office (2024). Indicators of Quality for Early Childhood Education: Te Ara Poutama. ero.govt.nz.
- Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (2024). Our Code, Our Standards: The Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession. teachingcouncil.nz.
- Oranga Tamariki (2024). Annual Report and Child Wellbeing Data. orangatamariki.govt.nz.