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!

Parents, whānau and NZEI Te Riu Roa members are deeply concerned about the underfunding in our education system where tamariki are missing out on accessing the support they need and where parents are forced to pay for teacher aide hours out of their own pockets. No parent should need to choose between breaking the law or watching their child miss out on the support they need. Parents should not have to pay at all. In a properly funded public system, every child should get the support they need. All tamariki are taonga. This campaign is about challenging ableism at all levels, so that the education system works for all. We've drafted an email for you (on the right) to send to Minister Hipkins. Personalise it with your own story for the Minister to read.

Early Childhood Education is in a sustained period of crisis. There is a severe teacher shortage, with less people training to become ECE teachers and many who are in the profession leaving for other (often less stressful and better paid) mahi. The pay parity rollout has been a hugely positive step for many in the profession, but not all services have opted in to full parity, and this leaves kaiako earning significantly less than other teachers and struggling to pay the bills. Turnover in the sector is consequently still high. Current ratios of 1 teacher to 10 children from 2 onwards mean teachers in all settings cannot provide quality education, and centres which staff above the minimums aren’t funded adequately. As in the rest of the education sector, learning support for children with the highest needs is hard to access and slow to arrive, adding to the immediate pressure on staff in centres. All of this rests on a funding system that is broken in terms of quantum and delivery, and has never recovered from the 9 year funding freeze put in place by the previous National government from 2008-2017.

Early Childhood Education is in a sustained period of crisis. There is a severe teacher shortage, with less people training to become ECE teachers and many who are in the profession leaving for other (often less stressful and better paid) mahi. The pay parity rollout has been a hugely positive step for many in the profession, but not all services have opted in to full parity, and this leaves kaiako earning significantly less than other teachers and struggling to pay the bills. Turnover in the sector is consequently still high. Current ratios of 1 teacher to 10 children from 2 onwards mean teachers in all settings cannot provide quality education, and centres which staff above the minimums aren’t funded adequately. As in the rest of the education sector, learning support for children with the highest needs is hard to access and slow to arrive, adding to the immediate pressure on staff in centres. All of this rests on a funding system that is broken in terms of quantum and delivery, and has never recovered from the 9 year funding freeze put in place by the previous National government from 2008-2017.

Ratios in Aotearoa’s early childhood education system are not fit for purpose. Currently they sit at 1:5 for under 2’s and 1:10 for 2-year-olds and over. These are unmanageably high ratios which make it extremely difficult for ECE kaiako and kaimahi to provide the high-quality education they would like to. To ensure the best learning for the tamariki, most centres staff above ratio. However, this has implications for funding, including on a centre’s ability to pay support staff, and often results in costs being passed onto whānau. If we improve ECE ratios we will be well on the way to solving the issues of funding, workload, learning support for ākonga and the wellbeing of kaiako and kaimahi.