18/08/2026
The proposed changes to funding within Early Childhood Education (ECE) will have a wide-reaching effect on everyone who accesses ECE or works as a qualified registered teacher, especially those working in not-for-profit centres (such as kindergartens) or those who actively and intentional hire 100% qualified teachers.
What is clear is that education is not valued in the right way by the current government, with special focus on changing the ECE landscape despite research that supports just how vital education in the early years is!
The impact of these proposed changes will have a substantial effect on the fully qualified with bachelor's degrees, fully registered teachers, some of us may lose our jobs - especially if they remove the funding provided for 100% qualified teachers, others could be paid minimum wage with the removal of ALL pay parity (so not just pay parity between private and public ECE, but the pay parity that Kindergarten has with primary).
We have a world leading ECE Curriculum, yet it feels that we’re not worthy of being called teachers, our bachelor's degrees are not held in high regard, and we can simply be replaced by the untrained, unqualified and inexperienced.
This government believes that your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren and your mokopuna are not worthy of qualified teachers, or of sufficient funding to do our jobs.
This government and the funding review are not even looking at the mass amounts of profit that are being made by large private ECE companies in this country.
We love our jobs! We love TEACHING your tamariki, supporting & helping them grow into strong capable learners but if this government is elected again, it is highly possible that all of this will change, and quickly too.
You and your tamariki matter to us, and because of this we strongly encourage you to enrol to vote (and please vote), ask questions and talk to people about the impact this could have on your whānau and the people that matter to you.
