ECE teachers left with black eyes, torn tendons on the job
Preschool teachers have been left with black eyes after being hit with toys, had tendons torn supporting overwhelmed children and sustained head injuries trying to stop children falling down steps, according to a report on working conditions in the sector.
More than a quarter (29%) of the 3000 staff at early childhood education (ECE) services surveyed by the Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE) in 2023 said they had hurt themselves on the job at least once that year.
A similar proportion of teachers (26%) had experienced bullying and harassment, the newly published research also found.
Among them were those who faced a backlash for raising health and safety problems.
“My previous workplace did not like that I pointed out safety and environment concerns. I felt unsafe and made it known. Bullying started from there and I was forced to resign,” one kaiako (teacher) told the OECE.
Another described breaking their ankle upon slipping on inadequate matting near a sink two weeks after they spoke up about it being a potential hazard.
“[I] was told it wasn’t an issue. I was then pulled into a HR meeting about being off for five weeks (though it was recommended by the doctors to have longer off) and I had to return to work earlier due to their staffing issues,” the teacher said.
Sector leaders say chronic understaffing is contributing to the high levels of physical and emotional harm ECE teachers are experiencing.
While some incidents, such as back injuries related to broken or inappropriate nappy changing equipment as reported by multiple teachers, were caused by poor design or maintenance of facilities, many others were the direct result of children’s behavioural challenges.
One teacher said that they received a black eye from a toy that was thrown as they jumped between a disruptive child and other tamariki to try to keep everyone safe.
Another recalled having a handful of hair pulled out and being bitten by a child.
The OECE’s chief adviser, Dr Sarah Alexander, said most injuries to teachers caused by children could be prevented if staff had the right support to manage challenging behaviours.
“Ensuring adequate staff ratios for the diverse developmental needs of children could help to reduce the risk to any staff of being injured by a child,” she concluded in the report.
NZEI Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter agreed that addressing short-staffing in ECE was critical to reducing stress and preventing injuries in the sector.
“The way we can do that is by sustained and significant investment into early childhood education, including improved ratios of teachers to children, and decent pay and conditions to attract and retain qualified teachers,” he said.
The results from OECE’s survey mirrored those documented in the union’s report Kōriporipo, published in September. It found 65% of ECE teachers agreed or strongly agreed that current staff-to-child ratios made it “impossible to satisfy health and safety requirements”.
By law, ECE centres must have at least one teacher of the floor for every five children under 2 years of age. For over-2s, the minimum ratio is 1:10.
The Ministry of Education did not respond by deadline to questions about what support it provided teachers dealing with challenging behaviour.
Both the ministry and Education Minister Erica Stanford have previously said lowering minimum staffing ratios in ECE is not on the agenda.