The Playcentre adult education programme offers parents the opportunity to gain a NZQA accredited qualification in the form of a Playcentre specific level 6 Diploma. The Playcentre Diploma in Early Childhood and Adult Education.

The emphasis of adult education programme is to meet the needs of adults working in a Playcentre cooperative.

• An excellent quality management system ensuring the standards of delivery and assessment of the courses.
• Structuring the programme so that participants begin with short relevant courses and moving into more in-depth courses as the programme progresses.
• Courses including topics on Playcentre philosophy, child development, learning through play, how to provide for children's learning and development, parenting skills, communication with children and adults, group skills, group dynamics and facilitating adult learning.
• Courses involve a range of styles such as group discussions, workbooks,etc.
• Employing creative assessment methods to acknowledge the wide range of academic backgrounds of participants, including contributions to discussion, short written answers, longer essays, mind-maps and self reflections.
• Making every effort to accommodate the needs and requirements of individual participants, with an open and flexible approach and includes both formal and informal learning.

Playcentre education is largely experiential - where new understanding is gained from reflection on experience. Learning through observation and experience with children is an important component of the courses, because as well as learning about child development in general, participants get to know the children in their sessions better. This also serves to strengthen the quality of adult relationships within the centres.