New Zealand

the kindergarten community

Taranaki St Kindergarten, c. 1930's Alexander Turnbull Library, PAColl 193-1-36

National network

Kindergartens are operated by regional associations. The oldest is the Dunedin Free Kindergarten Association, established in 1889.

Kindergarten is a network of services offered nationwide across diverse communities. Kindergartens are in every community and operated by regional kindergarten associations. In 2017, there are 30 regional kindergarten associations supporting over 650 kindergartens. The largest association - Auckland - operates 107 kindergartens, and the smallest is Geraldine with one kindergarten.

Defined in the Education Act 1989, a kindergarten association is an organisation ‘founded for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a kindergarten or kindergartens’. Associations have always been and remain so, independent and autonomous not-for-profit entities, and registered charities. They are the employer of all staff including kindergarten teachers and the owner or leasee of kindergarten properties. The association is the entity that receives funding from government to provide services and is responsible for ensuring kindergarten services meet Ministry of Education regulations and other statutory obligations. Associations are bound by the provisions of the State Sector Act 1988 which sets out the requirements of associations as employers and provides for the collective bargaining of employment conditions for teachers. Associations have governance boards and specialist management and professional leadership teams to oversee the successful operation of the association and kindergartens.

Kindergartens vary both within and across associations and reflect their unique communities. However all kindergartens, regardless of the association which operates them, have key features in common. Te Whāriki is the early childhood education curriculum in all kindergartens. Kindergartens employ 100% qualified, registered teachers and kindergarten teaching teams are supported by professional leaders. Kindergartens are committed to working closely with parents and communities.

Many associations also offer additional services such as education and care or home-based services. Forest or nature discovery kindergartens, kindergartens attached to school-based teen parent units, and kindergarten within a ‘community hub’ are features. Many associations and kindergartens are part of wider government programmes such as Whānau Ora, Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) and Incredible Years (IY). Kindergartens feature in the Enviroschools programme and more and more are becoming involved in Environmental Education for Sustainability.

The history of each kindergarten association is unique with much variety in age, size and regional character. A few associations have deposited their historical archives in regional libraries or museums. Most of the records are still housed in regional association offices and indeed in the storerooms and cupboards of individual kindergartens. Some records have been catalogued; others remain unsorted in boxes and in cupboards.

The story of kindergarten associations and their kindergartens have been documented in NZFKU publications. These list the year kindergartens were established and in some cases tell the story of how the community work together to raise the funds to build a kindergarten in their community. These publications are Kindergartens in New Zealand 1889-1975 and Seventy Five years of Free Kindergarten in New Zealand 1889-1964.

Building a national organisation

The New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union Incorporated (NZFKU - the Union) was established in 1926 to co-ordinate the work of the five Free Kindergarten Associations then in operation: Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland and Invercargill.

The idea of an umbrella organisation for kindergartens was initiated at a 1912 conference held in Dunedin and attended by delegates from the four city associations. In 1913 the New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union NZFKU, was formed but the outbreak of World War One in 1914 delayed formal development of the organisation until 1920 when a second conference was held in Wellington. The NZFKU was finally constituted in 1926 and the five association delegates agreed that membership would be open to all associations in receipt of the Government capitation grant and that national conferences would be held biannually. In 1939 The Union was officially recognised by the Government as representing the associations’ views regarding policy. The negotiating and advocacy role of the Union significantly expanded after 1948 when the Department of Education established the first Supervisor of Pre-school Services and later Pre-school Officers (later Advisers) whose task was to regulate and co-ordinate the expansion of kindergartens as an education service across the regions.

While each association was initially constituted to operate a single kindergarten, in time associations expanded to operate a few, and in some city locations many kindergartens. By the 1970s there were 75 associations affiliated to the NZFKU. Since that time the number of affiliated associations have more than halved mostly as a result of smaller associations merging to become larger regional entities. In the post 1990 era a few associations severed their affiliation with some subsequently to re-affiliate. In current times four North Island associations are members of Early Childhood Leadership (ECL) and the Gisborne association operates independently. ECL work with NZK on significant issues relating to the kindergarten movement and work as a group independently on matters of mutual interest to those associations.

From the start the Union took a leading role in the co-ordination of kindergarten training across the regional associations. Until 1973, four city associations operated a kindergarten training programme. The Union also had a key role in instigating funding negotiations with respective governments. In the post 1946 era the Union was much engaged in working with the Department to improve standards in relation to kindergarten programmes, buildings, equipment, staffing and qualifications.

In 1994 The NZFKU changed its name to New Zealand Free Kindergarten Associations Inc. (NZFKA). The name changed again in 2004 to New Zealand Kindergartens Incorporated - Te Pūtahi Kura Puhou o Aotearoa (NZK).

Further information:

Hughes, B. (1989) Flags and building blocks, formality and fun. One hundred years of free kindergarten in New Zealand, NZFKU, Wellington.

Lockhart, P (1975) Kindergartens in New Zealand 1889 – 1975, NZFKU, Dunedin.