COMMENT
How many teachers do you know with a second job? For Amelia, a bar job on a Friday night on top of a 40+ hour week as a fully qualified teacher in an early childhood centre is essential just to pay for "luxuries" such as a haircut and an annual holiday.
When primary teachers took strike action last year because of the teaching shortage and lack of pay parity with their secondary colleagues, there was huge public sympathy. Many parents experienced their children having to double up with other classes as the pool of relievers dried up; school boards understood how difficult it was to recruit teachers and everyone in New Zealand it seemed had a friend or relative who was a teacher experiencing the tough end of the teaching crisis.
READ MORE:
• Fair pay campaign in early childhood education launched by NZEI Te Riu Roa in Rotorua
• Call for tough action after 26 early childhood education services broke rules repeatedly
• Compulsory qualifications planned for home-based early childhood education and childcare
• A new 10-year early learning strategic plan aims to shake up New Zealand's early-learning sector
But the early childhood sector has been facing a similar and even deeper crisis that's been far less visible. The statistics of the crisis are stark – our estimates show the pay gap between early childhood teachers (working outside of kindergartens) and kindergarten and school teachers is at least 23 per cent.