NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Early childhood centre numbers in Tauranga soar, as teacher shortage bites

Caroline Fleming
By Caroline Fleming
Multimedia Journalist·Bay of Plenty Times·
18 Feb, 2019 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Teacher Nicole Bonnet (left) and pupil Monica Amaido attended the opening of the new BestStart Educare in Papamoa on Tuesday. Photo / Supplied

Teacher Nicole Bonnet (left) and pupil Monica Amaido attended the opening of the new BestStart Educare in Papamoa on Tuesday. Photo / Supplied

A perfect storm is brewing in Tauranga's early childhood sector as new childcare centre growth surges and a teacher shortage bites.

More than 20 early childhood centres have opened in the Tauranga in the last three years, according to Ministry of Education.

Yet industry experts say some centres still have long waiting lists and struggle to find qualified staff.

Figures from the Tauranga City Council revealed consents valued at $18.8 million have been issued for new childcare centres since 2012.

More than half of those were for centres being built in Mount Maunganui and in Pāpāmoa.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Bright Beginnings Pāpāmoa centre manager Roz Gray said the demand for early childhood centres in the area was still growing.

She said over the last seven years, a large number of early childhood centres had opened within a five-kilometre radius of Bright Beginnings.

Even though parents could ''shop around'', rolls were still full.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Seven years ago, waiting lists could be as long as six months and although lists had shortened, the population boom meant some families still had to wait, she said.

According to Education Counts figures, 11 out of 101 services in the Bay of Plenty had a wait time for three-year-olds of over six months in 2018. The majority had wait times between one and six months.

Katrina Casey from the Ministry of Education said the Tauranga, Pāpāmoa and Mount Maunganui areas had experienced high population growth over the last decade.

"Given the growth in the region, some early learning services do have waiting lists and in some areas there is pressure for places for children under two years old."

Discover more

New Zealand

People desperate for rental housing

19 Feb 05:14 PM

BestStart Coast Boulevard opened in Pāpāmoa last week.

BestStart Educare deputy chief executive Fiona Hughes said the centre assessed the demographics of the area and the competition to satisfy there was a need.

She said the extensive building activity had attracted lots of young families to the area.

Rising numbers of early childhood centres may also be contributing to a shortage of qualified teachers.

Nationwide, early childhood enrolments grew by 1.4 per cent in the three years to 2017, but the number of services grew by 7 per cent and qualified teachers increased by 11.7 per cent, according to Education Counts.

Virginia Oakly, the early childhood sector representative on the New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa National Executive, said there was a growing shortage of early childhood teachers around the country, a situation exacerbated in places such as Tauranga that had high housing costs.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Centres that want to hire qualified teachers struggled to fill roles, she said.

"In many services, up to 50 per cent of the staff at a centre are unqualified - the maximum legal level of unqualified staff."

There were 14 early childhood teaching positions advertised in Tauranga on Trade Me yesterday, and another four on Seek. The Education Gazette had 20 across the Bay of Plenty.

A survey by the Early Childhood Council in October found 30 per cent of childcare centres nationwide had unfilled vacancies for qualified teachers.

Last year Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced, as part of a 10-year plan to improve the sector, that the Government wanted all early childhood centres 100 per cent staffed with qualified teachers.

The Pro Vice-Chancellor of the education division at the University of Waikato's Tauranga campus, Don Klinger, said the demand for early childhood education teachers was still well above the supply.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand|crime

'He should have been prosecuted': Couple's call for justice after police assault

19 Jun 11:00 PM
New Zealand

Celeste Howell and Anaru Mano want justice.

New Zealand

'Employment process' under way for police officer who beat children with belt

19 Jun 10:52 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'He should have been prosecuted': Couple's call for justice after police assault

'He should have been prosecuted': Couple's call for justice after police assault

19 Jun 11:00 PM

Police: There was evidence to prosecute the officer, but it wasn't in the public interest.

Celeste Howell and Anaru Mano want justice.

Celeste Howell and Anaru Mano want justice.

'Employment process' under way for police officer who beat children with belt

'Employment process' under way for police officer who beat children with belt

19 Jun 10:52 PM
Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

Stabbing in Hawke’s Bay, one taken to hospital with serious wounds

19 Jun 10:45 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP