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Harmonised pay scale proposed for kindergarten teachers and child care workers
The Administration proposes to introduce a "harmonised" pay scale for kindergarten teachers (KTs) and child care workers (CCWs) following the completion of a review on the existing pay scales for the two grades.
In proposing the "harmonised" pay scale for consideration by the reconstituted Working Party on Kindergarten Education, reference has been made to comparable entry qualifications for grades within the civil service.
The Working Party recommended that the minimum entry qualification for both KTs and CCWs should be Form V with two passes.
"On this basis, the Administration concluded that it would be appropriate to accommodate both KTS and CCWs, if they were civil service grades, in Group III of the Higher Diploma, Diploma and Related Grades, the benchmark for which is Master Pay Scale (MPS) 7," a Government spokesman explained today (Friday).
"Grade III comprises grades which require a full School Certificate plus one year full-time training or at least a Form IV level of education plus two years' training.
"This is broadly in line with the entry qualification/training requirement for KTS and CCWs," he said.
The spokesman recognised that the Education Commission Report No. 2 had originally recommended a scale of MPS 10-18 for qualified kindergarten teachers.
"But this recommendation was made on the basis that such teachers would have a minimum academic qualification of HKCEE with five passes. The scale was also recommended based on reference to the salary of child care supervisors," he explained.
"In fact, it has proven difficult to recruit kindergarten teachers at this level and so the recommended academic qualification has been changed to HKCEE with two passes.
"This change in academic qualification, taken together with the amount of training now required of a kindergarten teacher, has necessitated an adjustment in the starting point of the scale to MPS 7 by comparison with the civil service pay scales.