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It’s World Teachers’ Day, and kaiako and parents marked it with a protest at parliament against cuts to funding in the early childhood sector.
Former NZEI Te Riu Roa president Judith Nowatarski says teachers are drawn to the profession because they value what happens to children.
But she says the government doesn’t believe its youngest citizens deserve to have qualified teachers.
Centres are funded based on only 80 percent of teaching staff being qualified.
"While the government will say they have put a huge amount of investment into the sector, they haven’t invested it into a place which covers running costs, day to day costs that centres face and the cots of having a qualified teacher in front of these tamaiti, these most precious taonga, and the shortfalls are requiring tough decisions, and that is what is devastating to those of use who work in the sector,," Ms Nowatarski says.
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