A ministerial advisory group has proposed ending pay parity for qualified early childhood teachers, presenting three alternative funding options in a consultation document.
None of the three options would preserve the existing pay parity arrangement unchanged. Two proposals could feature pay rates for educators at the beginning of their careers receiving reduced wages, while another alternative would establish a completely different compensation structure potentially covering staff without teaching credentials.
The Government has supplied additional funding to services offering teachers wages on a scale approximating kindergarten and school teacher rates since 2022. Under the current structure, newly-qualified teachers with baseline credentials start at $57,358, while those holding a degree and teaching qualification can reach $96,820 at the top of the scale.
However, the pay scale dropped below comparable rates for other teaching professionals from late 2023. From October 2024, centres were freed from applying pay parity rates to casual and relief staff, even those with full qualifications.
The advisory group heard widespread backing for pay parity in submissions, together with worries about system complexity, pressure on services' finances, and impact on family fees.
The consultation document suggested changes to the five funding bands currently determined by the proportion of registered teachers a service employs.
One proposal would delete the premium funding tier for services with 100% registered teachers, or alternatively expand its eligibility to include services with 96% or more qualified staff. A second option would reduce the structure to two rates: one for services below 80% qualified teachers and another for those at or above that threshold.
These funding band changes could generate $50 million in annual savings. The consultation document did not provide information about early childhood service profitability.
Educational Institute ECE representative Sally Griffin said teachers had spent years working to achieve pay parity and that the scheme raised early education quality.
"It is disastrous for the entire sector and for all tamariki that pay parity for early childhood teachers is on the chopping block," Griffin said.
She criticised the advisory group's composition, saying "it's alarming to see a proposal for it to be scrapped - all by a group of so-called sector experts, not one of whom has a teaching qualification".
Several early childhood education organisations and specialists have cautioned against diminishing pay parity and motivations for services to recruit fully-qualified teachers.