More than a dozen kindergarten teachers and co-educators marched from the Warrnambool Civic Green to Dr Napthine’s Liebig Street office to raise local awareness of their campaign for pay parity with primary school teachers.

While the campaign included a strike that shut more than 40 kindergartens in Melbourne yesterday, local council-run kindergartens stayed open because their staff are under a different award and were not cleared to take protected industrial action.

Australian Education Union (AEU) local spokeswoman Rebecca Harvey said the Warrnambool rally expressed solidarity with those on strike.

Mrs Harvey, a Warrnambool kindergarten teacher, said preschool staff had been offered only a 2.25 per cent pay rise when their pay was between five and nine per cent less than primary school teachers.

She said the lower pay of kindergarten teachers was discouraging many young people from taking up the career.

AEU state branch president Meredith Peace said yesterday’s strike was the first time in more than 10 years that kindergarten teachers and co-educators had taken action over salary and conditions.

“It’s clear that the early childhood profession and preschool communities are not being taken seriously by the Victorian state government,” Ms Peace said. 

“They are strong on rhetoric about the importance of early childhood education, but weak on providing the investment to secure fair and reasonable employment conditions for staff. 

“We need to be able to attract and retain a high quality workforce. 

“Without this, children miss out on the crucial milestone of early childhood education.”