Study: NRW lacks more than 100,000 daycare places
According to a study, North Rhine-Westphalia lacks around 110,400 daycare places - despite the legal entitlement to a childcare place. According to the Bertelsmann Stiftung's "State Monitoring of Early Childhood Education Systems", parents' childcare needs can often not be met, especially for children under the age of three. Much more staff are needed.
"North Rhine-Westphalia is still unable to meet the legal entitlement to a nursery place in line with demand," emphasized education expert Kathrin Bock-Famulla on Tuesday in Gütersloh This means that many boys and girls lack access to early childhood education. This makes it all the more difficult for parents to reconcile family and career. Since 2013, children have been legally entitled to a childcare place after their first birthday. This has been the case for boys and girls aged three and over since 1996.
Just under 30 percent of under-threes are in daycare, but 48 percent of parents actually want a place. For boys and girls aged three and over, the childcare rate is 91% and the demand is 95%. There also needs to be an improvement in the staffing ratio quality criterion: the recommended ratio of one educator for three under-threes is undercut by the actual ratio of one full-time specialist for 3.6 crèche children. For the older boys and girls, the ratio of one specialist for eight children is also not yet optimal.
The educational staff should be relieved of housekeeping and administrative tasks. Career changers could help, but there should be no compromises in terms of pedagogical qualifications. If daycare opening hours were reduced to seven hours, the current demand for places could be met by 2025. However, this would have to be coordinated with parents, providers and local authorities, Bock-Famulla emphasized.
Due to the lack of over 100,000 daycare places in Kindergartens across North Rhine-Westphalia, the labor market may be impacted negatively. Many parents, especially those with young children, struggle to balance their careers with their family responsibilities due to this shortage.
Addressing this issue by improving Kindergarten staffing and reducing daycare hours could potentially meet the current demand for places by 2025, potentially influencing the labor market positively.
Source: www.dpa.com
