Election 2020: Labor Education Policy: Additional $ 600 Million for Child Care Teachers, Replaces Decile System

The Labor Party has promised to spend an additional $ 600 million over the next four years to increase the salary of child care teachers if it is reelected next month.

The promise to “work towards pay parity” between kindergarten teachers and teachers from the rest of the early childhood education (ECE) sector is the centerpiece of Labor education policy for elections, unveiled today by Education Minister Chris Hipkins at a Porirua child care center.

He does not promise to achieve parity within his next term in office, but has earmarked $ 600 million to increase the salary of ECE teachers.

“If he is re-elected, the Labor Party will make sure that the 17,000 teachers who work in education and care centers get the pay they deserve,” Hipkins said.

“A significant pay gap has built up over time. The previous national government stopped the practice of passing on increased kindergarten funding rates that covered the cost of pay agreements to education and care services, such as it had been done before.

“The lower paid education and care teachers have already received a salary increase to align with the salary of kindergarten teachers as of July 1 of this year.”

The launch of the Labor policy comes a day after the National Party launched its own education policy, which did not mention wage parity but promised to “continue to raise minimum wage requirements for qualified ECE personnel.”

Labor has abandoned the centerpiece of its 2017 education policy: expanding free tertiary education from one year in its first term to two years in its second term and three years in its third term.

“Workers will retain the first year of the fee-free program, but will not extend the program to additional fee-free years,” Hipkins said.

“We will direct our additional spending on tertiary education in areas that are critical for the country’s economic recovery in the post-Covid environment. Initiatives such as free apprenticeships and specific areas of professional training will be prioritized, supported by the reform of the professional education system that we will complete. if we are re-elected. “

Labor has already implemented free access to apprenticeships and many trade training courses over the next two years using Covid-19 funds. Its policy does not provide for the continuation of this policy beyond the next two years.

The other spending commitments in Labor politics are:

• $ 200 million a year for free lunches for all children in the poorest school neighborhood by the end of next year.

• $ 400 million over four years to reform the school system, including the creation of an Educational Services Agency within the Ministry of Education, the establishment of an independent complaints system, the strengthening of governance and leadership, the establishment of a Curriculum Center, a more managed approach to approving new ECE centers and expanding the network of Maori language schools.

• $ 320 million over four years to replace the current decile-based school finance system with a new system based on an “equity index” that measures the social backgrounds of all students in all schools.

• $ 15 million over four years to “ensure that schools in all of our communities can offer quality online learning to all of their students if we have another [Covid-19] outbreak”.

• $ 10 million over four years to “develop tools to better understand the learning progress of children and youth” and implement changes to the National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA).

The key differences between national and labor education policies are:

• Preschool funding

Workforce: Increased funding for centers with 100% qualified teachers beginning in January 2021, plus $ 600 million over four years to work towards salary parity between kindergarten teachers and other ECE teachers.

National: Eliminate more funding for schools with 100% qualified teachers and divert funds to improve the ratio of children to teacher for children under 2 years.

• Primary school ratios

National: Spend an additional $ 170 million a year by 2024-25 to improve the teacher-to-student ratio in elementary schools.

Work: No promises.

• Learning objectives

National: Reintroduce educational achievement targets, including proportion of Maori and Pasifika students dropping out of school with the NCEA.

Work: Develop tools to better understand children’s learning progress and implement the aforementioned NCEA reforms.

• Learning support

National: Grant schools an additional $ 160 million a year by 2023-24 to help students with additional learning needs, plus an additional $ 38 million a year starting next year for 1,500 additional teacher assistants.

Work: Continue with the implementation of learning support coordinators in schools.

• Languages

National: Require that all children in elementary and middle school have the opportunity to learn a second language, including Maori tea for those who wish to do so.

Work: Continue supporting the revitalization of te reo Māori.

• Zoning

Workforce: Transfer zoning from school boards to the Ministry of Education to make the most of existing school buildings.

National: Return zoning to school boards and increase funding for school buildings “by supporting the expansion of existing rapidly growing schools.”

• School buildings

National: Spend an additional $ 4.8 billion on school buildings over the next 10 years, including $ 2 billion allocated to a partnership with major construction companies.

Work: Continue to improve 180 existing schools and build new schools and classrooms for 100,000 students.

• School lunches

Workforce: Fund school lunches for all children in the most disadvantaged neighborhood of schools by the end of next year.

National: Provide food in a more targeted way to ensure it reaches otherwise hungry students.

• Charter schools

National: Establish 25 new partner schools by 2023.

Work: There are no charter schools.

• Teacher registration fee

National: Abolish the annual teacher registration fee of $ 157.

Work: No promises.