The educators joined together in Queens Gardens at 3.30pm to protest a lack of pay parity with other education professionals and fix teacher-to-pupil ratios.
The protest was part of early childhood education (ECE) action across New Zealand calling on the incoming government to recognise the system "was shattered".
Early education teacher Geena Fagan said the system was broken and they needed the government to fund them fully.
"Some ECE centres can afford pay parity, but some can’t.
"What that means is some teachers here will get a pay rise in December in line with our kindergarten and primary school teachers, but some will not.
"The centres that are opting for full parity will be taking on a lot of debt to do so, and it shouldn’t be like that, it should be covered."
Some of the ECE centres with a presence at the protest yesterday were Andersons Bay Community Kindergarten, Pioneers, Polykids Childcare Centre and the Otago University Childcare Association.
"We all have the same job, we all have the same qualification, so we should be treated and paid the same.
"We want the incoming government to fund us fully and fix our system, because it’s just shattered."
Early Childhood Education Collective Agreement (ECECA) teachers in a press release said negotiations had reached an impasse.
NZEI Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter said ECE funding and policy settings had been unstable through successive governments.
"This strike is not an action that members take lightly, but they have been left with no option.
"ECE kaiako [teachers] are passionate about offering the best learning environment for our tamariki [children], so we are asking the government to deliver additional funding that prioritises quality, supports full pay parity and holds tamariki and whānau at its heart."
