A Toi Ohomai spokeswoman said the enrolments were still being processed for semesters one and two and these numbers were likely to increase by the end of the year.
The Education Gazette had 38 early child care vacancies listed in the Bay of Plenty as of Friday, some of which were from centres with several job openings.
A survey by National Party ECE spokeswoman Nicola Willis last August found 81.8 per cent of ECEs in the Bay of Plenty had difficulty finding qualified early childhood teachers in the previous 12 months.
Friends on Fraser in Tauranga has had one vacancy for three months, which centre manager Moira Parry said had to be readvertised.
"There are so many positions available to pick and choose from ... the person we ended up going with changed her mind," she said.
A teacher with 30 years of experience had worked at the centre for 10 months but had to resign for medical reasons that arose as a result of the physical job.
Before her, the centre spent a year trying to find a qualified teacher.
Parry said people came in with no qualifications, saying they may train later down the track, "but that's not qualified".
"We've had a lot of applications from overseas with no New Zealand qualification."
The Government has listed the profession on the Immigration New Zealand skills shortage list for all regions.
Parry said fewer people were training in the industry because if someone wanted to be a teacher they may opt for a higher salary option, such as a primary or secondary teacher.
Early childhood teachers were "not treated as the same", in her view, despite also having a bachelor's degree.
Bethlehem Early Learning Centres had five centres in the Bay of Plenty and had three vacancies across the company for a year.
Company manager Lorainne Schou said current staff had been rotated around the centres to work around the shortage.
She said new preschools opening in the Bay of Plenty made finding staff a challenge.
"Nobody wants permanent work, the wages aren't high enough."
Schou said there was "certainly plenty of jobs out there" but people were not training for the role.
"You can't spend three, four years of your life studying just to get paid $22.50 an hour.
"We're not just a preschool, we're not just teachers. For a lot of young families, we're their support networks ... those relationships we build are really important."
The New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine policy statement said the "first 1000 days" was a rapid and crucial period of brain and organ development.
Bloesem Early Learning Centre in Te Puke had recently filled two teacher positions after a four-week search.
Centre manager Alisha Merriman said it was important to wait for the right fit for the job.
"There is definitely a teacher shortage of qualified, registered teachers," she said.
"We, however, are prepared to wait for the right fit. We have been fortunate at this point to fill rolls when they have risen and continue to uphold our quality ratios."
Merriman believed pay, workload and pressures of the job were factors in the shortage and declining number of people training in the first place.
"It is a very strenuous job; physically, emotionally; and there is so much accountability and vulnerability with the job."
Merriman said pay equity within the sector would help recruit new teachers and attract them to the training.
The vacancies ranged from full-time, permanent to part-time and fixed-term positions.
A fixed-term kaiako position at Golden Sands Early Learning Centre was due to a staff member going on study leave.
Happy Times Childcare in Te Puke needed a new staff member because they were increasing teaching hours.
Ministry of Education deputy secretary of early learning and student achievement Ellen MacGregor-Reid said ministry-approved recruitment agencies were working in the ECE overseas teacher market and had established relationships with pools of teachers wanting to teach in New Zealand.
"Any ECE provider in the Bay of Plenty with concerns about filling vacancies should contact our contracted recruiters."
MacGregor-Reid said there were 2400 ECE teaching staff in the Bay of Plenty and five ECE teaching vacancies listed with approved recruiters.
Teacher supply initiatives:
• Teacher supply packages are helping early learning by including a subsidy for all teachers completing the Teacher Education Refresh to get back into teaching. More than 400 early learning teachers had enrolled.
• The targeted marketing campaign aimed at lifting enrolments in initial teacher education (ITE), encouraging former teachers back to the profession, and attracting overseas-qualified teachers, also reached those considering teaching in early learning.
• The TeachNZ scholarship programme. The 2020 round of scholarships is currently open.
• The introduction of a relocation support grant for ECE. This helps with the costs associated with relocation for overseas trained and returning New Zealand teachers.
Source: Ministry of Education
