All tamariki deserve an education where they can learn, feel included and access learning support when they need it.  However, the Government is taking public education in the wrong direction and tamariki are being left behind.   Schools, kindergartens, and early childhood centres have faced cuts to school lunches, te reo Māori programmes, beginning teacher pay, and literacy and te reo jobs.   Some schools have to fundraise to help pay for teacher aides, whose support in the classroom is invaluable for all students.   Many tamariki sit on learning support waitlists for months due to inadequate learning support staffing.   Attacks on quality early childhood education and scrapping of pay equity claims for our lowest paid in education make it clear the Government does not value the work of education professionals nor our children’s learning.   Primary and early childhood education teachers, learning support workers, principals and support staff, kohanga reo, wharekura and whānau are coming together to seek a new dawn in education.   Join us in demanding better for our tamariki!  Kimi Haeata. Back Our Future!  Nā te aha e pātai pēnei ai: Kei te tamaiti te anamata o te mātauranga ki te ako, tautokohia. Kua hē te haere ā te Kāwanatanga nei, ko ngā mokopuna te utu. Kua poroa te pūtea tunu kai, ngā hōtaka Māori, oti rā ngā utu o te kaiwhakaako hou, kaiwhakaako reo matatini , reo Māori anō hoki ki ngā kura. Ka riro mā te kura te pūtea e whakaemiemi kia āhei te kaiāwhina tautoko me ōna rawa ki te tauawhi tamariki. Nā te kore kaimahi umanga mātauranga, tokomaha ngā tamariki e tatari tonu ana.  E kore te Kāwanatanga e mārama ana ki te wāriu o te tangata e matatau ana ki te mātauranga , heoi oti ki te ao ako o te tamaiti, ka puta ko ēnei whakawhiu, ka tauria te whare kōhungahunga, i whakakorehia ngā kerēme mana taurite mō te hunga rawakore. Ko te huihuinga ā te whānau me te ao mātauranga ā Te Riu Roa e haere ake nei, ki te rapu i te haeata e kimi nei tātou. Nau mai haere mai, whakapiri mai, ko ngā tamariki te take. Kimi Haeata!

Our youngest learners deserve the best.  Children’s early years are the most important – for their learning and wellbeing, and outcomes for the rest of their lives. The research backs this up: the benefits of public investment in high-quality early childhood education far outweigh the costs.  Yet, right now, the Government is making changes to scrap pay parity for teachers, undermine qualified teacher requirements, scrap curriculum standards that ensure quality teaching, remove requirements to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, remove important safety regulations for tamariki, and more.   It’s teachers' qualifications, professionalism, and expertise that make the difference for tamariki. But teachers can only do their best when they’re respected, valued, and supported with teacher-to-child ratios and conditions which create quality learning.      The Government has already scrapped early childhood teachers’ pay equity claim and removed pay parity for all new, relieving, and fixed-term teachers, and said it will scrap pay parity for early childhood teachers, all so greater profit can be made from children’s education.     We are now at a critical point where the changes that are being pushed through will have serious long-term impacts on tamariki, whānau, and early childhood kaiako. Early education has a huge effect on children's life outcomes. Right now, the Government is progressively removing important regulations and teachers' rights that ensure quality early childhood education for tamariki. Signatories: Child Poverty Action Group  Dr Linda Mitchell  – professor and early childhood education academic  Early Childhood Academic Special Interest Group  –  a group of expert ECE academics across Aotearoa  Education International – global union for 33 million teachers and education workers  TIASA (Tertiary Institutes Allied Staff Association Te Hononga)  NZCTU – Te Kauae Kaimahi Child’s Rights Alliance (CRAANZ)  Unite Union  Equity New Zealand  E tū  NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapahi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa  Workers First Union  PSA Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi  He Whānau Manaaki  Childspace 

Regulations set the parameters for the day-to-day work of ECE kaiako and kaimahi and the learning and safety conditions for tamariki. It’s not just about paperwork! Everything – from the physical space centres occupy, to the safety of tamariki, and the pay rates kaiako receive – is determined by regulations.The risk of regulatory failure is huge in ECE, because it affects the safety and wellbeing of tamariki. The Ministry for Regulation intends to consider the rationale for the Government’s involvement in and regulation of the sector – that means the very purpose of ECE is under consideration with this review. 

  Why is this important? We do not agree with the Government’s decision to repeal the network approval provisions or the fast process they’ve used to do it. By submitting and having our voices heard, we are showing that we are the sector experts, and we need to be consulted.  Removing network management takes away a process which ensured early education services being set up were appropriate for the community. To make it easier for you to participate in this process, we’ve set up a form for you to fill out with some suggested talking points below. 

Teachers, parents, whānau and communities fought for two decades to win respect, recognition and pay parity for teachers in early childhood education. After finally achieving progress with pay parity, the National, ACT and NZ First coalition Government are initiating radical changes in early childhood education. They have signalled funding changes that threaten the pay of tens of thousands of teachers and risk children’s wellbeing by rolling back safety regulations.   Removing protections to teacher pay and safety regulations are not new ideas. They are failed ideas that enable unscrupulous employers to cut corners. Ultimately, it is tamariki and staff who suffer when providers have a license to put profit before providing great care and education. We know that for tamariki to have the best start in life they need great foundations and the best possible beginning to their lifelong journey.  Every child, no matter where they live or how much their parents earn, should have access to quality early childhood education, Māori medium, and Pacific language services that suit their needs and community, which place culture and identity at the heart.  Kōhanga Reo, Puna Reo and early childhood teachers are trained and qualified to make sure our youngest children get the best teaching and learning – just like teachers in kindergartens and schools. Regardless of where our kaiako work, if they work to grow our tamariki and mokopuna they should have their mahi valued equally.    Respect our youngest mokopuna in education, their kaiako, and their whānau. Don’t let Minister Seymour attack teacher conditions – the learning conditions for our mokopuna.   Take us forwards, not backwards!