2020
Measures for handling the Corona virus
In the third week of March 2020, day care facilities were closed in all Länder except for emergency care.
By August/September 2020, all Länder have gradually returned to regular day-care operations. The aim is now to ensure regular operation and avoid further closures of educational and childcare facilities across the country. The BMFSFJ and the Federal Ministry of Health (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit – BMG) are jointly conducting the Corona KiTa study to monitor regular operations. The study investigates the role of day care in the event of an infection and examines how care can be successfully provided under pandemic conditions. It is implemented by the German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut – DJI) and the Robert Koch Institute. The results are published regularly in interim reports and on a dashoard on the Corona-KiTa Study website.
With the establishment of the Corona KiTa Council in August, the BMFSFJ also created a body for the exchange of information and advice between the various players in the field of day care for children at federal level. The council accompanies regular operations, exchanges information on current developments throughout Germany and advises on further action. In addition to the BMFSFJ and members of the JFMK, the Council also includes representatives from the municipalities, the trade unions, the Federal Association of Non-Statutory Welfare (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Freien Wohlfahrtspflege), the Kindertagespflege and the Federal Parents' Council (Bundeselternrat).
Expansion of day care for children
In order to ensure that early childhood education, care and upbringing meet the needs of the children, the Federal Government supports the Länder with massive financial aid for the expansion of day-care centres. In June 2020, as part of the economic stimulus package, the Federal Cabinet decided to make an additional Euro 1 billion available for the expansion of day-care centres in 2020 and 2021. The "5th Investment Programme Childcare Financing 2020-2021" (‘5. Investitionsprogramm Kinderbetreuungsfinanzierung 2020-2021‘) made possible by the economic stimulus package is intended to create 90,000 new childcare places in day-care centres and in day care. However, the funds can also be used for reconstruction measures and for investments in new hygiene and room concepts, which are necessary due to the Corona pandemic. Due to the ongoing challenges in the context of the Corona pandemic, the deadlines of the Fifth Investment Programme were extended with the "Kitafinanzhilfenänderungsgesetz" of 25 June 2021. Thus, investments can be funded to create and equip additional childcare places that are approved by 30 June 2022.
Bundle of measures for the further qualification of socio-educational professionals
Against the backdrop of the current and projected need for skilled workers in day-care facilities for children and the further expansion of all-day care, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (Kultusministerkonferenz) adopted an overall concept for the further development of the qualification of socio-educational professionals in June 2020.
The package of measures, which was agreed with representatives of the Conference of Youth and Family Ministers (JFMK), the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), the associations of providers and the Working Group for Child and Youth Welfare (AGJ), aims to increase the attractiveness of training in order to exploit previously unused training potential.
In detail, the overall concept includes the following individual measures, particularly in con-nection with the training of pdeagogic staff:
- Making organisational structures more flexible
- Opening up further access routes
- Systematising the recognition of prior vocational qualifications
- Strengthening and expanding part-time training opportunities
- Expansion of the quality framework
2019
Federal programme "ProChildminding"
The programme of the Federation ProChildminding: Where Education for the Smallest Starts (ProKindertagespflege: Wo Bildung für die Kleinsten beginnt) promotes the qualification of day care workers, better working conditions and good cooperation in day care. According to the motto "Qualified action and care", child day care is to be further strengthened and the framework conditions improved. At each of 47 model locations, funding is provided for a coordination office, the qualification of child day care staff in accordance with the Qualification Manual for the education, upbringing and care of children under three years of age (Qualifizierungshandbuch Kindertagespflege – QHB), and material costs for work in seven mandatory subject areas. The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend – BMFSFJ) is providing funding totalling Euro 28 million for four-year ProChildminding programme, which runs from 2019 to the end of 2022. The 47 locations will each receive funding of up to Euro 150,000 per year.
Good Day Care Facilities Act
With the Act on the Further Development of the Quality and Participation in Child Day Care (Gesetz zur Weiterentwicklung der Qualität und zur Teilhabe in der Kindertagesbetreuung – R64), the Federation is supporting the Länder with a total of around Euro 5.5 billion between 2019 and 2022. The aim of the so-called Good Daycare Facilities Act (Gute-KiTa-Gesetz) is to further develop the quality of early childhood education and care nationwide through state-specific measures and to improve participation in child daycare. With the additional funds, the Länder can implement measures in ten qualitative fields of action and/or take measures to ease the burden of fees on families. The fields of action cover various aspects of quality in child day care and range from the creation of a demand-oriented offer to the improvement of the specialist-child ratio and the recruitment and securing of qualified specialists to the qualitative further development of child day care.
More detailed information is available in the chapters on early childhood and school education funding and on quality assurance in early childhood and school education.
Federal programme Skilled Labour Initiative for Staff in Early Childhood Education and Care
With the Skilled Labour Initiative for Staff in Early Childhood Education and Care: Attracting Young Talent, Retaining Professionals (Fachkräfteoffensive für Erzieherinnen und Erzieher: Nachwuchs gewinnen, Profis binden), the BMFSFJ is supporting the Länder, local authorities and child day care providers from the 2019/20 training year onwards in making training for pedagogical staff more attractive, attracting qualified pedagogical staff and retaining trained pedagogical staff in their careers and strengthening their skills.
The aim of the programme is to attract additional skilled workers in early education by ex-panding paid, practice-integrated training and to promote professional, practice-integrated training in day-care centres through practical guidance. This should particularly appeal to groups of people who are still under-represented among the employees, e.g. men, people with higher education entrance qualifications or people changing jobs. In addition, the assumption of special professional responsibility is to be rewarded in order to open up development pro-spects for experienced pedagogical staff.