Mahanga said it’s “incredibly rewarding” to witness the growth, curiosity and confidence tamariki gain in themselves.
“Through our passion as teachers in the ECE sector, we all understand that these crucial early years lay a foundation for a lifetime of learning and development,” she said.
“It’s a well-known fact that the first 1000 days are the most important in a child’s life. So we’re all dedicated to helping our children build a strong educational and emotional base.”
But Mahanga said the system is “broken” and the Government needs to value community-based services which are currently not being funded enough.
Whangārei Childcare Centres' Carmel Mahanga feels as though ECE is not valued enough. Photo / Tania Whyte
“We’re not taking the strike action lightly, and we know that the ultimate answer to the crisis lies with the Government,” she said.
“Our members want to send an urgent signal to our communities and to the [incoming] Government about the need to fix the ECE sector for the sake of all the children.”
Current ratios are not fit for purpose, she said, and “moments to engage with tamariki in quality teaching and learning are stretched thin”.
“We want to give a good start for these children educationally, and when you have the high ratios, there’s not that quality.”
“You have one teacher to five children - it’s just ridiculous,” she said.
“You feel like more of a machine than actually a teacher.”
In order to fix ratios, the Government needs to commit to pay parity, she said. This in turn would attract more teachers.
“We fall behind that of our kindergarten, primary school and high school colleagues,” she explained.
Despite qualified teachers studying just like their other schooling counterparts, ECE teachers are considered “glorified babysitters”.
“Many ECE teachers feel undervalued and leave the sector,” Mahanga explained.
“We’re not heard at all. We’re pushed aside, and we remain in the same situation as what we were years ago. It’s been an uphill battle,” she said.
The New Zealand Educational Institute advised on October 16 to all employers party to the Early Childhood Education Collective Agreement 2023 (ECECA) that a strike would take place.
The centres involved will be striking from 1pm until 8pm.
It is the first time early childcare workers have taken strike action.
NZEI Te Riu Roa ECE representative Megan White said lower child ratios give tamariki the “individualised education and care they need”, but currently services are “effectively being penalised” for prioritising high-quality ECE.
Services have closed over the last decade, and others have forced changes to operating models or compromised on their commitment to better teacher-child ratios because of funding constraints.
Te Rito Maioha (Early Childhood New Zealand) chief executive Kathy Wolfe said acknowledging teacher value “starts with pay parity”.
“Unfortunately, the Government funding provided to employers falls well short of this, meaning that in most cases, they cannot afford to offer their teachers full parity without significantly increasing fees to parents.”
“Te Rito Maioha had been advocating strongly to the previous government to improve Early Childhood Education (ECE) funding, because we are very aware of the challenges and inequities this lack of funding causes, especially relating to pay parity rates.”
Brodie Stone is the education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie recently graduated from Massey University and has a special interest in the environment and investigative reporting.
