Member Sentiment Tracker

February 2023 

Teacher Demand

• There remains great uncertainty around the ability to fill vacant positions, with 66% of respondents not at all confident, and only 5% very confident that they could recruit qualifed teachers should the need arise.
• Over 80% of respondants indicated that Pay Parity and Extended Pay Parity funding rates were contributing to a trend of hiring less experienced teachers. This is an increase compared to results from the October 2022 sentiment tracker and indicates that the issue is only becoming more difficult for centre owners and operators. With 36% of New Zealand ECE providers already opted into Pay Parity as at the beginning of March 2023, and 53% opted into Extended Pay Parity, ECC has concerns that this trend will continue.
• More than 65% also had concerns around accessing relief teachers for short term vacancies like holiday cover and illness.
• 61% of centres who responded had a waitlist for places, signifying the ongoing demand for early childhood education.
• Only 8.5% felt confident about recruiting qualified teachers from overseas, while the remaining 91.5% were either not confident, hadn’t considered it, or stated this wasn’t an option for their centre/s.

Funding and Financial Viability

• A large proportion of respondents have opted into Pay Parity or Extended Pay Parity, with 60% claiming funding rates for steps 1-6, and 34% claiming for steps 1-11.
• Despite the high numbers described in the point above, only 36% said it made financial sense for their centre to opt into Pay Parity, whereas 40/85 said it didn’t but they are staying in the scheme regardless.
• Opting into Extended Pay Parity and the financial implications of this had a more varied response, with 18% selecting yes it made finaical sense for their centre, and 20% stating that it did not and they were considering leaving the scheme.
• A concerning 60% of survey respondents were not optimistic about their centre/s financial viability in the next 12 months.

Auckland Emergency Response

• Following the emergency situation in Auckland at the end of January, 56% of our respondents thought the Ministry of Education (Wellington) performed below expectations.
• The Ministry of Education Auckland Regional Office scored similarly, with only 25% belieiving they met or exceeded performance expectations.
• Media reporting also scored poorly, with over 54% expecting a greater response.
• 95% of respondents were happy with the response from the Early Childhood Council, who provided more effective communications compared to other member organisations according to the survey data.
• Clear, accurate and timely communications and directives to centres was seen as the biggest factor requiring improvement from MOE at 90%.

This was followed by the need for funding relief at 60%.

Download the summary

Download the full results  

October 2022 

We're pleased to share the results of the latest ECC sentiment tracker survey October 2022 with our members.

Thanks to everyone who took part.

About this survey

• It ran between 20 October and 2 November 2022
  
• There were 261 responses, equating to 714 centres when taking respondents with multiple centres into account
  
  • This broadly represents 56% of ECC members and 26% of the education and care sector in New Zealand, a useful insight into our ECE sector
    
• The survey was complete before the recent Childcare subsidy announcement - we will survey your thoughts on this and how it affects your centre soon 

Download the survey results summary [PDF]

Here's how our members responded: 

• 73% or 189/261 aren't confident of filling vacant positions with qualified teachers
  
• 70% or 182 / 260 aren't confident of accessing relief teachers to fill any short term vacancies like holiday cover or illness
• 12.8% or 33 of 258 are confident they could successfully recruit a qualified teacher from overseas.
• 56% or 148 / 260 have a waiting list at their centre 
• 54% or 131 of 241 are significantly over budget for relief teachers
  
  • Less than 10% or 11 of 241 are under budget for relief teachers
  • 78% or 185 of 241 are over budget for relief teachers
• 55% or 120 of 218 opted into Pay Parity, despite it not making financial sense
  
• 56% or 139 of 247 aren't optimistic about their financial viability over the next 12 months
  

What is the sentiment tracker survey? 
We survey ECC members regularly to track key issues affecting the ECE sector over time - we share insights with our members, and use this data to drive our communication and lobbying efforts.