There are still 1690 days before the right to full-day care for elementary school children comes into effect. Until then, politics, municipalities, schools and agencies in Bavaria still have a lot to do. Because just like North Rhine-Westphalia, the Free State is lagging behind in terms of expansion – In a nationwide comparison, Bavaria ranks last in terms of expansion. So far, almost every fifth elementary school child has managed to get a place – in Thuringia, on the other hand, provision is almost nationwide at 89 percent. According to a study, 108,000 to 136,000 additional places will have to be created in Bavaria by 2030. For this, an additional 4,100 to 7,800 full-time positions are required. Can the political show of strength work at all?
As in the school and daycare area, there is already a shortage of staff in the full day. In some cases, social and special educators are used out of necessity, who should actually support the families. Many complain that the care after (open all day) or between school hours (bound all day) is more like a storage place than an educational institution.
In addition, the geographical distribution resembles a patchwork quilt, like one Question from the SPD parliamentary group shows in the state parliament. In the districts of Rhön-Grabfeld, Ostallgäu or Mühldorf am Inn, for example, there are only a fraction of primary school students – a maximum of six percent got a full-day place there in 2020. There are, of course, areas, particularly rural areas, where demand is likely to be somewhat lower. There are currently 6550 groups in open all-day care across Bavaria, 5865 groups in lunchtime supervision and 4660 classes in tied all-day classes. The expansion of the latter two has been stagnating for years.
The whole day is in great demand in the cities
The situation is different in the cities, where parents often both work and may have less support from grandparents who may live further away. For example, the numbers in Hof, Würzburg and Aschaffenburg are different – there the quotas are more than 50 percent. But that still tends to be below demand. According to a survey, 60 percent are in favor of expanding all-day work, 20 percent are neutral, and another 20 percent are against. How much it goes haywire during the whole day shows 2016 Supreme Court report. Chaotic funding, unsatisfied requirements – “the given templates simply do not match reality,” says Matthias Fischbach, parliamentary manager and education policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group in the state parliament.
In order to promote the expansion, the new traffic light coalition in Berlin has done a lot with Fischbach’s party colleague, the new Federal Minister of Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger. “We will continue to support the expansion of all-day offers with a special focus on quality,” it says there. They want to develop a “common quality framework”. In other words: The new coalition members don’t just want to find some kind of staff – they should also be professionally trained. But where should it come from?
The Landtag FDP is calling for liberalization. As can be read in a position paper, the staff should be won through performance incentives, well-equipped workplaces, lateral entry programs from the teaching profession and better recognition of foreign qualifications. In addition, 100 percent of the personnel costs are to be borne by the Free State. “We have to encourage children, not groups,” emphasizes Fischbach.
The state government sees no deficit
Doris Rauscher, SPD chairman of the education committee in the state parliament, warns against too many compromises in quality. But she also urges more speed: especially at the technical academies, one has to make faster progress. At their suggestion, a shortened and remunerated form of educator training was introduced in Bavaria. So far, every fifth trainee has taken part in the “Optiprax” program. Rauscher complains that many supervisors have stopped. Better pay, better working conditions – “that’s how we get people back,” she says.
Meanwhile, the state government does not judge the deficit to be as serious as the opposition. Family Minister Carolina Trautner recently added lunchtime childcare to the full day, resulting in a care rate of 57 percent instead of 38 percent. For the opposition, these are arithmetic games that distort the picture. “It’s simply not the same,” says Rauscher. The state government agrees that the statutory entitlement initially applies to primary school children in the first grade and is to be extended by one grade in each of the following years. From August 2029 on, every elementary school child in grades one to four should then be entitled to all-day care. How Bavaria can get there will again be a topic in the state parliament in the new year: The SPD parliamentary group has submitted a corresponding report on the subject.