Northland ECE teacher concerned over lack of pay equity

Carol Cook wants to see equal pay in the ECE sector. Photo / Tania Whyte

An early childhood educator calling for fairer pay says wages within the sector do not reflect the job.

Kereru Kindy manager Carol Cook said her years of teaching are not being recognised and that early childhood education (ECE) should have equal pay.

“I don’t see the fairness in what is actually happening across the sector.”

Cook not only manages the Whangārei kindergarten but also the relief teachers for the Northland Kindergarten Association. She said there is no difference between what an ECE teacher and a kindy teacher does but an ECE teacher gets paid around $1000 less.

An ECE teacher’s pay is up to 31 per cent behind that of kindergarten and primary school teachers.

“I want to see ECE and kindergartens as an even playing field, we need to be recognised as educators and not just babysitters.

“Who teaches the MPs, the astronauts, the doctors? The teacher. Where does it start? ECE,” Cook said.

Early childhood teachers previously expressed disappointment that the Government delayed an in-principle decision to fund pay equity for ECE teachers.

They had expected the historical under-valuing of pay and status in roles that society perceives to be “women’s work” to be addressed this year.

Virginia Oakly, on behalf of New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa’s early childhood union, said the news was a letdown that has “made a farce” of the promise that pay equity was possible.

Placing value and recognition into those who teach and care for young children has been campaigned for over decades, Oakly said.

“For far too long our sector has been undervalued, which is ridiculous when you consider we are teaching and caring for children in their most important and vulnerable years.”

Oakly is concerned the gap between primary school teachers’ wages and early childhood education teachers is creating difficulty when it comes to attracting people to the role.

“The number of people going in to train is dropping and we’ve got an ageing profession. We’ve got to turn that around.

“Children will be impacted. They will go into these big, busy, noisy environments with untrained teachers.”

The quality of care and education that tamariki receive will then be compromised, she said.

Data from the 2022 census revealed that there were 32,632 teaching staff at licensed early childhood services in June 2022 - qualified and unqualified. The proportion of qualified teachers decreased from 70 per cent in 2021 to 69 per cent in 2022.

Half the teaching staff in ECE were in the 31-51 age band and older teaching staff were more likely than younger teaching staff to be qualified.

Brodie Stone is the education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie recently graduated Massey University and has a special interest in the environment and investigative reporting.