Parents overwhelmingly in favour of pay parity for early childhood teachers, survey finds

A recent survey shows that parents with tamariki in early childhood education strongly back pay parity for early childhood teachers and do not support the Government’s current approach to deregulating the sector.

Parents are also deeply concerned by the proposals from the Early Childhood Council, a group that largely represents for-profit early childhood providers, which has advocated to cut pay parity for all early childhood teachers, reduce the number of qualified teachers outside of government subsidised hours, and remove regulated ratios entirely.

Waikato parent Nathalie Jaques sees pay parity as important for maintaining a stable workforce.

“It is important for us to know there are good working conditions, because increased turnover of teaching staff impacts on our child's stability and security in the centre.”

Te-Whanganui-a-Tara parent Miranda Ferrier says the Government’s decision to scrap pay parity for relieving and fixed-term kaiako was “gutting”.

“It’s really disheartening, and I worry that the sector is so in crisis. The Government is not putting the value that it should on early childhood kaiako and all the support that they require.”

This was backed up by NZEI Te Riu Roa's second annual early childhood survey, due to be released next week*, which found more than 90% of parents and caregivers were in favour of pay parity.

More than 90% also showed concern for children’s safety should teacher-child ratios be increased.

Almost 87% of parents and caregivers agreed that regular safety measures, such as sleep checks, room temperature checks, nappy checks, and food safety, were critical to the care of their children.

Ferrier says ratios and regulations to keep children safe are an important part of creating a high-quality learning environment. However, government changes so far and the push for deregulation are undermining parents’ confidence in the future of quality of early childhood education.

She says she feels “really lucky” her early childhood centre provides higher ratios of teachers to children.

“I can’t even imagine how other centres manage with minimum ratios. Things like health and safety checks are there for a reason – you want your child to be safe in this environment.”

After bad experiences with for-profit providers – who currently support deregulation in the sector – Jaques says she will only place her son in community-based, not-for-profit early childhood centres. However, she has struggled with a lack of availability.

“There need to be more community-based, not-for-profit early childhood centres that parents can feel comfortable are prioritising the needs of their children and the workers over trying to make money off of our kids.”

More than 70% of kaiako and kaimahi respondents said they were concerned about the health and safety implications of deregulation in the sector.