Educators of young children want wage rises to attract and retain preschool staff amid subsidies aimed at boosting enrolments.
The Independent Education Union has applied to the Fair Work Commission as it seeks to lift pay by up to 25 percent for staff at more than 100 community-based New South Wales (NSW) preschools.
Staff shortages in education were even worse in the early learning sector, preschool teacher Janene Rox told reporters outside the commission on July 5.
“Paediatric doctors are not paid any less because they are supporting the youngest in our community, so why is it different for our teachers?” Ms. Rox said.
Early-career school teachers annually earn almost $15,000 (US$10,000) more than colleagues in preschools, while experienced teachers can earn almost $32,000 (US$21,000) more, the union’s secretary Carol Matthews said.
The disparity is contributing to an acute staffing shortage.
“There is a workforce crisis. We need to see pay and conditions improved dramatically,” she said.
“We’re calling on the NSW government to fund improved pay and conditions for teachers and educators in NSW community preschools.”
Lifting wages in the highly feminised sector could also narrow the gender pay gap, while assisting parents juggling carer responsibilities, Ms. Matthews said.
No one becomes a teacher to get rich, according to Premier Chris Minns.
“They do it because they passionately believe in the work that they’re doing,” he said.
“The government would never take advantage of that ... what we need to do is sit down and work out a way of getting real wage growth over time to keep people in the sector.”
About two percent of the state’s early childhood educators are directly employed by the government.
The commission application begins the process of getting the government involved in bargaining for other workers, calling on the state to fund pay rises.
Education and Early Learning Minister Prue Car said the state supported the process and would monitor the application.
“We need more early childhood educators and have rolled out a number of initiatives focused on increasing the workforce in the sector—but we recognise pay is also critically important,” she said.
Access to affordable preschool is vital to ensuring children get the best start in life, Ms. Car said.
“Their transition to kindergarten is more seamless, it means the literacy and numeracy opportunities in primary school are able to be harnessed by children that have accessed quality preschool.”
It remains up to parents when they send their children to preschool but subsidies are available from the age of three and Ms. Car does not want cost-of-living pressures making the decision for them.
“Whether the fees are affordable or not will make a difference, whether you can send your child to preschool or not,” she said.
“We don’t want families to have to make that choice.”
The government put $1.8 billion (US$1.2 billion) towards early education in the June budget, continuing fee relief and supporting the ongoing construction of 100 public preschools by 2027.
Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Mitchell told AAP subsidies were introduced by the previous government and extended by Labor.
“All they’re doing is continuing what we put in place,” she said.
She agreed access to quality early learning was vital, amid concerns around delivery.
“What we’re seeing is families and children not actually being able to access what they need to really make sure we get kids to that learning point before they start school,” Ms. Mitchell said.
