childcare - The year starts in NRW: still much to do
When the new kindergarten year begins in North Rhine-Westphalia in the coming days, the shortage of staff will once again become apparent in many places. "We have more kindergarten and childcare places in NRW than ever before, and the number will continue to grow in the coming kindergarten year," said Family Minister Josefine Paul to the German Press Agency. However, it is clear that there is still a lot to be done in terms of addressing care gaps, which burden many families.
Investment funds for kindergarten expansion will be increased again this year to create urgently needed additional places. "Every child should be able to go to kindergarten," emphasized the Green politician. Early childhood education is also a crucial building block for social justice. "We are very aware that early childhood education is particularly facing two challenges, financial and personnel." Great efforts have been made to financially stabilize the kindergarten landscape.
Figures and Facts
In the last five years, according to the ministry, around 53,000 new childcare places have been created. In the kindergarten year 2024/2025, which begins on August 1, NRW has 764,225 places. Of these, 543,141 places are for children over three years old and 221,084 places are for boys and girls under three years old in kindergartens and childcare. In kindergartens, around 140,000 people currently work, and in childcare, there are 15,000 people.
"We see a significant increase in people who want to work with children and youth," described a ministry spokesperson. In the field of early childhood education, there are more employees than ever before, but the personnel growth cannot keep pace with the increased care requirements of recent years. In NRW, there are around 10,700 kindergartens. The last two kindergarten years before school are tuition-free.
The QiK model is intended to quickly bring additional personnel into kindergartens
The state government is working intensively on solutions to attract more staff to kindergartens, emphasized the spokesperson. The project "Qualified Lateral Entry into Childcare" (QiK) is now starting. This training model offers participating municipalities new opportunities in personnel deployment. Its goal is to ensure quality standards in early childhood education and to enable more people a professional entry into kindergartens.
With QiK, people without formal pedagogical training can be quickly employed in kindergartens after a short initial qualification of 120 teaching hours and can then absolve two-year long, job-shadowing further trainings with an additional 360 teaching hours. "After that, a childcare training can be taken up, which can be shortened by one year." So one year instead of two years. The state is reportedly covering 80 percent of the personnel costs.
According to the FDP state faction, significant improvements are necessary. There was no clarity about costs between the state and the municipalities in advance. The city of Aachen, one of the first four planned model regions, has already dropped out. According to the ministry, the start of the program in the participating municipalities is currently being organized. "Some are starting at the kindergarten year 2024/25, others will join later." Experiences from the first phase will be incorporated into further development. In the start phase of this ambitious project, adjustments and coordination are unavoidable.
Concerns and Notes with a view to reduced care times
Problematic for families are short-term reductions of care hours or day-long closures due to personnel understaffing. The ministry reported approximately 2,352 notifications from 1,015 daycare centers - in about 1,000 cases, reduced care hours were reported, and in 48 cases, a daycare center was temporarily closed. In June, 775 daycare centers reported capacity restrictions due to understaffing - once again, the most common impact was on care hours.
The State Parents' Council warned against reducing care hours due to staffing shortages. In North Rhine-Westphalia, a common arrangement is between 25, 35, or 45 weekly hours, parents can accordingly book. The legal guarantee of a daycare center place with 45 hours must remain, demanded the State Parents' Council recently with regard to the reconciliation of work and family. A reduction in the opening hours of daycare centers with their important educational mission would come at the expense of Children, especially those with special educational needs, warned the interest representation of daycare center parents in North Rhine-Westphalia.
- In response to the ongoing staff shortage in kindergartens and childcare facilities in North Rhine-Westphalia, the state government has initiated the project "Qualified Lateral Entry into Childcare" (QiK).
- This project aims to attract more personnel to kindergartens by offering a training model that allows individuals without formal pedagogical training to quickly enter the field after a short initial qualification and subsequent job-shadowing.
- In North Rhine-Westphalia, there are around 10,700 kindergartens, and of the 764,225 childcare places, 140,000 people currently work in kindergartens and 15,000 in childcare.
- The city of Düsseldorf, located in North Rhine-Westphalia, is known for its diverse range of kindergartens and care facilities, providing essential care and education for children from various backgrounds.
- The German Press Agency reported that significant improvements are needed in the QiK project, citing lack of clarity about costs and the subsequent withdrawal of Aachen as one of the first four planned model regions.
