Persistent closures due to insufficient staffing at kindergartens - High hospitalization rate among the elderly is notable.
In an effort to alleviate the tense staff situation in kindergartens, the state government has implemented a new staff regulation. This move comes as data collected since early October 2024, recorded uniformly online nationwide, reveals the extent of the issue.
Over the past year, around 34,000 cases of personnel understaffing were reported in kindergartens, with particularly frequent absences during the cold season. In the 2023/24 kindergarten year, numbers of understaffing were at a similarly high level, and nearly 1,000 cases of kindergartens having to close completely due to staff absence were reported.
The impact of these staff shortages is significant. They lead to increased challenges in child behavioural management and reduce the capacity to provide quality care and education. Common solutions include adopting compressed or alternative work schedules, advocating for better teacher pay to improve recruitment and retention, and expanding mental health and psychosocial support services within schools.
To address this issue, some districts are implementing shorter weeks, such as four-day school weeks, to improve staff morale and recruitment. Research suggests that these models may not harm, and can even improve, educational outcomes for some student groups.
Legislation like the proposed Pay Teachers Act aims to increase salaries, directly addressing financial causes of shortages. Embedding mental health professionals and adopting a “whole-school approach” can help both children and educators cope better, indirectly mitigating the effects of understaffing by supporting wellbeing and reducing disruptive behaviour.
The new staff regulation also allows for the flexible deployment of additional staff from other pedagogical areas in case of shortages. However, it's worth noting that the data recording is now in a slightly modified form, making comparison more difficult.
Most kindergartens cited short-term illnesses among educators as the reason for understaffing. The Family Ministry, from whom this data was requested by dpa, notes that the recording of reports does not have a statistical function.
In conclusion, successful responses require coordinated efforts involving parents, schools, policymakers, and communities to create stable staffing conditions, better support systems, and flexible schedules that balance educational quality with staff wellbeing.
- To supplement the new community policy aimed at improving staffing situations in kindergartens, vocational training programs could be funded to attract and retain skilled educators, promoting education-and-self-development and health-and-wellness.
- As part of a broader approach to addressing understaffing, schools could integrate science-backed wellness practices into their vocational training programs, fostering an environment that encourages teacher resilience and improves individual health, ultimately enhancing the quality of effective vocational training and community policy implementation.
