Saarland lacks 6700 daycare places and many skilled workers
According to a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation, there is a shortage of 6,700 daycare places in Saarland to meet the demand for childcare. Even ten years after the introduction of the legal entitlement to daycare for children from the age of one, there is still a lack of places in Saarland, according to the foundation's "State Monitoring of Early Childhood Education Systems". It will not be possible to close the gap by 2030 either.
The proportion of children under the age of three in daycare in the Saar is 32 percent - below the national average of 36 percent. Overall, as many as 53 of parents would like their child to be looked after in this age group, the foundation found. For children aged three and over, the childcare rate in Saarland is 89%, also below the national average of 92%. A total of 95 percent of parents need childcare.
79 percent of children in daycare centers in Saarland are cared for with "staffing ratios that are not appropriate for children", the report continued. In crèche groups, there are 3.8 children in full-day care for every full-time specialist - more than the average of 3.4 in the western German federal states. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, it even recommends a ratio of one to three.
In kindergarten groups, the ratio of specialist staff to children in Saarland is one to 9.6, compared to one to 7.7 in western Germany, where a ratio of one to 7.5 is recommended. "If one specialist is responsible for more children than scientifically recommended, the quality of educational practice suffers," criticized Kathrin Bock-Famulla, an expert in early childhood education at the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
The foundation called for more staff and referred to its own "Specialist radar for nurseries and elementary school". According to this, there will be a shortage of 1,600 specialists in Saarland alone 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, professionals must 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. "The ongoing staff shortage in early childhood education has an impact on society as a whole," warned Bock-Famulla.
To address the shortage of skilled workers in early childhood education, Saarland kindergartens could recruit career changers as additional staff. Additionally, adjusting kindergarten hours to six hours a day might help meet the increasing demand for education and childcare, as suggested by the Fachkräfte-Monitor.
Source: www.dpa.com
