ECE teachers call for pay to match kindy
Teachers in the early childhood sector are calling for pay parity with their kindergarten counterparts, saying the current funding model is discriminatory.
On May 11, the Government announced funding to bring minimum pay for early childhood education (ECE) teachers outside the kindergarten sector in line with those in it.
But teachers say they still do not have the same access to funding to follow the Kindergarten Association pay scale, and are losing teachers as a result.
Tolo Pereira, who owns Samoana Early Education Development Service, a group of early childhood centres in Porirua, said her teachers had the same qualifications and registration as kindergarten teachers.
‘‘It is exactly the same, so why are we not being paid the same? It’s particularly difficult for Pacific centres, like ours. We have special strengths from our Pacific teachers, they speak our language, they understand our culture.’’
She said if they lost teachers to kindergarten they were difficult to replace.
‘‘We need pay parity, otherwise our Pacific centres are facing closure.’’
Heather TeHuia, QSM, who runs St
Mary’s early childhood centre in Karori, said she had worked in the sector for 40 years but the issues with staff retention were recent.
‘‘Teachers are wanting more money, so they can go to kindergarten and earn about $30,000 more than they can here.’’
She said kindergarten teachers had more holidays as they aligned with the school year, tended to work fewer hours, and looked after older children than those working elsewhere in ECE. ‘‘Why wouldn’t they go?’’
She said a high turnover in staff negatively impacted the children, as to have a sense of wellbeing and belonging they needed a continuity of care.
Chief executive of ECE representative group ChildForum, Dr Sarah Alexander, led a presentation at the Ministry of Education, calling for pay parity.
She said while the Government had raised the base rate for ECE teachers to be in line with those in kindergarten, they did not have the ability to move teachers up a pay scale as they did in kindergarten.
‘‘This is discriminatory, and it’s not only discriminatory, it also doesn’t support excellent outcomes across the teacher-lead ECE sector. Instead, it gives one group of employers the upper hand when it comes to attracting and retaining qualified teachers.’’
Deputy secretary of engagement and support at the Ministry of Education Katrina Casey said the Government provided a 3.9 per cent increase to funding rates for education and care services in the 2020 Budget to address low pay.
‘‘The care and welfare of our children is of utmost importance and qualified staffing plays an important role in their learning journey.’’
When announcing the funding, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said it was a first step.
Currently, the minimum an ECE teacher can earn is $45,491, with the new funding moving that to $49,862 from July 1.