Rhineland-Palatinate lacks more than 27,000 daycare places
According to a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation, Rhineland-Palatinate lacks around 27,400 daycare places. These would be needed to meet the needs of parents, according to the foundation's "State Monitoring of Early Childhood Education Systems". "Rhineland-Palatinate is still unable to meet the legal entitlement to a daycare place in line with demand," the study found.
According to the study, the proportion of children under the age of three in daycare in Rhineland-Palatinate is 31%, which is below the national average of 36%. However, 49% of parents would like their child to be looked after in this age group. For children aged three and over, a childcare rate of 92% corresponds to the average for the whole of Germany, with 97% of parents having a need.
According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, three quarters of the children in Rhineland-Palatinate daycare centers are cared for in groups with "staffing ratios that are not suitable for children". According to the report, one full-time specialist in nursery groups in Rhineland-Palatinate is responsible for 3.7 children in full-day care. This is more than the figure of 3.4 for all western German states, while the foundation recommends a ratio of one to three.
The picture is similar in kindergarten groups: Here, there are mathematically 7.9 children for every specialist in Rhineland-Palatinate, compared to a figure of 7.7 in the whole of western Germany and a recommendation from the foundation of one to 7.5. "It can be assumed that daycare centres in Rhineland-Palatinate are currently unable to fulfil their educational mandate for the majority of children," emphasized Kathrin Bock-Famulla, an expert in early childhood education at the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
In order to improve the situation, significantly more staff are needed. The foundation refers to its own "Specialist radar for nurseries and elementary school", according to which Rhineland-Palatinate will have a shortage of 5,300 specialists by 2025. According to the forecast, it will neither be possible to meet the needs of parents nor to improve staffing ratios to the level in the west by 2030. At the same time, it can be assumed that even more parents will want to have their children looked after.
In view of this, the foundation recommended that professionals should be relieved of non-pedagogical tasks. The recruitment of career changers is also important, and it would also be conceivable to adjust the opening hours of daycare centers to six hours a day. According to calculations by the Fachkräfte-Monitor, this would allow the needs of parents to be met by 2025 and better staffing ratios to be achieved. However, such an approach could only be decided in consultation between parents, providers and local authorities. Bock-Famulla emphasized: "The daycare crisis is so far advanced that it requires new answers."
The lack of daycare places in Rhineland-Palatinate extends to kindergartens as well, as the study suggests a need for more educational facilities for young children. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, the current staffing ratios in Rhineland-Palatinate kindergartens are not suitable for providing adequate education to most children.
Source: www.dpa.com
