To get a more accurate perspective of the numbers of children who participated in ECE Services, Prior Participation in ECE is the preferred measure and the one used here. This is because enrolment rates over estimate participation in ECE because of double- or triple- counting of those children who attend more than one early childhood education service. This is particularly problematic for 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds, as they have fairly high rates of participation.
Ethnicity is multiple response, that is, students who affiliated in more than one ethnic group have been counted in each ethnic group. Students are only counted once in the total, therefore, the ethnic groups may not sum to the total.
The number of students with unknown prior ECE attendance has been excluded from both the numerator and denominator when calculating participation rates.
'Other' region: correspondence school.
To find specific regional data, select the region of your choice, then select Early Childhood Education.
The Ministry provided Figure.NZ with a raw extract of all regions in January 2025.
From the dataset Know Your Region: Early Childhood Education - Percentage of children starting school who have attended ECE, by Region 2020-2022, this data was extracted:
Rows: 2-153
Columns: 3-11
Provided: 1,368 data points
Dataset originally released on:
January 2025
Purpose of collection
Participation in high quality ECE has significant benefits for children and their future learning ability. ECE can positively impact literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills well into the teenage years. ECE also encourages the development of cognitive and attitudinal competencies, and leads to higher levels of achievement and better social outcomes.