being the ones getting further left behind. Perversely, these are the very services who need to attract the best teachers to care for and educate our most vulnerable that find themselves shut out of a tight labour market. There are only two sources of ECE (and primary) qualified teachers - the domestic supply and the international supply. For the domestic supply, our sector relies solely on the number of teachers each training provider produces. At individual employer and representative association levels, there’s little or no discussion or planning with providers about what that supply needs to look like. Each training provider makes their own decisions about what programmes they run, the mode of delivery on offer, the actual course content and how many students they will train. There can be different perspectives and needs between training providers and employers, but in the case of ECE, employers have little to no say. International supply is limited by the onerous process of getting qualifications assessed by NZQA, jumping through the various immigration hoops, and the MIQ lottery in recent times. The pay challenge But putting aside both the domestic and international supply issues, the most obvious reason we don’t have enough teachers in ECE is we’re unable to pay them what they deserve. In times of near full employment, we’re competing in a tight labour market with many other professions that can pay more – we only have to look at our close cousins in the school sector to know that a primary qualified teacher working in a primary school will get a far bigger pay cheque than if they choose early learning. I‘ve yet to find an employer in the ECE sector that doesn’t want to pay their staff more. It’s very clear from our history that when government funding increases for our sector, teacher’s pay increases. Employers know their best asset is their teachers. This is writ large in every early childhood service’s budget, which without fail shows staffing costs is their biggest line item. The last major speech to ECC members as CEO in 2008 was entitled ‘Teachers Matter in Early Childhood Education,’ focusing on the biggest challenge I saw facing the sector – you guessed it, teacher supply. Where we are now Disappointingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, here we are 13 years later with a lack of suitably qualified applicants for ECE teaching positions still the number one issue facing the sector. Of course I don’t need to repeat my message from 2008 that teachers matter – we all know that the most important ingredient in the recipe for quality early childhood education is the quality of the adult-child interactions. In that speech I called for an urgent and co-ordinated response from centres, representative bodies, politicians, officials and training establishments to address the teacher supply issue. The chronic ECE teacher shortage has been with us since the 1990’s, has only got worse and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. To solve it, funding must meet the market when it comes to salary expectations, to attract the talented and passionate people we need to the ECE teaching profession. About the author Sue Kurtovich is a specialist in early childhood centre management and administration. Sue was a centre owner/operator for 15 years and the former President (2 years) and then CEO of the Early Childhood Council Inc. from 1996 – 2008. Sue also stepped into the role of interim CEO of the ECC for the period August – October 2021. Sue has extensive knowledge of the ECE regulatory environment, and a strong policy and advocacy background including an indepth understanding of the challenges centres face. For over three decades Sue has supported centre owners, managers and boards with practical, realworld advice through the design and delivery of professional learning and development programmes for early childhood education centre owners, managers and teachers. Specialised business insurance for over 1500 childcare centres Get your insurance sorted 0800 765 429 childproof.co.nz December 2021 { 13 }
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