560 teachers sign open letter
Early childhood teachers are pleading with the Government to ensure they are paid the same as kindergarten and primary school teachers.
Five hundred and sixty teachers have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins demanding pay parity.
The letter was sent yesterday, days ahead of a 15,000-signature petition being delivered to Parliament calling for an end to ‘‘pay discrimination’’ in early childhood education (ECE).
‘‘Please don’t force us to leave teaching by treating us as worth substantially less than our peers who work in kindergartens and schools,’’ the letter said.
No ECE teacher should have to work a second job as a cleaner to make up for lower wages, it said.
Earlier this year, kindergarten teachers voted in favour of a collective agreement that put their pay on par with primary and secondary teachers.
The agreement means that as of 2021 they will be paid between $51,358 and $90,000. But kindergarten teachers only make up about 12.5 per cent of the ECE workforce. For the rest of the sector, wages are lower.
The Ministry of Education sets the minimum rate for services to pay-qualified teachers at $45,491 or $46,832, depending on the level of qualification.
Childforum chief executive Dr Sarah Alexander said that not extending pay parity to all teachers in ECE was costing the sector skilled teachers.
She said it was difficult for teachers to live on the current wage levels.
‘‘Many have young children of their own, so this hurts teachers’ families too,’’ she said.
More than 17,000 qualified and certificated teachers work in nonkindergarten ECE services in New Zealand.
Teachers working in kindergartens and the rest of the sector were no different, Alexander said. They performed the same job, had the same training and qualifications and were required to meet the same professional standards.
Alexander described the current situation as ‘‘untenable’’ and called for immediate action from the Government.
Hipkins said early childhood education was the Government’s ‘‘top priority’’ in education heading into Budget 2020.
He said a decade of underfunding and neglect had ‘‘taken its toll’’ on the ECE sector.
‘‘We won’t fix the problem overnight but we are committed to making tangible and significant progress,’’ he said.