No Guarantee The Secondary Teacher Salary Increase Will Be Matched For Early Learning Teachers

Teachers in education and care centres must wait to see if the Government will match the 14.5% secondary school teacher salary increases for early learning.

If the offer gets accepted by the PPTA there’s no certainty that education and care teachers, who make up the majority of the ECE workforce, will be included or how it will be funded.

“Improving pay is an important part of solving the teacher shortage, bearing in mind these increases are still a lot lower than teacher salaries in some Australian states,” said Early Childhood Council CEO Simon Laube.

“The Government’s announcement for secondary teachers will be a welcome relief to them, and to families affected by strikes after so much disruption to their children’s education in recent years. It’s pretty bleak to think the only way to get movement is drastic strike action, which leaves the government no alternative.”

“If the government is serious about improving teacher pay and retaining teachers, they need to include early learning. It’s about being fair to the whole sector,” said Simon Laube.

The Early Childhood Council calls on the government to:

1. Confirm pay scale increases for all ECE teachers together with ECE funding as soon as possible if PPTA members accept the offer
2. Assure the sector that Pay Parity funding policy will change, as many services employing the most experienced teachers are under-funded risk closure now
3. Under-write the ill-timed ECE Fair Pay Agreement to give ECE employers certainty before going into bargaining, as increased costs from a settlement would likely result in more ECE service closures without this support

“Early learning providers that want to keep their teachers need certainty this pay increase will reach ECE, and be funded. Is it too much to ask for this commitment from the Government?,” said Simon Laube.

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