In May, it will be ten years since Early Childhood Education centre funding was frozen. Centre owners and managers hope this unwanted milestone will end in this year’s budget.

Early learning centres are asking the government to include them on pay parity funding increases in the upcoming budget.

Early Childhood Education is the latest sector to be hit by managed isolation holdups. Qualified early learning educators set to help solve New Zealand’s early learning teacher shortage are way down the list for spots in MIQ.

The number of Wage Subsidy applications by early learning providers has dramatically declined since the first lockdown according to an Early Childhood Council survey.

The Early Childhood Council welcomes the early learning sector speaking with a united voice on teacher pay parity – but warns that community and privately-owned centres can’t keep missing out.

The Ministry of Education’s own data shows the pay gap between teachers in kindergartens and early learning centres hasn’t gone anywhere.