"The Government has set our lowest rate for a qualified teacher with a degree at $23 for an hour - a lot of the teachers are leaving because they can earn better working at McDonald's or as cleaners.
"Teachers are already underpaid and undervalued.
"We are basically in a crisis; more centres closing or lowering their numbers because they cannot get enough teachers. This is like the last straw."
Hamilton said although the same applied to those in other professions such as nurses, doctors, and lawyers, among others, they were paid at a much higher rate compared to teachers.
It's extremely difficult to find an ECE teacher in Northland, said Hamilton, who was in the process of advertising for a teacher role.
"I know ECE managers who've been looking for months, and they cannot find teachers to fill up the position.
"Some of the teachers that got mandated out never came back or won't ever come back.
"Although you may be the most passionate teacher, at some stage, the money has got to come from somewhere... and if my passion is at the cost of my family, feeding my children, and paying the mortgage, you end up thinking, 'I might as well go and work somewhere else'."
Hamilton said if the shortage continued, the other option for centres was to cut the numbers, which would have a negative impact on the children.
"Who are the children to be left out? Because if you have got parents who can afford to pay more fees and then there are parents on the other end of the spectrum who cannot afford to pay, the latter will probably be the ones who are going to miss out on their children's education."
A lot of teachers did not know the role of the Teaching Council, Hamilton said, and questioned: if the whole point was about the safety of children, why were the teachers made to pay for it?
"I know a police check costs $10 every three years, and when I am paying more than $400, I do not see anything coming out of it.
"The teachers should not be paying it out of their pockets. They shouldn't be deciding whether to buy shoes for their children or food for the family, because they have got to pay levy fees now."
Hamilton said the consultation happened last year, but despite the teachers being unhappy about the decision, the Council did what they wanted anyway.
"Consultation does not mean, 'I'll ask you what you think, and then disregard everything you've told me and do what I was going to do in the first place'."
As of July 1 last year, the salary scale for qualified teachers was $51,358 for beginning teachers. The top of the scale is currently $90,000.
Northland Principals' president Newman said the levy fee change was not a huge amount; it was just a big increase.
"The total fee now is about $150 a year, which comes down to $3 a week… it is not even half a cup of coffee."
Having the Teaching Council as an independent body opened a space to criticise the Minister and stand up for the profession, which was previously not possible, said Newman.
"It is a profession ensuring its own profession.
"The council is the only body that covers all aspects of the education profession – from early childhood to tertiary.
"They give the people of New Zealand some feeling of assurance that the teachers in front of their children are professional, trained, and suitable to be in front of the students."
Newman said the role of the Teaching Council was to check, register, and require all teacher training programmes to be up to a certain standard.
"A lot of people do not know what the Council does. Partly, I find it sad that they show no great interest in their profession to find out what their professional body does.
"A lot confuse the Council with a union - we are not a union, but a professional body."
