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

Around two fifths of kaiako and half of leaders who participated reported experiencing stress in their work quite a bit or a lot.

Kaiako were more likely to report that their job left them time for their personal life than leaders (63% versus 40%).

However, leaders wore likely to be satisfied with their salary (85% versus 56%).

Managing staff and keeping up with change were notable sources of stress for leaders, whereas for kaiako the main stressors related to workload.

For both, “Accommodating children with learning support needs” was a prominent source of stress, echoing a broadly reported need for more support in this area.

Both kaiako and leaders who took part reported high job satisfaction.

Nearly all participants agreed they enjoyed working at their early learning service and that they were satisfied with their job.

100% of kaiako agreed they were valued by the children in their early learning service and nearly all agreed the same about parents.

However, 52% of kaiako and 56% of leaders agreed that they think early learning kaiako are valued in society.

Participating kaiako reported high levels of self-efficacy across most tasks relating to children’s growth and development.

They also indicated regular collaboration with colleagues for pedagogy or to discuss the needs of specific children.

Leaders reported supporting a collaborative culture, with high rates of shared approaches to leadership including opportunities for children and whānau to be involved in decisions at their early learning service.