Choosing the Right Childcare: Teacher-Led vs Whānau-Led

When looking for childcare options, there are broadly two categories of childcare: teacher led and whānau/parent led. Which one is right for you depends on your personal situation, your priorities for your child, and the level involvement you’re able to have in their education and care.

Teacher-led childcare

In teacher-led childcare, at least of the adults who educate and care for children must be qualified early childhood teachers. These services are also licenced, which means they must meet government requirements around healthy and safety, staffing, and education and childcare programmes. These services can be privately owned or community based.

Kindergartens, childcare centres and in-home educators are examples of parent-led childcare. All of these need to be licensed and require their staff to be certified early education teachers. Typically, all kindergarten teachers are qualified early childhood educators, where most other early childhood centres have around 80% qualified staff. All in-home educators are required to belong to a home- based education service, which ensure they are supported by a coordinator who is a qualified and certified ECE teacher.

Parent or whānau led childcare

Whānau-led or parent-led involves childcare where parents, whanau and other caregivers are actively involved in educating and caring for the children. This gives families and whānau opportunities to lead the education and care of their children and gives them opportunities for training and development in these areas. It also allows parents and families to develop their social and community networks and learn more about parenting.

Examples of parent or family-led childcare services include playcentres, Te Kōhanga Reo (providing a Maori immersion environment) and playgroups. These services are often affiliated with a larger organisation where Playcentres and Te Kōhanga Reo are licensed by the Ministry of Education, in the same way as kindergartens and childcare centres, while playgroups do not need to be licensed in the same way.

Which one is right for me?

This really depends on your personal circumstances. There’s no better option here – it’s all down to what will fit best for you and your family.

If you would like to be more involved with your child’s education and care, parent-led childcare options are the way to go. You can spend time with your child in a different environment to home, with additional resources and support. You and your child can also benefit from spending time with other parents and children.

On the other hand, if you’re a working parent, teacher-led childcare options are more realistic, as your work commitments may mean you don’t have time to be actively involved in childcare yourself. Many early childhood centres also provide meals, care for babies and younger toddlers, and longer hours which may suit someone working full time.