Early childhood teachers’ union calls for stop to sector regulatory review

NZEI Te Riu Roa, the union for early childhood education, is calling for the Government to push pause on its regulatory review of the sector, due to the potential risks it poses to kaiako and the tamariki they teach, and the speed with which it is being carried out.

The review is led by the new Ministry for Regulation, with a minimal consultation time of six weeks. It can look at aspects of early childhood regulation such as ratios, maximum licensing sizes, and teacher qualification requirements.

Members say the review does not address the many issues they have been speaking up about for years, and that it could reduce the quality and safety of early education for young children. They also believe it could worsen working conditions, remove pay parity, and may affect the requirements for qualified teachers – who are already stressed and overworked due to the ongoing staffing shortage.

NZEI Te Riu Roa National Secretary | Korimako Tangiata Stephanie Mills says the union is calling for the review to be paused or at the very least extended, so the process behind it can be carefully assessed.

“We are truly concerned about the fast-track nature of this review. It will have potentially wide-reaching impacts on the whole of the sector and set a precedent for this highly specialised, nuanced profession. On top of that, it simply doesn’t address the issues we know are the priority for teachers and tamariki – quality ratios, pay parity, and sufficient qualified staffing.

“The review seeks detailed input from providers – more than 80% of which are privately owned businesses. Yet early childhood teachers, despite numbering more than 35,000, cannot see their key concerns about working conditions for teachers and learning conditions for children being equally considered.

“The consultation time is nowhere near long enough to meaningfully engage with kaiako, parents, and their communities. Early childhood education needs to be considered as a public good, with the needs of tamariki and the kaiako who teach them at the centre of any decisions being made.”

The concentration of ministerial powers and potential for conflict of interest, given the Minister for Regulation and Associate Minister for Education (Early Childhood Education) are the same person, is also another cause for concern, says Mills.

Early childhood centre manager and member Megan White says regulations and paperwork aren’t the real issue – having sufficient funding, sustainable work hours, paying all teachers at full pay parity rates, and ensuring quality teacher to child ratios are.

“To create high-quality early childhood education, we desperately need to see improvements in teachers’ working conditions otherwise we risk losing them to less stressful, better-paid work, including early childhood work in Australia.”

Consultation on the review is open until 16 August.

ENDS