Early Childhood Teacher in NZ: Green List, Registration and Pay

Early childhood education (ECE) is one of the most-discussed migration pathways: demand is real and the entry bar looks low. But one fact is constantly misreported: Early Childhood (Pre-primary School) Teacher – registered (ANZSCO 241111) is Green List Tier 2, not Tier 1. It is a “work 24 months, then apply for residence” pathway, not a direct one. Plan your timeline around that.

Green List position and visa pathway

Under the 9 March 2026 version of INZ’s Appendix 13, the occupation requires:

• registration with the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, plus a provisional or full practising certificate issued by the Council
• a job or job offer in an ECE teaching role with an accredited employer

The visa pathway (Tier 2: Work to Residence):

1. Work in the role in New Zealand on a work visa (such as an AEWV), accumulating 24 months: you must meet the wage requirements throughout, or those months do not count
2. When you apply for residence, you must still be working in the role (or hold an offer) and be paid at least the current median wage ($35.00/hour)
3. Be 55 or younger and meet health, character and English requirements

For the full Tier 1 vs Tier 2 comparison see our Green List tiers guide; for how the 24 months accumulate see Work to Residence vs Straight to Residence.

Step 1: Teaching Council registration

In New Zealand, registration and a practising certificate are two separate things, and you need both: registration confirms you meet the professional standards; the practising certificate is your legal licence to teach. Beginning teachers start on a Tōmua | Provisional Practising Certificate.

If you study an ITE programme in New Zealand: you can apply for registration and your first practising certificate as soon as you graduate.

If you are an overseas-trained teacher, the process is longer:

1. Qualification assessment: apply to NZQA for a Teaching International Qualifications Assessment (IQA): unless your qualification is on the Teaching Council’s pre-approved list. Expect to provide certified transcripts, practicum details, proof of your home country’s teaching status and evidence of teaching service
2. Language competency: you must show you meet the standard in listening, speaking, reading and writing (e.g. IELTS). Scores from multiple sittings (even different test providers) can be combined, as long as all results are within two years
3. Registration + practising certificate: apply online to the Teaching Council, including police vetting, a health declaration and a te reo Māori commitment declaration. Official processing is about 6–12 weeks
4. Once you have a confirmed job offer, tell NZQA and the Teaching Council: applications with job offers are prioritised

Step 2: Study pathways (if you choose to study in NZ)

Three types of Teaching Council-approved Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes lead to ECE registration:

Pathway	Duration	Best for
Bachelor of Teaching (ECE)	3 years	School leavers
Graduate Diploma in Teaching (ECE)	~1 year	Graduates of any discipline
Master of Teaching and Learning (ECE)	1–1.5 years	Graduates wanting a Master’s

Providers offering ECE ITE programmes include the Universities of Auckland, Canterbury, Otago, Waikato, Victoria University of Wellington, UNITEC, UCOL, Toi-Ohomai and WINTEC: always check the Teaching Council’s approved programme list. Only programmes on that list lead to registration. See our NZ universities overview for a comparison.

Pay: the parity scales and the reality

ECE teacher pay is not set by a single national collective agreement. Instead, the Ministry of Education runs an opt-in pay parity scheme: services that opt in receive higher funding and in return must pay certificated teachers at least one of four minimum salary scales (base / parity / extended parity / full parity), aligned with the Kindergarten Teachers Collective Agreement (KTCA): but note the scale amounts have been frozen at their December 2023 levels and have fallen behind actual kindergarten teacher pay.

Key minimum steps (effective 1 December 2023, still current):

Step	Annual salary	Hourly
Step 1 (newly certificated)	$57,358	$27.58
Step 6 (top of parity scale)	$71,869	$34.55
Step 7 (extended parity)	$74,152	$35.65
Step 11 (top teacher step)	$85,457–$96,820	$41.09–$46.56
Management (K2–K4)	$85,457–$115,123	$41.09–$55.35

Teachers progress one step per 2,080 hours (about a year full-time) plus a satisfactory assessment. These are minimums: employers may pay more.

Two recent changes that directly affect you (Ministry of Education):

• From 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2027, opted-in services may set newly certificated teachers and teachers new to the NZ ECE sector (including migrant teachers with years of overseas experience) at Step 1, without having to recognise prior service or higher qualifications. Existing teachers are unaffected
• A two-year moratorium over the same period prevents services already attested at parity or extended parity from moving up to higher scales

The calculation that matters: the median wage

The immigration median wage is currently $35.00/hour. Compare:

• Minimum scale Steps 1–6 ($27.58–$34.55/hour) are all below the median wage
• Extended parity Step 7 ($35.65) barely clears it

In other words: if your employer pays strictly to the minimum scale, your work may not count towards the 24 months for Work to Residence. But the scales are legal floors: the Ministry explicitly allows higher pay, and many services pay above scale. Practical advice: make “at least $35/hour” a hard condition in your employment agreement, and run the numbers through our take-home pay calculator before accepting an offer.

The job market and where to look

• Qualified ECE teachers are in sustained shortage: presence on the Green List is itself the official recognition of that
• Main job boards: the Education Gazette (the official education vacancy platform) and Seek; private centres also advertise on their own sites
• Employer types differ widely: community kindergartens are covered by the KTCA collective agreement with transparent pay; private education-and-care centres pay according to whether (and at which scale) they have opted into pay parity. Your first interview question should be “have you opted in, and at which scale do you pay?”

Common misconceptions

• “On the Green List = residence on graduation”: wrong. Tier 2 requires 24 months of work in New Zealand first, at the required wage
• “An overseas ECE certificate lets me teach straight away”: wrong. You need the full set: NZQA assessment + Teaching Council registration + practising certificate
• “Pay parity means equal pay nationwide”: wrong. It is opt-in, the scales are frozen at December 2023 levels, and pay varies significantly between centres
• “$57,358 is a decent starting salary”: note its hourly rate ($27.58) is below the immigration median wage ($35.00): for migration purposes, that arithmetic matters

Next steps: check the exact wording for ANZSCO 241111 in our Green List Checker, and run your profile through the SMC points calculator: many ECE-trained applicants qualify under both systems.