Kindergartens Aotearoa says private centres are trying to use the government’s review of regulations to drive down quality and reduce teachers’ pay so they can make greater profits from taxpayer funds.

The Early Childhood Council which represents mainly private centres has called for the government to scrap pay parity rules and reduce teacher-to-child ratio requirements.

The Council has also called for the kindergarten movement to be removed from the state sector. 

Kindergarten teachers have had pay parity with primary teachers for over 20 years, and that has been the mechanism for other early childhood teachers to achieve pay parity which the Council now wants to remove.

“Removing kindergarten teachers from the state sector will see the loss of the anchor that enables pay parity to be extended to the wider ECE sector” says KA spokesperson Amanda Coulston, “this is a cynical attempt to drive down standards and drive down quality. Research shows that our youngest and most vulnerable children actually need more qualified teachers and better ratios, not less. The ECC is putting profit before child wellbeing”. 

Currently centres can access more funding if they agree to pay their teachers at the same rate as kindergarten and school teachers, however centres want to take the extra money and not have to pass it on.

 It is this private structure that has led New Zealand to have some of the highest fees in the world, while spending a significant amount of public money on early childhood subsidies, which can end up in private profits.

Early childhood education is a public good, as it sets children up for education success but only if it is quality, which includes qualified teachers, good ratios, professional pay and conditions for teachers, and calm and peaceful environments so children and families are well known to stable and committed teaching staff.

Spokesperson Amanda Coulston says the recommendations of the Early Childhood Council would damage early childhood education by reducing quality and exacerbating problems such as the teacher shortage.

 “The Early Learning Action Plan, which was adopted after wide consultation in the sector and with experts, recommended moving to a more qualified workforce, not fewer qualified teachers as the Early Childhood Council proposes.”

Kindergartens Aotearoa represents six regional kindergarten associations around the country that operate more than 300 of New Zealand’s kindergartens, catering for 14,000 children each day, from Auckland’s North Shore to South Otago.