Associate Minister for Education David Seymour announced earlier this week two changes to the early childhood sector that would "deregulate" and "declutter" it.
However, teachers in the sector said the changes were a risk to the health of the children and the teachers, and would lead to not-for-profit centres closing.
The changes included scrapping a provision from February last year to require a Ministry of Education approval to set up new centres and a requirement for supervisory staff at centres to have a full (category one or two) practising certificate — which would have come in to effect in August this year.
Mr Seymour said the changes would clear regulations that made the sector harder and more expensive than it needed to be.
Dunedin early childhood teacher Geena Fagan said many private services would pop up after the deregulation and it would mean community-based not-for-profit services would continue to close.
Many were already struggling to make the present funding model work.
"Our children should not be a business commodity," Ms Fagan said.
Another teacher in the sector, who declined to give her name, said registered teachers were important to keeping the children healthy and safe.
"Research shows the importance of qualified teachers, our registered kaiako (teachers) know our processes and how children learn.
‘The deregulation of the sector puts our tamariki and kaiako in extremely unsafe settings."
