Summary

The Ministry of Education (the Ministry) investigated ECE teaching staff pay in the Stats NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The key findings from this analysis are summarised below.

• The median pay for full-time qualified ECE teaching staff was $62,858 per annum in 2022. This was on average a 6% year-on-year increase from $48,946 in 2018.
• The median pay for kaiako kaupapa Māori was $50,453 in 2022. This was on average a 7% year-on-year increase from $38,418 in 2018.
• The median pay for unqualified teaching staff (those not holding either an ECE or primary school teaching qualification) was $57,930 in 2022. This was on average a 6% year-on-year increase from $46,108 in 2018.
• Teaching staff in kindergartens consistently earned higher pay compared to other service types. The median pay in kindergartens was $79,399 in 2022. This was followed by home-based services ($63,957), education and care services ($60,003), playcentres ($54,397), and kōhanga reo ($51,750).
• The median pay for female teaching staff in 2022 was $62,344, and for male teaching staff it was $63,388. The annual earnings of female teaching staff were on average 99% of those of male teaching staff.
• ECE teaching staff in the Southland region earned the highest median pay in 2022 (around $8,000 more than the lowest paying region). Those in the Tasman region earned the lowest pay.
• The median pay for part-time teaching staff was approximately $24,000 in 2022 and $18,000 in 2018. In 2022, the year-on-year pay for these teaching staff increased by 1%, while the number of part-time teaching staff decreased by 33%.
• About 6% of part-time teaching staff, on average from 2018-2022, worked at more than one ECE service. Of these staff, around 80% worked at two ECE services. Of the 6% of part-time teaching staff working in multiple ECE services, 44% worked at services that belonged to the same governing organisation, and 50% worked at services that belonged to either one of two governing organisations.