The early childhood education centre has been operating in Wanaka for 10 years, the past five from its modern Kings Dr site.
It has eight teachers and has a roll of 50 children, with a waiting list of 90 because of pressure on the town's early childhood education centres.
There are four vacancies for qualified teachers, which have been filled in the meantime by teachers with experience and qualifications that are not recognised by the New Zealand Teachers Council.
Centre manager Angela Cartlidge said recent advertisements had unearthed two suitable applicants, but the teachers turned the jobs down, one for personal reasons and the other for financial reasons based on Wanaka's high living-costs.
The stumbling block was not the Montessori qualification, which was an additional "nice-to-have" drawcard, Mrs Cartlidge said. The problem was getting qualified and registered early childhood teachers, which was a "must-have" requirement by 2012.
"It is hard to get the teachers down here. The cost of living here is quite high.
"We have a lot of outdoor drawcards, but the cost of living can be off-putting," Mrs Cartlidge said.
Three staff have recognition of prior learning and are studying part-time for 12-18 months to update their qualifications, but another, Kylie Johnson (32) is struggling to get similar recognition for her diploma obtained in Australia in the mid 1990s.
Miss Johnson has 12 years' experience in Australia and the United Kingdom and is able to run her own centres and classrooms in Australia, but that counts for nothing in this country because the qualification was obtained more than six years ago.
"I have to do the whole [three-year] course again . . . It's been a never-ending circle trying to get recognition. A says go to B. B says try C, and they say go back to A. It's frustrating," Miss Johnson said.
A full-time education student at Otago University paid $3943 in tuition fees this year. Tuition fees for a three-year course would cost about $11,800.
Early Childhood Council chief executive Sue Thorne, of Auckland, this week said the Wanaka school's experience was typical of pressures being felt by early childhood education centres throughout New Zealand.
There were pockets of booming populations and rural areas where staffing issues were reaching crisis point, including Wanaka, Queenstown and parts of Auckland, she said.
Mrs Thorne puts the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of former education minister Trevor Mallard, who, she said, did not do enough homework nine years ago when the regulations for early childhood centres were changed.
The New Zealand Teachers Council was reluctant to acknowledge highly experienced teachers who did not have the qualifications the council deemed necessary, Mrs Thorne said.
As a result, there had been an exodus of middle-aged teachers from the industry, contributing to staff imbalances, loss of knowledge, loss of mentors for younger staff and the present staffing woes, she said.
"No other country has treated its experienced staff like this. It is a disgrace. Quite frankly, we have battled for years and they've [the teachers council] been absolutely dogmatic about it. Where else would you go in the world that a qualification gained more than six years ago suddenly becomes irrelevant?" Mrs Thorne said.
She said the regime was changed with the best of intentions and Mr Mallard had said there would be recognition of prior learning by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
But the teachers council was acting independently and requiring many "good people" to redo an entire three-year course, she said.
New teaching graduates were young and enthusiastic but there were not enough of them because there was intense competition and pressure across all nurturing and caring industries to recruit and retain people, Mrs Thorne said.
"I hope any government, whoever is elected, will have this sorted by 2012," she said.
"I've been blasted in the past for saying I don't want qualified teachers, but it is not about that . . We saw the writing on the wall in 1999 and jumped up and down then. Now, we are staring down the barrel and no-one has been addressing the problem.
How did the early childhood education staffing crisis happen?
• Government initiatives promote more participation and longer opening hours (eg 20 hours free education scheme).
• More parents are enrolling children at centres at a younger age.
• Growth in the under-5 population.
• Changes to qualification schemes in 1999 saw many experienced, older staff leave the sector.
• Government requirements for centres to have 100% qualified staff by 2012 or lose funding and/or licence.
• Tight labour market across all caring and nurturing professions in New Zealand (eg nursing, teaching).
• No recognition of prior learning by New Zealand Teachers Council for anyone with non-council-approved qualification obtained more than six years ago (regardless of experience or whether New Zealand Qualifications Authority recognises the qualification).
• Staffing problems reaching crisis point in pockets such as Wanaka, Queenstown, parts of Auckland where birth rates or child population statistics are high, or centres with a special character (eg Montessori, Pacific Island).
