Bertelsmann Stiftung: More than 41,000 daycare places missing
According to calculations by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, there is a shortage of 41,200 daycare places in Hesse. The federal state is still unable to meet the legal entitlement to a daycare place in line with demand, the organization announced on Tuesday in the "State Monitoring of Early Childhood Education Systems". "Children are not getting access to early childhood education, while parents are finding it more difficult to reconcile family and career," said Kathrin Bock-Famulla, an expert in early childhood education at the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
According to the study, the proportion of children under the age of three in daycare in Hesse is 33 percent, which is below the national average of 36 percent. However, 48% of parents actually want childcare for their child in this age group. According to the calculations, the childcare rate of 91% for children aged three and over is only just below the national average (92%). However, 98% of parents in this age group need childcare.
According to the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the biggest problem is still the lack of staff. According to the experts, 73 percent of children in existing daycare centers are not being cared for appropriately due to a lack of staff. In order to improve the situation, the daycare centers in Hesse will need around 7500 specialists by 2025, they said. According to the foundation's calculations, it will not be possible to meet the current space requirements and achieve better staffing levels by 2030 either.
In view of the staff shortage, the foundation is calling for the existing specialist staff to be relieved of non-educational tasks, for example by hiring administrative and housekeeping staff. It also remains important to recruit and train career changers. The experts also suggest shortening the opening hours of daycare centers to six hours a day. Some parents would like shorter childcare hours, they explain, referring to a study conducted by the German Youth Institute last year. However, this would also require parents' working hours to be more closely aligned with the opening hours of daycare centers.
The labor market might benefit from addressing the issue in kindergartens, as the study reveals a significant demand for childcare among parents, surpassing the current supply in Hesse for children under three. Furthermore, social affairs should consider strategies to alleviate the staff shortage in kindergartens, as it impacts the quality of care and contributes to the ongoing lack of daycare places.
Source: www.dpa.com
