Advisory group proposes axing pay parity for early childhood teachers

A ministerial advisory group has proposed axing pay parity for qualified early childhood teachers.

It set out three options, none of which included retaining the current government-subsidised pay parity scheme unchanged.

The group's consultation document said two of the options might include a pay scale for lower-paid, early-career teachers and the third option was an entirely new pay framework that might include unqualified teaching staff.

Multiple early childhood education groups and experts have warned against watering down pay parity and incentives for services to hire fully-qualified teachers.

Since 2022 the government has provided extra funding to services that promised to pay teachers on a pay scale that was close to rates paid to kindergarten and school teachers with the same qualifications and experience.

The scale fell behind that of other teachers from the end of 2023 and since October 2024 services were no longer required to apply pay parity rates to casual and relief teachers even if they were fully qualified.

Current rates on the scale started at $57,358 for newly-qualified teachers with the minimum qualifications, and topped out at $96,820 for teachers with a degree as well as a teaching qualification.

The advisory group's consultation document said it heard broad support for pay parity but also concerns that the system was complex and put pressure on services' finances and the fees families paid.

"Changes to existing settings related to teacher pay could also create opportunities to simplify the system, lower the cost of provision (with benefits for affordability), free up resources to support other ECE funding system changes, and provide greater flexibility for staff and services to negotiate pay that recognises performance and responsibilities," it said.

The document also suggested changes to five funding bands for services based on the proportion of registered teachers they employed.

It said the current top rate for services with 100 percent registered teachers could be removed altogether, or broadened to cover services with 96 percent or more qualified teachers.

Another option was to have just two rates - one for services with less than 80 percent and another for services with 80 percent or more.

"Adjusting the boundaries of the top two funding bands would require a small amount of additional funding. Simplifying the system to two bands (less than 80 percent, and 80 percent and above) and removing the 100 percent rate but retaining other certificated teacher funding bands both achieve savings of around $50 million a year, which could be reinvested elsewhere in ECE," it said.

The consultation document did not provide any information about the profitability of early childhood services.

The Educational Institute said the document realised the sector's worst fears.

The union's ECE representative Sally Griffin said teachers fought for years to get pay parity and the scheme raised the quality of early education.

"It is disastrous for the entire sector and for all tamariki that pay parity for early childhood teachers is on the chopping block," she said.

"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."