Early childhood centres, schools, and student safety will benefit from a law change that reduces compliance costs around police vetting for non-teaching staff and contractors, says National MP Aaron Gilmore.

The Education Amendment Act will reduce schools’ compliance costs and improve the quality and effectiveness of existing education legislation.

“Valuable time and money will be saved because police vets will no longer be needed for non-teaching staff and contractors whilst working on school premises after school hours. A new one-step route will also cut out the Teachers Council’s involvement if a police vet is required,” Mr Gilmore says.

“That means if a school needs a roof fixed, it can be done immediately and the schools can get on with the job of teaching the kids, rather than be distracted by bureaucracy.

“I know from talking to our local kindergartens, play centres and OSCAR programmes that they have wasted huge amounts of time, so these changes are great for them and great for kids,” says Mr Gilmore.

Children’s safety is improved with mandatory police vetting of any adult who lives in a home where a home-based child care service operates.

Unregistered teachers will also now be more easily identified. The New Zealand Teachers Council’s register of teachers can now be cross checked against the Ministry of Education’s payroll database, which will help ensure teaching and safety standards.