But from October, the commitment to early childhood centre pay parity will apply only to permanent staff. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The government has cut relief teachers from early childhood centre pay parity arrangements.
Early learning services that agree to pay their qualified teachers the same as kindergarten and school teachers qualify for a higher rate of government subsidy.
But from October, that commitment to pay parity would only apply to permanent staff, not relievers.
The government said the change would reduce administration costs.
Employer groups the Early Childhood Council and Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand welcomed the change.
They said teachers had left permanent roles because they could earn more as relievers.
Te Rito Maioha learner and workforce engagement general manager Nikki Parsons said the change might encourage relief teachers to return to permanent jobs.
"A lot of permanent staff have left services and gone relief staff teaching because they can get more money and also don't have to do all the paperwork and things like that so it will bring that back so more qualified staff will work in centres because they will be paid at a better rate," she said.
Parsons said it was possible centre owners would reduce the number of permanent employees so they could use lesser-paid relief teachers.
"I guess there's always a risk of that but most services are really keen to have permanent staff for those quality interactions with tamariki... so we would hope that wouldn't happen," she said.
Asked if teacher shortages meant relief teacher pay would remain high, Parsons said the change would provide more balance.
"At the moment, qualified relief teachers can ask for whatever they want to but it will bring that down a bit," she said.
NZEI Te Riu Roa early childhood representative Virginia Oakly said the decision was made without any consultation with teachers or their representatives.
"It clearly penalises women workers and will impact on the quality of teaching and learning young children and babies receive," she said.
"Cutting pay parity for reliving teachers is an attack on the rights of teachers working in the sector and on the pay parity scheme, which was hard-won over decades.
"All teachers deserve to be paid fairly, regardless of whether they are permanent or relievers. It does not address the underlying reasons for the teacher shortage: poor teacher-child ratios, workloads that are too high for already over-burdened workforce, and the ongoing difficulties to secure learning support for children who need it."
