Opinion:
I recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with a group of early childhood education (ECE) teachers.
They talked about their passion and commitment to being the best teachers they can be for our tamariki. There were also frustrations with how low pay and underfunding meant thousands of teachers were leaving the profession.
There's a critical shortage of qualified ECE teachers. Even though we've got more children in ECE than ever before, despite there being 55 per cent fewer people training to be ECE teachers than 10 years ago. We aren't keeping and attracting great teachers.
I also learned that, despite being just as qualified, ECE teachers are paid up to 31.8 per cent less than their colleagues in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools. That is a massive pay gap. Every teacher - no matter what age children they work with - is a teacher.