According to the day-care center management, a lack of staff in the day-care centers in North Rhine-Westphalia endangers the education of small children. This is the result of figures from the German Kita Management Congress (DKLK) in Düsseldorf. Nine out of ten daycare managers reported that educational offers had been canceled in the past twelve months due to a lack of staff.

As 71 percent of those surveyed also stated, more than a fifth of the time was worked in staff shortages relevant to supervisory duties. In 2022, 60 percent of the lines in NRW reported this. "Not enough staff not only worsens the quality of early childhood education for the children, but also the working conditions for the pedagogical specialists. This reduces the chances of retaining existing pedagogues, which further exacerbates the shortage of staff," said Anne Deimel, state chair of the Association for Education and Training (VBE) NRW.

The shortage of staff is causing more absenteeism and sick leave among employees, as confirmed by 99 percent of those surveyed. 63 percent reported that it had become even more difficult to fill vacancies.

The state government's "immediate program day care center" is a more than necessary step, said Deimel. In order to improve the situation permanently, however, there is still a long way to go for the state, the responsible bodies and the state youth welfare offices.

The DKLK study is the largest survey of day-care center managers in German-speaking countries. 5387 managers took part in this year's survey nationwide, around 420 of them come from North Rhine-Westphalia.

Press kit for the DKLK