Pay Parity Principle Let Down By MOE Policy And Delivery

The Early Childhood Council supports the pay gains made for teachers, but says the flawed Pay Parity policy delivered by the Ministry of Education from 2021 will slowly destroy providers if solutions aren’t found.

Increased childcare fees for parents and centre closures have been the net effect of the Pay Parity policy, which is intended to close the pay gap between kindergarten and education and care teachers. It remains underfunded however, with the funding gap getting larger for every hour every teacher works every day.

“We need to clarify that ECC doesn’t consider kindergarten teachers’ inclusion in the state sector as a regulatory review matter. But their special status is a concern in the context of the upcoming funding review because it gives teachers in one part of the sector a higher status than the teachers in our part of the sector, which is unfair,” said ECC CEO Simon Laube.

“We’d have been remiss not to point out where the current Pay Parity problems started, with the Ministry imposing kindergarten approaches on a much larger part of the sector without consultation. Many of the current problems could have been avoided if the Ministry had worked with the sector on the details.”

“Behind Pay Parity is the principle that teachers doing the same role should be paid the same- that’s just fairness, and everyone in the sector supports that. However, policies that systematically play favourites for kindergarten teachers are the real source of the need for a Pay Parity policy in the first place.”

Right now, Pay Parity between kindergarten teachers and teachers in education and care services still doesn’t exist, and the current statutory approach means kindergarten teacher pay will keep increasing, leaving education and care teachers further behind.

The sector can’t put its head in the sand with problems as far-reaching as the Pay Parity policy - solutions will likely involve a mix of regulatory relief and funding changes. The ECC believes the regulatory options put forward in its submission will really help. These complex problems will require a concerted effort to address, while protecting the valuable gains already made for teachers.

“We’ve released our Ministry for Regulation submission publicly so people can read the issues ECC has identified, with our members’ support. It’s positive that we have this regulatory review, with its opportunity to start addressing the problems holding ECE back, as evidenced through our worsening participation rates and unaffordable childcare costs driven by flawed government policies,” said Simon Laube.

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