Kindy staff shortage at 'crisis point'

A shortage of qualified teachers in kindies and childcare has been called a crisis by the Early Childhood Council.

While the Ministry of Education is calling for tenders to construct more early learning centres, the council is worried there will not be enough qualified teachers to staff them.

This is largely due to the Ministry of Education's qualification targets, which require 80 per cent of all staff at early learning centres to be registered teachers by 2010 and 100 per cent to be registered by 2012.

Dr Sarah Farquhar, chief executive of the Early Childhood Council, said the policy had resulted in a staffing shortage so dire that some centres may be forced to close.

"The staffing shortage has been boiling for some time and it's now really starting to reach crisis point."

Dr Farquhar said some private centres would be forced to raise fees because of higher operating costs partly due to paying staff a higher rate.

"Centres want to keep fees at an affordable level for parents but the pressure of the staffing shortage as well as inflationary pressures, makes this difficult," she said.

Qualified teachers were aware of their value and the council often heard "horror stories" from centres left desperate when a new staff member called to say they had received a better offer.

"The ministry needs to sit down and address this; the people who are suffering are the children."

Auckland Kindergarten Association general manager Tanya Harvey expects about 20 new early learning centres to be built by the Government this year. Most will be licensed for 50 children and ratios will require them to employ about 12 staff.

About 1000 students are enrolled in Early Childhood Education courses through Auckland universities and polytechnics each year but Mrs Harvey said "it doesn't take long for them to be sucked up" when they graduate.

There were 289 new enrolments in the University of Auckland's Early Childhood Education programmes this year and last year there were 206.

Barbara Backshall, senior lecturer at the University of Auckland, said the increase was largely due to job security.

She supported the ministry's requirements and did not believe babies should be cared for by unqualified teachers to make up the shortfall an idea that has been tossed around.

"If we are going to have children in care, our society should look after them well," she said.

Mrs Backshall suggested the funding cap dictating the number of students a training organisation could accept on to an Early Childhood course be lifted to boost the pool of qualified teachers.

EARLY CHILDHOOD STAFF FLEX MUSCLES

Kindergarten teachers and school support staff are putting the Government on notice to get negotiations of their collective employment agreements under way.

Negotiations were scheduled to start in February and the agreements have now expired.

For kindergarten teachers these will test the Government's commitment to recognising the value of early childhood education. For school support staff they represent an opportunity to address long-standing issues of low pay.

The union NZEI Te Riu Roa is exploring legal action over how these ongoing delays line up with the Government's obligation to the provisions of good faith bargaining.

NZEI wants to ensure that any agreement reached is effective from the date the previous agreement expired so its members are not disadvantaged by delays.