Abstract
The New Zealand Coalition government (2023–present) has adopted recommendations of its newly formed Ministry of Regulation. Early Childhood Education Regulatory Review (2024) is its first task. In attempting a genealogical analysis, I argue that this iteration further shifts ECE from a public good to a market commodity. It is not merely a policy shift but is a profound reconfiguration of how the government conceptualizes childhood, education, and social value. The Review emerges not as an isolated moment, but as the culmination of a decades-long process of economic rationalization that has incrementally dismantled collective approaches to education, both in New Zealand but also other Anglophone countries.
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