Pay rises, but at what cost? Why early childhood leaders are still being left behind

Research has long been clear: strong leadership in early childhood education and care (ECEC) plays a decisive role in workplace retention, educator wellbeing, and quality learning for children. Leadership is known to contribute towards solving workforce challenges, yet leaders are rarely recognised as a unique group within the sector. The latest round of pay and condition reforms have been widely welcome, but once again, leaders are overlooked.

The newly released Children’s Services Award, handed down following the Fair Work Commission’s gender undervaluation review, introduces sweeping structural change. Chief among them is the streamlining of classifications, collapsing 30 levels down to just eight for educators without an early childhood degree. The overhaul is designed to reduce complexity and, crucially, lift base wages across the sector.

For thousands of educators, the changes will deliver long-awaited pay increases. That outcome is both necessary and welcome.

But there is a catch.

Of all the roles within ECEC services, leaders, those responsible for quality, compliance, mentoring, and shouldering the daily legal responsibility for a service, will be the last to benefit from wage increases at the outset of a four-year implementation period. In a reform process meant to address undervaluation, the very roles most closely linked to workforce sustainability appear to have been left behind.

Let’s break this down. We know that over 87% of centre-based and outside school hours care (OSHC) services are licensed for 30-400 children per day. This means that the majority of Directors, those who formally lead at these services, will likely not receive an increase in wage at the outset (though transition arrangements ensure no wage is reduced for those already earning higher):

• Directors of 30-59 place services previously earned $42.46-$43.36 per hour
• Directors of 60+ place services previously earned $43.88-$44.88 per hour
• Under the new award all Directors, regardless of service size, will earn $41.93 per hour

Early childhood leaders continue to remain well behind their school-based counterparts in pay and conditions, despite holding comparable legal responsibilities. Under the new rates, an ECEC service director continues to earn substantially less than a school principal, with significantly lower superannuation and benefits.

With this in mind, one might think:

1. At a time when Directors in ECEC are expected to lead rapid and complex regulatory change alongside a steadily expanding workload, what incentive is there to remain in the role?
2. Is the level of responsibility and legal accountability for a Director really the same when overseeing the education, care, and safety of 30 children as it is for 400?
3. Is it fair that a Director with qualifications beyond a diploma-level will no longer receive additional pay?
4. And when the sector urgently needs experienced leaders to stay and guide services through this period of reform, is it enough to simply ensure that those already in the role did not take a pay cut?

And here’s the kicker: leaders who benefit the least from these changes will shoulder most of the work to implement them. Reducing 30 classifications to 8, restructuring position descriptions, and reissuing employment contracts takes time, time that ironically falls on the centre leaders.

This comes on top of navigating a number of policies that are not always aligned, in addition to the new national early childhood worker register, completing mandatory child safety training, and meeting reporting obligations. All while continuing the day-to-day essentials of ECEC: keeping children safe, supporting educators, and sustaining a positive workplace culture.

Once again, early childhood leaders are left to carry the weight of reform, without the pay to match.

Effective leadership is proven as the backbone of high‑functioning early childhood services, and a key factor in whether educators stay or leave the sector. When centre leaders are undervalued and underpaid, despite growing legal and compliance responsibilities, services may become harder to staff and harder to sustain.

The impacts flow quickly. Reduced staffing stability affects availability, quality, and continuity of care for children, while placing additional strain on families already juggling work and caregiving. Workforce instability in early childhood is not an abstract problem; it has direct consequences for families and the economy.

At first glance, recent pay increases across the sector appear to be a win for everyone, and in many respects, they are. But beneath the surface, formal leaders have missed out on remuneration that reflects the rising complexity, accountability, and risk carried by their roles. Leaders themselves report that current remuneration levels are not fairly aligned to the work. These award changes may look technical, but they shape workforce retention and determine whether services can stay open.

This matters for a system relied upon by more than 1.4 million children aged 0–12, and for the productivity of the broader Australian workforce that depends on accessible childcare.

The Fair Work Commission has suggested the award changes may attract more workers, particularly women, into the ECEC workforce over time. That may be true for some educator roles. But it is difficult to see how these changes make formal leadership roles, especially the role of the Director, more attractive.

And without leaders, there is no sector.

The pay increases are welcome, but the review’s central goal, correcting gender undervaluation, remains unmet where it matters most. For early childhood leaders, the work is still undervalued and the responsibility remains underpaid.

Authors:

Marie White, PhD and Jessamine Giese, PhD