Parents are having to wait for up to 18 months for places in early childhood centres, particularly for children aged two and under, the early childhood education sector and families say.
“I started when Kiana was six months old, expecting that by her first birthday we would have her in a daycare but she’s 18 months old now and we’re still on these wait lists. I honestly didn’t think it would take this long,” Upper Hutt mother Elena Siliako said.
Some Upper Hutt centres and families 1News spoke to, who didn't want to be named, reported wait lists have increased from six months to 12 or 18 months, depending on the centre.
Siliako says she is fortunate her parents and extended family members have been able to provide care for Kiana while she works, but she wants hrt to socialise with other children at an early learning centre.
“It has been quite hard. There have been times when my parents have had things that they’ve wanted to go to and I’ve had to take time off work to look after her or my husband’s had to take time off to look after Kiana so that side of it has been hard because we haven’t had the option of putting her in a daycare.”
Siliako says she knows of friends and family that don’t have people that can take care of their children.
“Considering what we’re going through with this wait list, it’s quite scary to think what other parents might be going through too, especially with their firstborn.”
'Complex issue' - Early Childhood Council
Early Childhood Council chief executive Simon Laube said wait lists are growing around the country, but the trend is not occurring at all centres.
“Wellington is always pretty tight but there are other areas where it's worse, like Gisborne,” he said.
Laube said the causes are complex and include some teachers leaving due to the prior Covid-19 vaccine mandate and not returning; some teachers leaving for higher pay as a kindergarten teacher, reliever or for a role outside the sector; and some centres reducing their offering because they cannot afford to make their contribution to the Government’s increases towards pay parity with the kindergarten sector for all their staff. There are also financial strains due to funding decreases related to Covid-19 illness and decreased child participation during the pandemic.
“We don't have enough teachers to go round; that's causing some centres to close, so we have fewer centres available and it also means that they're actually downsizing how many places are available," he said.
“I've spoken to centres that because they can’t find enough teachers, you need more teachers to look after the under twos in a safe way so it's unfortunately one of the first places you go when you have to make the service keep running - you start to often cut off the under two provision."
Six centres in Upper Hutt reported an increase in demand for under two spaces to 1News, with one saying the difficulty in finding teachers is contributing to the problem as centres face staffing ratio regulations for the number of children present.
Some centres in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland also reported growing wait lists.
Laube said the issue can’t be addressed quickly.
“Unfortunately I think it would take something really big from the Government to really get them to be able to recruit more. There are a lot of trained teachers out there but they don't want to come back into ECE.”
Laube and Education Minister Chris Hipkins said there has been a shift in more parents returning from parental leave earlier and therefore seeking childcare for their children earlier due to the increasing cost of living during the pandemic.
“We do understand that you know there is demand on early childhood services, particularly in that under two area. We're seeing more parents returning back to work sooner than they might otherwise of and that's putting pressure,” Hipkins said.
“We also know that the funding ratios there are not ideal so at the moment, the funding ratio is one teacher to every five children [for children aged under two] – that is something the Government wants to address but at the moment the first immediate financial priority is pay parity for teachers but once we’ve done that, I do think we will look again at the funding ratios for those under-fives."
He said the varied decisions made in the private ECE sector are difficult for the Government to predict.
“Because they may choose to operate a ratio significantly better for the under two year olds and that’s fantastic to do that, but it does mean there may be pressure on those spaces for under two year olds.”
Hipkins said families should enrol early before they need a place so centres can understand what demand will be present in the future and can prepare for it.
Laube related the situation to real estate, saying people "do need to get yourself on lots of lists".
"You do kind of need to go further than that too - go in and visit,” he said.
The Ministry of Education’s mid-2021 ECE Census results for Licensed Early Learning Services reported a 2% increase in the number of licensed services since 2016.
"Nelson, Wellington and Gisborne have the greatest proportion of services with a wait list for 2-year-olds (over 60% of services)," the survey read..
Between 2016 and last year, services with a wait list increased over 34% for children aged under two and between 3% and 7% for older children.
Ministry of Education operations leader Sean Teddy said in a statement the Government agency isn’t aware of a widespread issue in getting children into childcare but understands that for families that are experiencing long waits, it "can be challenging".
"If parents are struggling to find an ECE place for their child they can contact their local (Ministry of Education) Te Mahau office for support," he said.
Teddy states teacher supply issues are being exacerbated by Covid-19 and winter illness.
"There is no simple solution and we are talking with the sector to understand how we can help."
Local and international teacher recruitment initiatives are being funded to help ease the pressure.
SHARE ME