Study: High proportion of skilled workers in Saxon daycare centers

In Saxony's daycare centers, the proportion of skilled workers is very high compared to other federal states. "In terms of qualifications, Saxony has very good conditions," said the Bertelsmann Stiftung's expert for early childhood education, Kathrin Bock-Famulla. According to the current "State Monitoring of Early Childhood Education Systems", more than eight out of ten nursery staff in 84% of nursery teams had at least one relevant vocational qualification last year. After Thuringia, this is the highest proportion in Germany at 89%.

In Saxony, the proportion of daycare teams with a corresponding proportion of specialists is also falling slightly, but to a lesser extent than in other federal states. Since 2017, the decline in Saxony has been four percentage points, compared to nine percentage points nationwide in the same period. In Berlin, the drop was 18 percentage points, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 15 percentage points and in North Rhine-Westphalia 14 percentage points.

Too few staff for too many children

However, Saxony still faces a major challenge: as in almost all eastern German states, there is a lack of sufficient staff, which has a negative impact on the childcare ratio. 93 percent of children in this state are in daycare groups with inadequate staffing ratios. This has a negative impact on the quality of educational practice and can lead to staff being overworked.

According to the data, just over 44,300 people were working in Saxony's daycare centers as of March 1, 2023, of which around 39,500 were pedagogical and managerial staff. An above-average number of children attend daycare centers in the state. On the reporting date, the proportion of children under the age of three was 55% (53,288 children) - the highest rate in Germany alongside Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Thuringia. Among three- to six-year-olds, 94 percent used daycare services.

Solution: retaining skilled staff in the long term

The Bertelsmann Stiftung proposes a solution: "Due to the declining number of children, there are enough daycare specialists in Saxony to improve staffing ratios in the coming years and at the same time maintain the high ratio of skilled staff," explained Bock-Famulla. However, it is crucial that it is possible to keep qualified specialists in the profession in the long term. This is the only way to ensure child-friendly education, care and upbringing.

For the "State Monitoring of Early Childhood Education Systems", data from the Federal and State Statistical Offices from the child and youth welfare statistics as of March 1, 2023 as well as other official statistics were evaluated. The calculations were reportedly carried out by the Austrian Institute for Family Research at the University of Vienna and the Bertelsmann Stiftung.