Playcentre families around New Zealand say they are deeply concerned with proposals from the organisation to cut back on teaching staff, in light of financial difficulties. Playcentre - which is a model of early childhood education where volunteer parents run centres - is proposing to remove roles adding up to 120 full time equivalent employees. One of the roles being disestablished is that of the programme facilitator - a teacher style role that leads sessions. The facilitators have a Level 4 Certificate in Early Childhood Education - and for a Playcentre session to run there needs to be at least one person with this qualification. The restructure comes off the back of financial struggles - with Playcentre reporting a 10.4 million deficit for the year to August 2025. Matamata Playcentre has already lost its facilitator, after she chose not apply for one of the few roles being created after the restructure. That centre's president, and a volunteer parent, Sammy Greene, speaks to Kathryn.