After-school care for elementary school children? In Baden-Württemberg this is by no means the case across the board. The traditional picture often prevails here: the school child is back home from midday. Above all, there is a lack of personnel for the legal claim.
Gütersloh/Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - A few years before the gradual introduction of the legal entitlement to all-day care in primary schools, Baden-Württemberg is heading for a massive shortage of skilled workers. By the end of the decade, there will be a gap of more than 12,000 skilled workers between the forecast demand and the probable supply of skilled workers if there is to be a place for every child with 40 hours of support per week. This is the result of the Bertelsmann Foundation’s “Specialist Radar for KiTa and Primary School 2022”, which will be presented this Tuesday.
According to the experts, the legal claim poses considerable challenges for the country. "Baden-Württemberg, together with all those responsible, must immediately launch a long-term specialist offensive so that an adequate supply of personnel is available at least in the next decade," warns Kathrin Bock-Famulla, an expert on early childhood education at the foundation. According to the forecast, only almost 3,000 additional specialists should be available by 2030.
In the study, the experts for Baden-Württemberg run through several scenarios. According to Radar, 45 percent of children of primary school age in the southwest use an all-day offer, 16 percent a so-called afternoon offer, which is available until around 2:30 p.m. In the eastern German federal states, for example, the average participation rate is around 86 percent. If this were also aimed at in Baden-Württemberg, according to the radar, 9,100 specialists would still be missing. And even if some of the children continued to take advantage of the shorter afternoon care, the staff shortage would still be 6,000.
In all scenarios, a significant shortage of skilled workers is to be expected in Baden-Württemberg by 2030, warn the three experts responsible. However, there is also a lack of places: if there is to be a place for every child of primary school age by 2030, almost 190,000 new places would have to be created. And even with an East German quota, according to the study, it would still be more than 130,000. However, the experts state that the information available about the all-day support offered by the schools is very incomplete. There was a lack of information about the amount of time and the staffing, they criticized.
The legal entitlement to all-day support for primary school children has been anchored in the All-Day Support Act since 2021. It comprises 40 hours per week including lessons and is valid for children from the 1st to the 4th grade. It is to be introduced in stages: from the 2026/2027 school year it will apply to pupils in the 1st grade and from 2029/2030 to all primary school classes.
Just under a year ago, the Bertelsmann Foundation put its finger into another wound and warned of a dramatic shortage of childcare staff. By 2030, the existing training capacities would have to be almost doubled in order to meet the needs of children and to continue to equip daycare centers with the current staffing ratio, according to the "Specialist Radar for Daycare and Primary Schools" calculated in August last year. According to this, more than 33,000 other educators will be missing, other scenarios even assume over 41,000.
