Introduction

Starting Strong surveyed early learning staff and leaders across 16 countries and education systems.

In New Zealand, 327 kaiako and 72 leaders from Education & Care services, Kindergartens, Playcentres, and Home-based settings took part in mid-2024.

Due to the low participation numbers the survey responses can only represent the experiences of the individuals participating and cannot be generalised to the wider workforce.

However, we hope that by presenting the information provided by those who opted to participate we can offer insight into experiences of those working in early learning, and identify areas for further exploration.

We thank those participants for their contributions and willingness to take part.

Key findings

The proportions of participants in the Starting Strong survey roughly align to those in the national data from New Zealand’s ECE census in 2024.

The majority of participants were from Education and Care services, with smaller numbers from Kindergarten, Playcentres, and Home-based services.

Leaders tended to be older than kaiako and were more likely to be Pākehā.

Participating kaiako and leaders reported similar levels of education, with around three quarters holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Leaders reported working an average of 4.7 hours of additional unpaid time per week.

Nearly 60% of leaders reported that at least 10% of the children attending their early learning service had a first language different from the main language used at the centre.

Only 12% of leaders reported that they had kaiako at their service who could communicate with all families of children whose home language was different from the main language used at the centre.

However, another 35% indicated they could accommodate at least some other languages.

Most leaders reported that there were services available for families in their neighbourhoods, but there were potential safety concerns about the area for at least 40% of respondents.

Leaders overwhelmingly agreed they had good physical resources at their centre (e.g. space, shaded outdoor areas).

Staffing was reported as an issue to some extent by around half of leaders, with a “Shortage of kaiako with competence in working with children with learning support needs” one of the top three areas alongside “Kaiako absences” and “Changes in available funding”.

Areas that kaiako rated as a priority for potential investment, given a hypothetical funding increase, were focused around responding to children’s individual needs (such supporting children with learning support needs, or those from disadvantaged backgrounds) and improving the working environment (e.g. salaries, quality professional learning opportunities and reducing group sizes).