Teaching Council Urges Caution — Qualified Teachers Are The Heart Of Quality Early Childhood Education

Wellington, 30 May 2025

The Teaching Council has restated the importance of a well-qualified Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector and urged the Government to take care not to undermine this.

This comes in the wake of changes to the pay parity opt-in scheme for education and care services that have raised concerns from the profession.

As the professional body for teachers, we are committed to improving the quality of teaching and learning in Aotearoa for all children and young people. Qualified and registered teacher are fundamental to the educational purpose of ECE. Qualified ECE teachers are highly skilled professionals who hold a teaching qualification. ECE teachers play a crucial role in educating young children, shaping their early development and learning experiences.

We urge the Government to proceed with caution with any changes that could make education and care centres less attractive places to work in for the qualified teachers that our children need. Unless they are based upon a strong focus on meeting young children’s learning needs, changes in this area risk undermining educational outcomes at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. They could also create a two-tier system where only families that can afford higher costs receive better learning opportunities.

Research shows that early childhood is a crucial period for developing cognitive and executive brain functions, which have lasting impacts on learning, health, and social outcomes. Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 2017), the ECE curriculum, supports this progression, helping young children develop self regulation, relationship-building skills, and phonemic awareness—all essential for future learning.

The development of oracy (oral communication) and oral comprehension is fundamental to early development, particularly at a time when oracy rates are declining nationally and internationally. A growing gap between high-income and low-income families in pre-school oracy further highlights the need for strong teaching support in ECE.

For these reasons, the Teaching Council believes more effort should be directed toward strengthening the teaching workforce and making the best use of Aotearoa’s Registered and Certificated teachers. Supporting and retaining qualified teachers remains our priority and we call for the Government to avoid any changes that risk working against that.

(*Attributed to Teaching Council CE, Lesley Hoskin)

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