Education

How to become an early childhood teacher

Official title: Early childhood teacher

Also called: Kindergarten teacher, ECE teacher, Daycare teacher, Early learning teacher, Preschool teacher, Playcentre supervisor, Creche teacher

Early childhood teachers support tamariki to learn and develop new skills in kindergartens, childcare centres, kōhanga reo and other early learning settings.

Main tasks

Look after young children
Teach students life skills and values
Provide for students' basic needs
Set up classroom materials and equipment
Plan educational and entertainment activities
Change teaching styles for different students
Set rules for student behaviour
Help student's resolve problems and conflict

How to become one

You need a qualification to become a registered early childhood teacher. You need University Entrance to do the study or training for this job. Required: a bachelor's degree in early childhood teaching OR a graduate diploma in early childhood teaching; an Annual Practising Certificate; to pass a police check. Registration body: Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand.

See the full Tahatū profile

Ways in

University: Education & Teaching degrees, Offered by 6 universities in New Zealand
Registration or licence: An Annual Practising Certificate. Registration body: Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (https://teachingcouncil.nz/).

Pay · Past change · AI and this job

Most common pay: $71,768 to $92,646 a year (median $82,207), a TEC estimate before tax.
Lower: $61,329 a year · Upper: $103,086 a year
TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
Change in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses: Steady (TEC). This is past change, not a forecast.
People employed in the group Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teachers: 31,854 at the 2018 Census and 33,903 at the 2023 Census (+6.4%). Past change, not a forecast.
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

About 27,000 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).
In the group Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teachers, 95% of workers are female (sex at birth, 2023 Census).
Where people in the group Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teachers work (2023 Census): Auckland 33%, Canterbury 12.5%, and Waikato 10.5%.

Questions people ask

How do I become an early childhood teacher?

How much does an early childhood teacher earn in New Zealand?

The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $82,207 a year, before tax. Most common pay is $71,768 to $92,646 a year.

Has the number of people working as an early childhood teacher grown in New Zealand?

It has held steady: TEC records the number of people doing this job as steady between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses. This is past change, not a forecast.

Will AI change the work of an early childhood teacher?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census totals by topic for individuals 2013, 2018, 2023 (CEN23_TBT_004): employed by occupation, ANZSCO V1.3, summed to unit group (2023 Census (CEN23_TBT_004)), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census 2023: employed by regional council, occupation (ANZSCO V1.3 unit group) and sex at birth (2023 Census), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.

Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.

This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.

Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.

These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Updated 4 October 2026