Every primary school child will soon be entitled to a place in all-day care. However, a study is now sounding the alarm: if politicians do not act, there will be thousands of skilled workers in NRW.
Gütersloh (dpa/lnw) - According to a study, thousands of educators and social workers are missing in North Rhine-Westphalia in order to actually be able to offer all primary school children the legally guaranteed all-day place by the end of the decade. "NRW will not be able to implement the legal entitlement for all children by 2030, because the need for skilled workers can hardly be covered by then," said Kathrin Bock-Famulla, main author of the study published by the Bertelsmann Foundation on Tuesday "Skilled Workers Radar for Day Care Centers and Primary Schools 2022".
According to this, 49 percent of primary school children in NRW currently use an all-day offer. A further 19 percent visit an "overnight offer" until 2.30 p.m. This roughly corresponds to the West German average.
The study runs through several scenarios: In order to be able to offer all primary school children all-day places by the end of the decade, there is a lack of a good 260,000 places and 17,000 skilled workers. If you were only aiming for the current quota of the eastern German federal states - where more than four out of five children receive all-day care - it would still be 13,000 skilled workers. And should some of the children continue to take advantage of the shorter afternoon care, there would still be 7,000. According to the forecast, however, only around 3,000 new skilled workers will be added by 2030.
NRW immediately needs a master plan for a sufficient and professional supply of skilled workers, it said. The most populous federal state shares the problems with the other western German states. In Berlin, Hamburg and Thuringia, on the other hand, there are enough staff for implementation - with a good support ratio. Every child can also be offered a full-time place in the other East German states. However, the staffing there is far below the western level.
Last September, the federal and state governments decided on a legal entitlement to all-day care in primary schools, which is being gradually introduced. From the 2026/2027 school year, the regulation will apply to children in the 1st grade, from 2029/2030 to all grades.
