Baden-Württemberg lacks tens of thousands of daycare places
Baden-Württemberg still has no prospect of meeting the demand for daycare places despite a massive expansion in recent years. In many parts of the south-west, the state is therefore undermining parents' legal entitlement to childcare. According to a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation, there is a shortage of almost 60,000 daycare places between Mannheim and Lake Constance. Since 2013, however, there has been a legal entitlement to a daycare place. Since then, every child from the age of one must actually be provided with a corresponding place.
According to the "State Monitoring of Early Childhood Education Systems" survey, 59,400 additional daycare places would be needed in the south-west alone to meet the needs of parents, the Gütersloh-based foundation reported. "It can be assumed that daycare centers in Baden-Württemberg are currently unable to fulfill their educational mandate for all children," said Kathrin Bock-Famulla, expert for early childhood education at the Bertelsmann Foundation.
Particularly large gap for the very youngest children
According to the study, the gap is particularly large in the U3 sector. The proportion of children under the age of three who are cared for in a daycare center is almost 30 percent. However, 45% of parents would like their child to be looked after in this age group. Among children over the age of three, 93 percent of children attend a nursery school, although 96 percent of parents state a need for childcare.
Minister President Winfried Kretschmann believes that creating more places must be a priority. "Because this is not only of great importance for the children, but also for the economy and the labor market," said the Green politician in Stuttgart on Tuesday. In addition to early childhood education, daycare centers are also important for parents who want to work. However, the local authorities are responsible for this and the state provides as much support as it can.
Thousands of skilled workers are also missing
According to the foundation's calculations, an additional 14,800 skilled workers would be needed by 2025 to meet the demand for daycare places. It is unclear where these are to come from: local authorities have long complained that the market for skilled workers is completely empty. From the Bertelsmann Foundation's point of view, existing specialists must therefore be relieved of non-educational tasks. The experts also consider it important to recruit lateral entrants. This is already being implemented, according to the Ministry of Education. They are also working on expanding training capacities.
The municipalities in the state are asking for patience. "The measures that have been introduced need time to take effect and, given the general shortage of skilled workers, they are taking place in an already tight market," said Steffen Jäger, President of the Association of Municipalities. It will be many years before the gap can be closed. Until then, flexible regulations are needed for minimum staffing ratios and maximum group sizes.
Shorter opening hours for more places?
The foundation believes that one solution would be to reduce opening hours. If these were reduced to six hours a day, Baden-Württemberg would be able to meet the place requirements of all parents by 2025. At the same time, the good staffing ratios could be maintained. The state is doing very well in this respect. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, no other federal state has a better ratio of specialist staff to children than the south-west: In crèche groups, one specialist is mathematically responsible for 2.9 children. In kindergarten groups, there are 6.4 children per specialist. Here too, Baden-Württemberg is the best in Germany and is still below the staffing ratio of 1 to 7.5 recommended by the foundation.
From the point of view of companies in the state, reducing opening hours is not a sensible idea. "This would not meet the childcare needs of many parents and would certainly not contribute to a better work-life balance," said Stefan Küpper, Managing Director for Education, Labor Market and State Policy at the Baden-Württemberg Business Association.
Daycare providers will soon be able to decide for themselves
Due to the great shortage of skilled workers, the state wants to introduce a so-called "trial paragraph". This will allow local daycare providers to decide for themselves in future to temporarily relax staffing requirements - in other words, to reduce the number of nursery teachers per group. However, this is only possible if the concept has been agreed with those affected locally. The state youth welfare office must then review the application. If the model is to be continued after the trial, its effectiveness must also be proven.
The state hopes that the new regulation will enable daycare places to be maintained and created and that sufficient childcare hours can be offered. The cabinet had already approved the regulation in mid-October, and the corresponding bill is to be finally discussed in the state parliament on Wednesday.
The lack of daycare places in Baden-Württemberg could negatively impact the education of young children, as a study suggests that almost 60,000 additional daycare places are needed in the region to meet the needs of parents. Furthermore, the shortage of daycare places in Kindergartens might also affect the social integration of children, as they might miss out on essential social interactions during their formative years. Additionally, the labor market in Baden-Württemberg might be affected as thousands of skilled workers are needed to meet the demand for daycare places by 2025, but the market for skilled workers is currently empty.
Source: www.dpa.com
