Club demands: Fewer children per educator

The association Kinderwelt Erzgebirge wants to stimulate the discussion about the care of children in day care centres with an open letter. "We would like that for the children the best comes out and the support is child-friendly , justify Ralf Unglaube, managing director of the association.

Educators should care for fewer children

The Erzgebirge Children's World supports seven day-care centres in Marienberg and one day-care centre in Lengefeld. The letter, which will be sent in the coming days to the youth welfare offices, the social and cultural ministries of Saxony as well as to the state parliamentary groups, primarily contains two demands: The personnel key is to be changed so that the nursery nurses care for fewer children than before. Each kindergarten teacher will have 10 children instead of 13, each nursery teacher three to six, depending on the age of the children. This ratio is currently one to six. "This would make it possible to provide more individual care for the children. And for the nursery nurses the burden would be less," says Unglaube. The costs of the change would have to be borne by the Free State.

However, in 2008 it had just failed due to financing to lower the care ratio. Suggestion at that time: 1:12 instead of 1:13 for the kindergarten. The municipalities should bear the costs - and rejected. Instead, the free pre-school year was introduced. Kerstin Buschmann, head of the Zschopauer Bau-, Sozial- und Kulturamt, believes that "it would have been better for the children and educators if the personnel key had been changed". Especially since the ratio of 1:13 is already only theory, due to vacation and sick leave, which are included, is real up to 1:20. Karen Bauer, head of the Großolbersdorfer Kindertagesstätte, finds: It would have been better to change the care ratio than the wage agreement, which grants the educators more money.

The association also requires the legislator to increase the shares that municipality A has to pay to municipality B when a child from A visits a day care centre in B. The association also requires the legislator to increase the shares that municipality A has to pay to municipality B when a child from A visits a day care centre in B. "We want an adjustment to the actual operating cost of the receiving municipality. The personnel costs rose in the last years, so that the portions do not cover the expenditures any longer , explain Unglaube. Currently, the law stipulates that the local authorities must pay 441 euros a month for nine hours of crèche care per child and 107 euros a month for a kindergarten child. Unglaub hopes that a change will improve the quality of childcare, from which the children will benefit first and foremost. The municipalities would be encouraged to invest in their own childcare. "Parents look exactly at the concepts", he knows.

Ingolf Wappler, Mayor of Lengefeld, finds it questionable whether the quality would be improved by the equalization of the shares. "The parents' motivation to have their child cared for outside their community of residence depends above all on the parents' place of work," he says. The motive "quality" is not known to him. (with hfn)

Source: www.freiepresse.de, Franziska Muth and Dennis Kittler,   30.07.2009

*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***

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