Save ECE: Jacinda Ardern

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.